To take @dj_paige answer one step further, you really don't need to save your metadata to a file unless you want/need to view your metadata in another editor or viewer. If you plan only to edit or view your metadata from within Lightroom, you need not so anything else as it will always be in the catalog. I can think of only one possible scenario for synching metadata between the Lightroom catalog and your photos and that is in the event you ever have to completely rebuild your catalog from scratch. A better solution to that possibility would be to always have two backups--one that you keep onsite and one that you keep offsite (for added protection against fire, flood or theft).
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