P: Missing Pictures, Presets, and Watermark Data after 5.4 Update

I've just finished an iCloud back up. It should have returned to the day when the app didn't update to version 5.4.0, or did, but I don't open it. I'm afraid to open it because I don't know what version it is now. In App Store, there are no available updates for Lightroom, and there is no icon "update" as well, just the icon "open". Logically, if iCloud returned it to version 5.4.0, and if I open it now, the photos and edits will be gone. But at the same time, the app doesn't look like it needs an update, so it should be version 5.4.1 (but when did it manage to update then? or my iPhone automatically downloaded the newest version when restored it?). Please help, should I open the app?

Hi Daniel, I happened to find an iCloud backup from before the wrecking Lightroom update a few days ago. However when I restored this backup, it took a few hours to load the Lightroom app (seemed stuck, I was hoping it was download the library of several gigabytes). Then it suddenly started to reload (new loading circle) and loaded really fast. When I opened the app it was the newest version with still no library.

I'm restoring again now, since somehow the files should be there (it's a backup from before the update). I'll immediately turn off automatic app updates.

Any ideas about how to handle this & make sure it installs the old version with library?!

Thanks!!
Kris

Thank you all for your helpful replies!

I happened to find an iCloud backup from before the wrecking Lightroom update a few days ago. However when I restored this backup, it took a few hours to load the Lightroom app (seemed stuck, I was hoping it was download the library of several gigabytes). Then it suddenly started to reload (new loading circle) and loaded really fast. When I opened the app it was the newest version with still no library.

I'm restoring again now, since somehow the files should be there (it's a backup from before the update). I'll immediately turn off automatic app updates.

Any ideas about how to handle this & make sure it installs the old version with library?!

Thanks!!
Kris

The same thing happend to me. I have lost all photos from this year. The ammount of time that is lost just by missing all the presets that were build during that time is just crazy. There needs to be a very big compensation from Adobe. I’m sure they are really sorry for causing me to lose 1000+ photos and god nows how many presets for a app that i pay for monhly. But apologie does not even come close to make things right.

Ralf, you can use external HDs with an iPad Pro, since iPadOS came out, I’m not sure what the best workflow would be for that or backup Lightroom easily.

Did you open 5.4.0 on both your iPhone and iPad? You could restore from one of them if only one was deleted.

I am running the latest version 5.4.1 now. But unfortunately, my images are still gone. It's just so sad. It's surprising that there's not a hidden folder I can get access to where those images must have been stored. Oh well, at least these weren't a client's wedding photos or something like that. 

You could use Carbonite for automatic backup. It backs up changed files and does so to servers min multiple sites.

Can we sue Adobe?

Ralf, the entire goal of the Lightroom cloud apps (iOS, Android, Mac, Win, ChromeOS) is to store the photos in the cloud and provide access to them across all devices. By keeping sync enabled the photos are uploaded and stored in the cloud. There is a Creative Cloud Lightroom only subscription plan that includes 1TB of cloud storage to make this work. 

If you want local control over what photos are in the cloud and which are local you want to use Lightroom Classic, which is part of the Creative Cloud Photography plan (along with Photoshop). The Photography plan does allow for syncing Lightroom Classic to the Lightroom cloud apps, but it only includes 20GB of storage. 

You might want to wait until a new product is released in early 2021, expected April 1, 2021, by a startup company working with programmers in Hungary. It is going to be a new use of AI, tentatively named NANNY-AI. The developers are working on an approach that will anticipate every possible mistake that a user could make, and correct it before that user sits down at their computer. One of the hurdles that these researchers must overcome, is discovering the near infinite combinations of mistakes and false expectations possible. Investors believe that their greatest potential market will be users of software that don't read instructions nor take training courses. Not making backups is an example of a user behavior that will benefit greatly!

Until this is available, doing regular File Saves is a workaround, as would be having a UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply.