Inspiring

Question

11.1 Upgrade - Multiple Conflicting Catalogs

Forum|Forum|4 years ago
January 11, 2022
3 replies
744 views

I'll start out by saying I'm a full sevice subscriber and have used Adobe products for decades. I moved on from using Lightroom to Capture One Sessions because of catalog issues though, and have just been hit by them again after updating to Classic 11.1 when I needed to access some archive images and Lightroom made a total disater of my catalog. I spoke to a nice tech support guy from India, but after an hour this was beyond him honestly. I've got a 16TB drive with years of archival work that I need to access so need to talk to someone in upper level tech support to sort this mess out.

Hoping either someone at Adobe sees this or someone has a tip to directly reach uppper level tech support without spending hours on the phone while some tech person noodles around on my computer via remote before referring me up.

macOS

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El_JeffeAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks to all for all the great feedback!

I figured out the most recent catalog and it started to link to the appropriate files. There were a few folders that were very stubborn about linking (I was getting a msg that there were two locations for some of these files), but after persistently linking, the catalog eventually recognized the files. I don't know why they weren't linking, but it appears that now they are. I think that is where the issue started. Files that I could see existed on my hard drive but were not showing in LR, me knowing that they were supposed to be there and for some reason them not linking without multiple, repeated efforts to link.

The folder structure of the Folders section of the Library module still doesnt look like the folder structure of the external HD, but it now appears to at least contain all the folders. I can anticipate some reasons why it wouldn't but it would be clearer if it did.

I've now got a bunch of big catalog folders to go through and delete or archive, but they are at least in an archive folder to be dealt with another time.

I'm still confused why LR puts the old catalog, Lightroom 5 Catalog-2-2-v10, in the same place as the new catalog, Lightroom 5 Catalog-2-2-v10-v11, rather than in an Archive folder, but there you go.

Anyway, thanks again for all the advise, much better than spending another hour plus on the phone with tech support and getting nowhere.

Rob_Cullen

Community Expert

An answer to this quote-

I'm still confused why LR puts the old catalog, Lightroom 5 Catalog-2-2-v10, in the same place as the new catalog, Lightroom 5 Catalog-2-2-v10-v11, rather than in an Archive folder,

The Catalog upgrade process for v11 does this-

1) It makes a COPY of the current Catalog { Lightroom 5 Catalog-2-2-v10}

2) It upgrades the COPY to the new Catalog adding the -v11 suffix {Lightroom 5 Catalog-2-2-v10-v11}

Thus you have the TWO catalogs (old and new) in the same location. Your job is to maintain your catalogs just as you would Word Documents, PDF files, Database files, Downloads, etc.

It is advised you Rename the upgraded Catalog (to something more manageable) when prompted in the Upgrade Dialog window.

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .

Rob_Cullen

Community Expert

@El_Jeffe If I might suggest- You really need to keep only your ONE current working catalog in the folder you frequently use for Catalogs.

When you upgrade a Catalog you should archive the 'old' version well away and never open again (except for catastrophies where 'backup' catalogs would be of use)

Catalog maintainence is your problem- not a support problem. (Would you contact Microsoft to create order of your Word documents?)

A progression of upgrades show in your screen clip, and you have been upgrading very old catalogs that precede other upgraded catalogs- hence your problems.

A progression of upgrades would be like this- (IF you always upgraded the correct catalog)

Catalog.LRCAT > Catalog-2.LRCAT > Catalog-2-2.LRCAT > Catalog-2-2-10.LRCAT > Catalog-2-2-10-v11.LRCAT

Of all your Catalogs in your screen-clip, only you can determine which is the 'latest', but my suggestion is that it might be-

Lightroom 5 Catalog-2-2-v10-v11.LRCAT (Double-Click on the .LRCAT file to 'Open' it in Lr-Classic)

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-upgrade-catalog/

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/one-or-multiple-catalogs/

In your screen-clip I see you have been (incorrectly) upgrading old catalogs with v11 (see the Red line in the clip below).

Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .

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El_JeffeAuthor

Inspiring

Apprecite all the feedback above.

Rob, apprecite the clarity on how to think of catalogs. As I've always used a single catalog and upgraded many previous versions with no problem, I've always thought of my catalog as simply "Lightroom", not as a document in your Word example. I was in a rush to find and do a quick output on an archived image and LR had updated, so maybe I clicked through all the pre-amble to get LR open and get working on my image. As stated above, this is one reason I moved to C1 and it's Session folder structure.

I'm still holding off on dealing with this till I can find a significant block of time to concentrate on fixing this, but maybe I need to restate the issue.

While user error may mean I need to organize my catalogs into archives and current, it does appear that the updated catalog from the upgrade to 11.1 is corrupted. It is showing a folder structure from a significant time period before the last time LR was opened. What's my best solution to deal with that? Do I need to delete LR 11.1, go back to the previous version, find a backed up version of my LR catalog on my backups and then redo the 11.1 update?

Thanks!

Randy Hufford

Community Expert

I cannot stress the importance of always backing up.

dj_paige

Legend

We can't help you find a way to contact "upper level tech support". We are Lightroom Classic users here in this forum.

We might be able to help, if you describe your problem in detail. Saying "total disaster" really doesn't give us anything to go on.

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El_JeffeAuthor

Inspiring

Adobe does come on the forum and help sometimes.

I also don't want to sit on the phone for an hour gain with someone who can't help. This is an archive of many years of professional work and I don't particlarly want to have some noodl around with it and screw it up. I pay full freight for the Adobe subscription and honestly, when I pay them that much, I expect them to stand up and fix issues. I'm running a business here too.

Here's what my Pictures folder looks like. It's on an external SSD, as it's been for a numeber of years now. None of the .lrcat open up and show anywhere near the folder structure of my hard drives the last time I used LR. In fact when they open they're showing old hard drives that have been retired for age reasons from a year or two ago.

dj_paige

Legend

Based on my observations, you will wait a long time if you wait for Adobe staff to address your problem here.

Anyway, my web browser will not show attached files. Include your screen capture in your reply by clicking on the "Insert Photos" icon.

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