Okay so I can't load the old catalouge.
The fact that the folder of images is still in the same place, and have been through Lightroom and have keywords attached, effectively means nothing? There is no metadata or tags or anything on these images that Lightroom recognise?
All the edits you do in LR are Non Destructive. What that really means is the actual image file is never changed. The edits you do to them are stored in the Catalog File and Applied to, Laid over the Top of, the image when viewing. Those changes can also be written to a XMP file if you have that option checked, "Auto Write changes to XMP", in the Catalog Settings dialog and if you are working with JPG TIFF PNG or PSD files you also have the option checked in the Catalog setting dialog to "Include Develop settings in metadata inside JPEG, TIFF, PNG, and PSD files". Then edits made to those files types are stored inside the image file in a special place. If that option isn't checked then they are only stored in the Catalog file.
The only time those edits are burnt into the actual image file is when you Export that image.
That is why it is important to Move the Catalog file from one system to the other and to have current backups of the catalog file.
The Keywords are also stored in the Catalog file unless you have those options turned on as mentioned above.
All of these options have been covered many time in books and online tutorials for LR for years.
Let me ask. Did you save any of your personal files from your old computer? If you did, like you made a copy of the My Documents or the Documents folder in Windows or whatever that is called on a Mac, then if you never changed the Default Location of the LR Catalog file it should be in the "My Documents" or "Documents" folder on Windows or I guess it is also called Documents in OS X. On both OS's that folder is under the Drive Letter Or Name ( \ / ) Users( \ /) YourUserName folder. It would be under the subfolder Pictures in another subfolder called Lightroom.
If you didn't make a copy of that folder then not only is the LR catalog gone but any other files you may of ever created (that is unless you stored them someplace else on your hard drive).
Did you do any type of system backups of the old computer?
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