Backed up Catalog won't open on ext hd

[Mark Krg]

I have a LR catalog and images it accesses on my PC laptop local disk and another catalog with associated images on an ext hd. I have backed up both of these hds including the catalog and images to an external hd via File History. When I click on either catalog on the backup hd I get a box that says:

Lightroom cannot use the catalog named "all photographs - 5-2-2 because it is not writable and cannot be opened." and "This could be cause by incorrect permissions or because another Lightroom application is using the catalog. You may try to correct the problem or you may select a different catalog. "  

I am not running LR at the time.

Is there a way to open these backed up catalogs?  

If not, how can I backup my catalogs and the associated images to an ext hd? 

I like keeping a different catalog on each hd witdh the images so that I don't run into the problem of a catalog loosing connection to the images. 

The backup function that runs when you close LR only backs up the catalog not the images. 

This is the current version of LR Classic. Windows 10

Mark

[JimHess]

The first thing to do would be to check the permissions on the external hard drive to ensure that the drive allows both read and write capabilities. Quite often you will discover that the external drive does not initially allow both of those capabilities, And you need both in order to use the drive with Lightroom.

On the other hand, if these are truly backup catalogs, that is backups of your working catalog that point to the images on the working drive, the backup catalog will not be pointing to the images on the EHD. I assume you are aware that.

[Mark Krg]

I chatted with Western Digital, the EHD maker yesterday and we tested copy and paste and they both worked so the drive does seem to be working. 

The catalogs i'm getting that response from is a copy of the catalog I use on the local disk and a copy of the catalog on the source EHD. I'm not clicking on the catalog created automatically during shutdown. 

[JohanElzenga]

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@Mark Krg wrote:

I chatted with Western Digital, the EHD maker yesterday and we tested copy and paste and they both worked so the drive does seem to be working. 

The catalogs i'm getting that response from is a copy of the catalog I use on the local disk and a copy of the catalog on the source EHD. I'm not clicking on the catalog created automatically during shutdown. 

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Did you make those copies while Lightroom Classic was still running? If so, that could be the explanation.

[dj_paige]

I chatted with Western Digital, the EHD maker yesterday and we tested copy and paste and they both worked so the drive does seem to be working. 

The catalogs i'm getting that response from is a copy of the catalog I use on the local disk and a copy of the catalog on the source EHD. I'm not clicking on the catalog created automatically during shutdown. 

By @Mark Krg

It sounds like your chat with Western Digital completely ignores the issue of permissions, which is one of the possible causes the error message said. Is that correct?

[Randy Hufford]

Yes please check status of pernmissions.

[Mark Krg]

Western Digital did not ask about nor mention the permissions. Can you tell me how I check the status of permissions?

Thank You

[JimHess]

Use the feature that allows you to see the different drives on your PC. Right click on the external drive and choose Properties. In the window that displays, choose the Security tab and you will see where you can specify the different permissions for the drive.

[Rob_Cullen]

Have you followed up on this part of the error message-? (I don't see a mention in answers)

"..or because another Lightroom application is using the catalog..."

This is the "Locked Catalog" message that requires the deletion of a single file with the ".LOCK" file-type.

LOCK FILE DELETION - LR-CLASSIC