Can I delete older "Lightroom 5Catalog.ircat"-files without damage to the catalog?

Report · Dec 17, 2016

I want to restore storage space on my computer, but do not know, wether all the files are needed for lightroom's catalog or only the most recent.

Thanks!

Report · Dec 17, 2016

If these are backups of your catalog file, you can delete the older ones and just keep a few recent backups.

If they're not backups, then only you can determine if you need to keep them. (and why do you have so many catalogs anyway?)

Report · Dec 18, 2016

Thanks, that is exactly the question. How do I recognize, wether the file is just backup or wether it is part of the actual catalog which I still need? Does Lightroom put the whole catalog in ONE file? Then I could delete the older ones. Or does it add a separate incremental file every time the catalog is saved? Then I have to keep all of them.

Report · Dec 18, 2016

.LRCAT are not "part of the actual catalog". .LRCAT files are actual catalogs or backups. There is no incremental backup in Lightroom.

Backups are placed inside folders that have the date of the backup as the folder name.

Report · Dec 18, 2016

Every catalog backup is a complete backup of your catalog. Your backup copies should be stored in a folder on a separate drive. Is this the way it is working on your computer? If not, where are the Backup files being stored? Lightroom 5 does not use the same zip file backup system that Lightroom 6 does. So we need some clarification on how your backup process is configured.