folders are empty in LR after catalogue back up

[Pippywheat]

I backed uo my LR catalogue yesterday and now the folders show as empty in LR, the pictures are still on my hard drive in their correct folders

[Bill Sprague]

Lightroom Classic backups generated are compressed copies of catalog files.  There are no image files there so it should show zero.   Backing up the image files is a different and necessary process.   What are you doing to keep backup copies of your image files?

[Pippywheat]

my photos are on my hard drive and backed up to a separate drive. this is the screen shot of my library folders in LR showing 0 pics in folders

[dj_paige]

So please clarify what we are seeing. Are you showing us your working catalog after making the backup, or are you showing us the backup copy of your catalog?

If you are showing us the working catalog, the solution is here: https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-discussions/total-number-of-pictures-in-a-folder-re...

[Pippywheat]

my photos are on my hard drive and backed up to a separate drive. this is the screen shot of my library folders in LR showing 0 pics in folders

[JohanElzenga]

Open your catalog folder and look for 'Catalogname Helper.lrdata'. Delete it and start Lightroom Classic again. Is the issue resolved?

[Pippywheat]

This is what the catalogue folder looks like, I'm not sure which one to delete.

Sorry, I'm more of a photgrapher than a technical person.

[JohanElzenga]

First quit Lightroom. It is still running. You have several old catalogs in that folder, but this is the current helper file that you should delete.

[Pippywheat]

Many thanks for your time and help. I deleted the file and it didn't solve the problem.

[Rob_Cullen · Accepted solution]

Could it be as simple as having the Library option unchecked?

[JohanElzenga]

If that were the case, wouldn't that not also be the case for the F: drive? That drive seems to show totals for folders with subfolders (unless those folders also contain images in the root), and I don't think you can set this option per drive, only globally.

[Pippywheat]

Many thanks for your input.

It worked!  I'm vey grateful indeed.

Best Wishes