Housekeeping the Lightroom Catalog

[johns490623]

I have just upgraded my Lightroom Classic to version 13.0.2. It instructed me to upgrade my Catalog to Catalog 2-2-v13 from 2-2-v12 which I duly did.

I have been using Lightroom Classic for a number of years  - I think from about 2015 - and  my Catalog folder has progressively become more and more cluttered, presumably in function of the various upgrade releases over the years. I have never dared delete the older versions of the Catalog.  I have Catalogs 2-2-v10, 11, and 12, and now 13. I have Catalog 2  and Catalog 3  (no versions indicated) from 2017 but it seems that my backups have all been done from the Catalogs 2-2-v10-12.

I alo have long lists of backups going back to 2015, do I just leave them all in the Catalog Folder? Or can I delete (or archive) some of this stuff?

I am using a MacBook Pro (shortly to be migrated to a new powerful  M3Max one) on which I have the Catalog, the photos are on an external drive.

Thanks for any help!

[GoldingD]

See:

https://mastering-lightroom.com/lightroom-space-part-1/

and

https://mastering-lightroom.com/lightroom-space-part-2/

Also, consider your backup strategy 

https://mastering-lightroom.com/secure-photo-backup-strategy/

and

https://jkost.com/blog/2023/11/fifteen-tips-for-working-with-catalogs-in-lightroom-classic.html

and

https://fstoppers.com/business/youre-probably-not-backing-all-your-lightroom-classic-data-526597

[johns490623]

Thanks for these links which are very helpful and I will keep them. I have solved my basis problem and during the Christmas holiday will continue with my housekeeping!

[Rob_Cullen]

If your {Catalog 2-2-v13} contains ALL data about ALL your photos, then you only need to keep this ONE catalog.

All other 'old' catalogs can be either archived or deleted (My preference is to [Delete] them to avoid confusion.)

Have you kept your phone index from 1995? Have you kept an address book from 2000?  The answers would be "No", and catalogs are the same. They are database files that represent a moment in time, and reference your photos at that moment in time. As your photo files and folder structure develops and you upgrade LrC, only the current Catalog is relevant.

Of course, you MUST be backing up the 'current'  catalog regularly (frequently) whenever you exit the LrC App- so as to have a backup on another drive should the master working catalog become corrupt or is lost because of a drive failure.

[johns490623]

Thanks for your reassuring reply which confirmed what I thought. I am currently working through its implications, have already saved a lot of disk space and improved my backup procedures!