• Global community
    • Language:
      • Deutsch
      • English
      • Español
      • Français
      • Português
  • 日本語コミュニティ
    Dedicated community for Japanese speakers
  • 한국 커뮤니티
    Dedicated community for Korean speakers
Exit
0

Lightroom catalogus files and back-ups gone

Community Beginner ,
Feb 24, 2022 Feb 24, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

As the title says I lost all my catalog files and the back-ups.

 

So I tried to open my lightroom this morning but it gave me the message it couldn't locate the catalog.

When I went ahead and looked at my files on my SSD I saw that even though the original folder in which the catalog files and the back-ups were placed was still there but everything in the folder is gone. 

 

And now when I open the folder it shows a lot of new files that I have no idea what they are for (these files show when lightroom is closed).

 

I have no idea what could have caused the files to disappear no other files were lost from the disk and all the photos are still there. The disk was also safely removed and Lightroom was closed normally the day before.

 

Is there any way I could recover the files or solve the problem?

 

Currently on macOS Monterey, Lightroom version 11.2

 

 

TOPICS
macOS

Views

219

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
LEGEND ,
Feb 24, 2022 Feb 24, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Using your operating system's search feature, search all hard disk(s) for files whose name contains .LRCAT

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Feb 24, 2022 Feb 24, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I tried to do this but the only thing it shows is another catalog then the one I'm missing

and  .LRCAT-wal  and  .LRCAT-shm files.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
LEGEND ,
Feb 24, 2022 Feb 24, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

When people first started reporting this, I felt it was simply a user error. But there have been too many reports of this happening recently. I would definitely go to the "Bugs" category and report it there.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Feb 24, 2022 Feb 24, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Definitely will, is there in the meantime anything I can do to recover those files or even just thee edits made to the photo's?

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Feb 24, 2022 Feb 24, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

It does indeed look like your original catalog is somehow disrupted. You need to look for a backup catalog. As these are zipped, you won't find them by searching for .lrcat files, but must search for .zip files. Do you use Apple Time Machine for general backups? If so, you could also use that to restore the catalog.

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Feb 24, 2022 Feb 24, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

Thanks for the answer but sadly the backup files are gone as are the .data files.

And normally use an HDD for backup but because it was full the last backup made was from 3months ago.

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Feb 24, 2022 Feb 24, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied


@StafB wrote:

Thanks for the answer but sadly the backup files are gone as are the .data files.

And normally use an HDD for backup but because it was full the last backup made was from 3months ago.


 

Data files are not important. They can be rebuilt. I find it hard that to believe that you did make catalog backups and that these are gone too. I could imagine that Lightroom somehow ruins its catalog in special circumstances, even though I have never seen anything like this before, but I find it very hard to believe it would somehow trash all backups at the same time as well. Anyway, if you do not have any backups, then I have no suggestion how to salvage anything.

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Beginner ,
Feb 24, 2022 Feb 24, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

I'm 100% sure I had catalog backups if not from this month definitely from the months before that or even my older catalog versions.

 

I definitely know it sounds hard to believe but it's because I have no idea at all what might have happened that I wanted to ask if anybody knew a problem, fix. 

A friend of mine thinks it might just be that my SSD went corrupt since it removed everything in the folder but I guess the best thing now is just to rebuild my catalog.

 

Anyway thanks a lot for taking your time to try and help me, it's definitely appreciated. 

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines
Community Expert ,
Feb 24, 2022 Feb 24, 2022

Copy link to clipboard

Copied

LATEST

If you make catalog backup, then use another disk as destination. You just found out the hard way why that is essential. If your disk is hosed, then your backups are also hosed if they reside on the same disk. By default Lightroom stores the backups in the catalog folder, but you can change the destination in the catalog backup dialog.

 

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Votes

Translate

Translate

Report

Report
Community guidelines
Be kind and respectful, give credit to the original source of content, and search for duplicates before posting. Learn more
community guidelines