LrC destructively upgraded all catalogs on my hard drive?

[ToasterBaron]

Recently, I was having some trouble getting my old version of LR 5.7.1 to run but I needed to edit some photos. I attempted to re-install the app but once I uninstalled it I couldn't remember where the original install disk was... so I did something crazy and loaded up the free trial for LR CC. Now... I wasn't planning on purchasing a subscription since I don't use Lightroom very often, but I did have some urgent editing to do so I opened three of my catalogs in the new version to work with. After I was done, I deleted LR CC and was finally able to re-install my older version of LR 5.7.1. Unfortunately, I then discovered that NONE of my lightroom catalogs will open, even though all of them were created in the older version. Even my backup catalogs give me the "too new" error when I try to open them with LR 5.7.1. What happened? I thought the catalog upgrade was non-destructive and creates a new copy to use with the CC version, so how come it appears to have upgraded EVERYTHING on my hard drive? It's possible that I did something wrong in the CC uninstall process, but I still don't see how that would have affected my older catalogs being able to open properly... any insight would be GREATLY appreciated.

[dj_paige]

Lightroom does not destructively upgrade your catalog file.

What it does is it makes a copy of your catalog file, and then upgrades the copy, so the original is untouched.

So you need to search (using your operating system's search feature) for all files whose name ends with .LRCAT, and try opening each one of those.

By the way, there is no software with abbreviation LR CC or name Lightroom CC or Lightroom Classic CC.

[ToasterBaron · Accepted solution]

Thanks for the reply. I actually made this post for my girlfriend, who is the one having issues with her computer... and she did try opening all her catalog files, but I think she may have actually had the LR 6 upgrade installed and just forgot after a while since she originally started with 5. That would definitely explain why none of her catalogs are opening in the older version.

Also, I don't know what Adobe's naming scheme is anymore, so I was only trying to differentiate the newer Creative Cloud subscription version from the older numbered versions. Names like "Lightroom Classic" are confusing to me, I have no idea what that even means. Anyway, sorry to waste your time!