Skip to main content
J
Jurrien26749208302f
Participating Frequently
April 22, 2025
Question

LrC seems to be taking up space on my C: Drive

  • April 22, 2025
  • 3 replies
  • 2140 views

For the past few weeks, I have been facing an issue where Lightroom classic 14.2 is not creating 1:1 previews in the same folder as my catalog. The previews seem to be saved somewhere on my local drive, which is inconvenient when generating previews for a few thousand images, as it takes up a lot of space. Additionally, after closing and reopening Lightroom, all previews are lost, and I need to recreate them when I want to use them. I also tried to fix this by creating a new catalog, but I faced the same issue.

    3 replies

    Per Berntsen
    Community Expert
    Per BerntsenCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 22, 2025

    The preview cache (Library previews folder) has to be in the same folder as the catalog.

    If it was accidentally moved to a different location, LrC would recreate it.

    I suspect that your issue is caused  by a corrupted preview cache, try deleting it.

    Close LrC, then use the File Explorer to go to the folder that contains your catalog.

    Delete the folder whose name ends with Previews.lrdata. Do not delete anything else.

    The previews will be recreated as you browse folders in Library.

     

    GoldingD
    GoldingD
    Legend
    April 22, 2025
    but did change the camera raw cache settings by accident, and changed them back

    The CAMERA RAW CACHE stores the develop module previews, it only effects the develop module, and has absolutely nothing to do with the Library preview files you are looking for. Basically only the devlop loupe view. Not the standard previews, zoom scale previews, smart if any.  P.S. it also has nothing to do with the AI and Masking data.

     

    The Camera RAW CACHE can be placed in any internal or external hard drive. It can take advantage of being on a fast hard drive, it does not need to be on the same hard drive as the catalog or photos. It should not be placed on a network share, not on  NAS, defiantly not on the cloud. On Windows OS, some avoid placing it on the C drive as that is the default location for the Windows Paging file, and the two can perhaps compete for read/wrights, but that is a very small performance hit if any. Some advanced users might even install a SSD drive, internally, just for CACHE (likely overkill)

     

    As you noted, the Library preview folders must be on the same hard drive, and in fact in the same parent folder as the catalog. You should be able to see them using Windows File Explorer, assuming they are not hidden for some odd reason (not default)

     

    Perhaps you can post a screenshot of that?

     

    J
    Jurrien26749208302fAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    April 23, 2025

    Thanks for the explanation! I have attached a screenshot of the main catalog, and it seems like the previews were saved this time (no idea how or what changed). However, there is still the problem that when creating previews, it takes up the entire memory of the photos on the C drive until I restart Lightroom, which is annoying if I want to generate a lot of previews. See also my reply to dj_paige.

     

    A
    Community Manager
    AlekeCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    April 22, 2025

    Hi @Jurrien26749208302f! Welcome to the community! 😊

    That's certainly odd. Could you let us know where your catalog is stored and where the previews are being created? When did this problem start occurring? Did you recently change the location of your catalog or previews?

    Thanks a bunch!

    Alek

    *(If you mention me with an @, like @Aleke, I’ll get a notification and can respond faster.)*
    J
    Jurrien26749208302fAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    April 22, 2025

    My catalog is stored on an external hard disk, and to be honest I have no idea where the previews are stored. I have this issue now for about a month. I havn't changed the location of the catalog or previews, but did change the camera raw cache settings by accident, and changed them back to C:\Users\myusername\AppData\Local\Adobe\CameraRaw\Cache2. Can this cause the issue?

    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    April 22, 2025
    quote

    to be honest I have no idea where the previews are stored.


    By @Jurrien26749208302f

     

    Please search for them by using your operating system's search feature to search all folders on all disks for a folder whose name ends with Previews.LRDATA. Let us know.

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices