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

[Jurrien26749208302f]

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.

[Aleke]

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

[Jurrien26749208302f]

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]

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.

[Jurrien26749208302f]

Thanks for the suggestion, tried to find it, but didn;t find it. With the new catalog the previews were saved after I reopened Lightroom. While making the 40 gig of previews this entire memory was taken up on the C-drive. Is this due to the camera raw cache settings? And this was not the case before, can I also turn this off?

[dj_paige]

Previews are unrelated to cache, as explained in this thread by @GoldingD 

Previews will be on whatever drive your catalog file is on. If you have so little disk space on the C: drive that 40GB is a problem, then I believe the solution is to examine you C: drive to see what else is taking up a lot of space, and then decide what to move (I would not automatically decide to move the LrC previews without knowing what else is taking up space).

[Jurrien26749208302f]

40 gigabytes isn't the problem, but when it takes up to a few hundred gigabytes, it is. So the issue now is that creating previews takes up a lot of memory (on my c-drive while the catalog is on my F drive), and my question is whether I can reduce this memory usage on my C drive when making 1:1 previews. They seem pretty useless since they are removed when closing Lightroom.

[dj_paige]

One reason that I can think of why a catalog of the F: drive would take up disk space (not memory) on the C: drive is that somehow someone has set up a symbolic link. Any chance you did that? See https://www.lightroomqueen.com/community/threads/possible-to-change-location-of-lr-generated-preview...

But I also think it is possible (and you don't realize it) that you have created a shortcut on the F: drive to a catalog on the C: drive, or you have a shortcut to LrC itself on the F: drive. So when you open the shortcut on the F: drive, it actually opens a catalog on the C: drive. When you go to catalog settings in LrC, you should be able to see exactly where the actual catalog file is that you are using.

[Jurrien26749208302f]

Thanks again. I am not aware that I have created a symbolic link. Do you know how I can check this? based on the comment on the provided link "It’s technically possible to separate them if you know what a ‘symbolic link’ is and how to create one" I assume I didn't do that myself.

Checking the catalog settings under the tab "general", the location is F:\Lightroom, so this should be correct

[dj_paige]

So let me try to summarize what you have told us.

Your catalog is on the F: drive, but previews are not in the folder which contains the catalog. Furthermore, using Windows Explorer search feature, the file previews.LRDATA are not on the C: drive either. Yet something on the C: drive is taking up 40GB of space when you did work in Lightroom Classic.

So by Sherlock Holmes process of elimination, it could be that your photos are accidentally being stored on the C: drive instead of somewhere else, taking up this space.

Also, for completeness, show us a screen capture of the folder you catalog file is in, similar to the screen capture shown by @Per Berntsen 

Also, why do you assume that this 40GB of space taken up on the C: drive is LrC previews? Please explain the logic here.

[Jurrien26749208302f]

Thanks for trying to summarize the information, which is mostly correct. However, it seems that the previews are stored correctly on the F drive as well (see also my screenshot). So it seems like this isn't an issue anymore. The remaining problem is indeed that something is taking up the amount of space of the images I want to create 1:1 previews for in Lightroom Classic.

The photos are stored on my F drive as well, but could it be possible that Lightroom Classic copies them somewhere to the C drive when making previews and removes them after closing Lightroom Classic?

I have attached the screenshot (Lightroom Classic was open).

I am not sure whether the space is taken by the Lightroom Classic previews, but because it happens when I make the previews, I assume it has something to do with the previews.

[dj_paige]

LrC does not copy or move your photos to somewhere else, unless you specifically tell it to do so. One way this happens, as we see often in this forum, is that users accidentally choose the wrong import options and wind up with photos on the C drive instead of somewhere else. Please search all folders on your C drive for photos, using the Windows Explorer search feature. 

Also, I suggest you (or perhaps a MODERATOR has to do this) change the title of this thread to something like "LrC seems to be taking up space on my C: Drive"

[Jurrien26749208302f]

Sorry for the late reply, but I was out this weekend. I have searched for *.cr4 (since all images are initially in RAW) and could not find anything. Or do you suggest searching for another type? Of can I share some printscreens from other settings which might cause the issue?

[dj_paige]

I have searched for *.cr4 (since all images are initially in RAW)

By @Jurrien26749208302f

You should be searching for *.CR3 files, not .CR4 files, if your camera is from Canon, .NEF for Nikon, etc.

[Jurrien26749208302f]

I apologize, I meant .cr3. I tried it again, but I can't find any .cr3 files when I have LRC open and have done quite a few previews, which has left less memory free on my C drive.

[dj_paige]

But we have ruled out that previews are being created on your C drive, haven't we? So once again I ask you what logic leads you to the conclusion that previews are the problem?

Have you looked at the Lightroom Classic cache? Perhaps you should try to clear it. https://www.bwillcreative.com/how-to-clear-your-lightroom-cache/

[Jurrien26749208302f]

Yes, we have ruled out that the previews are created on my C-drive. I think the problem has to do with the previews because the declining amount of remaining disk space on my C-drive occurs when I am creating the 1:1 previews, not before this step. When I close LRC, the space becomes available again on this disk, and the previews are correctly saved in the same folder as my catalog. So, I am still wondering how and what happens when I create those previews, and why this temporarily takes so much space.

Yes, I have checked the cache (also as explained here before by some others). I have checked the folder which includes the Camera Raw cache settings, and this is only a limited number of disk drives. I have created a new catalog just to test, so the Preview Cache is also only relatively small.

[dj_paige]

I think the problem has to do with the previews because the declining amount of remaining disk space on my C-drive occurs when I am creating the 1:1 previews, not before this step. When I close LRC, the space becomes available again on this disk, and the previews are correctly saved in the same folder as my catalog.

This description doesn't sound like a problem to me, LrC takes space temporarily as it needs it and then releases the space when it is done. This is a normal process that many computer programs go through.

At this point, I don't think there is a problem that needs to be solved, this is normal behavior for many computer programs, and if that's what it is, there is no "solution".

May I suggest that you stop jumping to conclusions about the cause of the problem and simply report the symptoms?

[Jurrien26749208302f]

Interesting and thanks for the suggestion. I am now using LRC for quite some years, and never experienced this before. Case closed then.

[GoldingD]

What camera make and model

[GoldingD]

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?

[Jurrien26749208302f]

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.

[Per Berntsen]

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.