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K
Kim Hock16B8
Participating Frequently
September 21, 2020
Question

Lightroom Catalog

  • September 21, 2020
  • 6 replies
  • 901 views

My old PC crashed and I replaced it. My external hard disk containg my catalog back up is corrupted.  Now I am not able to retrieve the catalog from the old PC and external hard disk.   What should I do?

 

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6 replies

F. McLion
Community Expert
F. McLionCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 24, 2020

In addition to Jim: You also don't need an active license to get to the catalog and copy it from the old to the new disc. This is a pure file copy action which does not need  LR.

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JP Hess
JP Hess
Inspiring
September 23, 2020

But you don't need access to Lightroom 6 to get the images because they are not "in" Lightroom 6. They are in folders on the hard drive. And if you can get to the hard drive all you need to do is copy those folders to the new computer.

GoldingD
GoldingD
Legend
September 21, 2020

 

My external hard disk containg my catalog back up is corrupted

 

And where is your actual catalog? Not the backup?

 

K
Kim Hock16B8Author
Participating Frequently
September 22, 2020

The actual catalog was in the old PC that crashed.

Just Shoot Me
Just Shoot Me
Legend
September 22, 2020

That doesn't mean you can't retrieve it from the hard drive in that PC. It is just a File and unless the hard drive failed Completely (Can't be read from when connecting it to some other WORKING Computer) you can Copy that file, along with your other personal and work documents, off that drive to some other drive.

JP Hess
JP Hess
Inspiring
September 21, 2020

Install Lightroom on the new computer. When you start Lightroom it will create a new catalog. Activate the import screen and begin importing the images on the external hard drive using the Add option.

K
Kim Hock16B8Author
Participating Frequently
September 22, 2020

Thank you for your advice.  I keep my images and image backup in 2 seperate external hard disks (the catalog backup is in a third disk that got corrupted).  I assume I have to import images from the backup disk, right?  Where then do I save the imported images to? If I save them to the disk containing the original images, will there be duplicates or will LR not allow it to be done? I am sorry for being long winded.

F. McLion
Community Expert
F. McLionCommunity Expert
Community Expert
September 21, 2020

In addition, if you did have selected to save to the optional XMPs in addition to the catalog, you may even retrieve some of the metadata.

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Just Shoot Me
Just Shoot Me
Legend
September 21, 2020

:Looks like you will need to start over fresh.

 

Please note that the LrC Catalog file does not contain any actual images. It is just a database file that has References to where your actual image files are stored and the Edits you made to them.

 

So hopefully you have a good backup of the actual, REAL, image files.

K
Kim Hock16B8Author
Participating Frequently
September 21, 2020

Thank you for your advice.  Please guide me on how to start over fresh. My photos are filed in an external hard disk and they look good.

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