Lightroom crashed and deleted all my files in it

[karric69203441]

Hi!

Last night LR crashed while I was trying to export a catalog for the first time.  In the process, it deleted all my LR files.  Is there a way to get them back??  I lost all my edits that way.  I have Backblaze, but I hear that is very time consuming to back up.  Is there a quicker fix??

Also anyone else had this happen?  I hope it doesn't do this again moving forward!

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

I am guessing you are using Lightroom Classic CC and not Lightroom CC (where this is posted). Lightroom CC doesn't have a catalog export function.

Can you go to Help>System Info… and copy your version information and paste it here?

[karric69203441]

Lightroom version: CC 2015.5.1 [ 1073342 ]

License: Creative Cloud

Operating system: Windows 8.1

Version: 6.3

Application architecture: x64

System architecture: x64

Logical processor count: 4

Processor speed: 2.1 GHz

Built-in memory: 12203.3 MB

Real memory available to Lightroom: 12203.3 MB

Real memory used by Lightroom: 956.9 MB (7.8%)

Virtual memory used by Lightroom: 933.7 MB

Memory cache size: 0.0 MB

Maximum thread count used by Camera Raw: 4

Camera Raw SIMD optimization: SSE2,AVX,AVX2

System DPI setting: 120 DPI

Desktop composition enabled: Yes

Displays: 1) 1920x1080

Input types: Multitouch: Yes, Integrated touch: Yes, Integrated pen: No, External touch: No, External pen: No, Keyboard: No

Graphics Processor Info:

Intel(R) HD Graphics 5500

Check OpenGL support: Passed

Vendor: Intel

Version: 3.3.0 - Build 10.18.10.4013

Renderer: Intel(R) HD Graphics 5500

LanguageVersion: 3.30 - Build 10.18.10.4013

Application folder: C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Lightroom

Library Path: C:\Users\Karri\Pictures\2018\1006 - Cotton Mini Sessions\Warren Catalog\Warren Catalog.lrcat

Settings Folder: C:\Users\Karri\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom

Installed Plugins:

1) Canon Tether Plugin

2) Facebook

3) Flickr

4) Leica Tether Plugin

5) Nikon Tether Plugin

Config.lua flags: None

Adapter #1: Vendor : 8086

Device : 1616

Subsystem : 6411028

Revision : 9

Video Memory : 0

Adapter #2: Vendor : 1414

Device : 8c

Subsystem : 0

Revision : 0

Video Memory : 0

AudioDeviceIOBlockSize: 1024

AudioDeviceName: Speakers / Headphones (Realtek High Definition Audio)

AudioDeviceNumberOfChannels: 2

AudioDeviceSampleRate: 44100

Build: LR5x102

Direct2DEnabled: false

GPUDevice: not available

OGLEnabled: true

[karric69203441]

I wondered that, but there is no mention of "classic" anywhere...

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

You are running a very old version of Lightroom CC2015. CC2015.5.1 has updated to CC2015.14 in December for 2017. You can update via your Creative Cloud App. I would recommend that before proceeding. 

Keep in mind also, that if you have an active subscription, that Lightroom Classic CC 8.0- was released today.  If you can, I would recommend installing it instead and then seeing if you have the same issue with exporting to catalog.

[karric69203441]

I'm working on that right now.  Thank you!  I have actually never exported a catalog before.  Is there anything I can do to get my files back with all my edits?

[Rikk Flohr: Photography · Accepted solution]

I suspect your edits aren't actually lost but rather that you've opened a different catalog after the crash. You will need to find your production catalog you were using before the crash and reopen it.  Search your hard drive for files ending in .LRCAT that have a last modified date of the day of the crash and open them to see if they are the correct catalog. Your edits should be located in that catalog.

[karric69203441]

I just opened LR and did not know that everything I had in there was in 1 catalog.  I searched like you said and found the old backup!  Thank you!  I'm all set up in LR 7.5 now!