LR catalog disappeared

[rugfoot]

I  created a new catalog a couple of weeks ago (I had about 4 collections in it) and I just closed it down as it was going quite slow and showing some blank thumbnails, but when I tried to re-open it, I got a message saying the catalog couldn't be found and when I search for it on my hard drive I can't find it. What could possibly have happened and where could it have been saved?

[Just Shoot Me]

When you create a new catalog LR asks you where you want to save it and to give it a name. So only you would know where it was saved and what the name of it was.

All LR catalog files end with .lrcat. So search your hard drives, even external drive that you have recently disconnected from your computer (Reconnect them) for files ending in .lrcat.

[rugfoot]

Yes, I know where it was, I know what it was called, and, of course, I know that all LR catalogs end with .lrcat and, yes, I've done a search (including Trash and external HDs) and it's nowhere to be found! It was doing a couple of odd things before this - that's why I closed it down. It's not showing as a recently opened catalog. Luckily there were only a few collections on it, but it's still a few days work gone. Totally baffling. No doubt I've done something inexplicably stupid. Thanks for getting back to me anyway.

[rugfoot]

ps luckily I've realised I had it backed up in the cloud so hopefully I won't have lost too much work. But it's still totally baffling - and a bit worrying

[rugfoot · Accepted solution]

Ah, I've realised (sort of) what it was (or could be). I sync the LR catalog files to the cloud and for some reason they unsynced (so disappeared from the corresponding local drive). I don't know how that happened, but it means the reason for them disappearing is also the reason I was able to retrieve the catalog, which I have successfully. I know there have been a few discussions out there about how to sync LR to the cloud but so far nothing very conclusive - but I think Adobe are working on their own solution. Anyway, thanks for getting back to me. Rich