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lost catalog

New Here ,
Nov 07, 2016 Nov 07, 2016

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I upgraded from LR3 to LR5 in August of 2015.

I subscribed to the creative cloud photography plan in April of 2016.

I store my photos on an external drive.

I was using a separate external hard drive to do time machine backups -- a drive that seems to have failed.

I am not sure where I kept my catalog -- I know, I know...this is boneheaded that I don't know. I don't see it on the external drive that my photos are on. I can't find it on my internal hard drive.

I upgraded my home computer from a 2007 iMac to a MacBook Pro about a month ago.

I had the Apple store do a data transfer from my old iMac to the macBook pro.

I can't find the catalog for LR CC. This is a big problem right now.

Phone support has not helped solve the problem.

Can anyone help me find my catalog?

If not, what do I do now? How do I create a new catalog?

Greg Mroczek

groman1951@gmail.com

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Community Expert ,
Nov 07, 2016 Nov 07, 2016

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The obvious first question- You have searched all drives (internal & external) for any catalog files that have the suffix  { *.LRCAT }

and you don't have Time Machine backups?

Regards. My System: Lightroom-Classic 13.2 Photoshop 25.5, ACR 16.2, Lightroom 7.2, Lr-iOS 9.0.1, Bridge 14.0.2, Windows-11.

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New Here ,
Nov 08, 2016 Nov 08, 2016

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The obvious first question- You have searched all drives (internal & external) for any catalog files that have the suffix  { *.LRCAT } -- yes

and you don't have Time Machine backups? -- I have a wonky LaCie drive with TM backups that sends an error message when I plug it into my MacBook. But even so, if my catalog was on my internal drive and I did a data transfer from my old iMac to my new MacBook, why would I need to refer to a TM backup? Why wouldn't the catalog have moved over with all the other data?

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Community Expert ,
Nov 08, 2016 Nov 08, 2016

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If you have searched all drives and not found any  xxx.LRCAT  files.  You do not have a Catalog!

Have you searched for  xxx.LRCAT.ZIP   files on all drives?  Lr6 versions create backup catalogs in ZIP format.

Have you been making regular catalog backups since April 2016 ?

Why wouldn't the catalog have moved over with all the other data?

I do not have an answer for that. It is not a Lightroom problem. Maybe the Apple Store can give an answer. The Apple Store data transfer may not have been 'complete'.

How do I create a new catalog?

Lightroom may automatically ask you to start a new catalog when you run Lr.

Or- on the Lr Menu>File>New Catalog...

Or- hold down the [Alt] key when you start Lr and a dialog opens showing all existing catalogs and an option to [Create a new catalog...]

A new catalog will require you to import all your photos by using the "ADD" option in the import window, and choose the top-most folder of your images on the external drive. (or just choose the Drive as the 'source')

"ADD" will leave all you photo files in their exact same location and folder structure.

A new catalog will not show any edits you previously did to photos unless you exported some developed images. (or possibly saved .XMP sidecar files to your images.)

Regards. My System: Lightroom-Classic 13.2 Photoshop 25.5, ACR 16.2, Lightroom 7.2, Lr-iOS 9.0.1, Bridge 14.0.2, Windows-11.

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New Here ,
Nov 09, 2016 Nov 09, 2016

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Many thanks for this info.

So I use LR to backup when it asks me to -- what is backed up when I do that and where is it backed up to?

When I subscribed to LR CC (which is LR6, right?) what happened to the catalog I was using in LR5? Was a new catalog automatically created for LRCC? and if so, where was it stored?

Greg

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LEGEND ,
Nov 09, 2016 Nov 09, 2016

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So I use LR to backup when it asks me to -- what is backed up when I do that and where is it backed up to?

It backs up your catalog file only, not the photos. It is backed up to wherever you tell Lightroom to make the backup to (which could be the default location). Again, you want to use your operating system to search all hard disks for catalog files, which when you make a backup with LR 6/LR CC 2015 ends with .zip.

When I subscribed to LR CC (which is LR6, right?) what happened to the catalog I was using in LR5? Was a new catalog automatically created for LRCC? and if so, where was it stored?

Your Lightroom 5 catalog was not touched, moved, modified, or deleted by the process of upgrading to LR 6/LR CC 2015. So your Lightroom 5 catalog is still there (unless YOU did something to it). It is located in whatever location you chose, which could be the default location. Again, you'd need to use your operating system to do a search for files whose name ends with .LRCAT but you said you did that and didn't find any, is that correct? But please clarify something, did you do the search visually by looking in a bunch of folders, or did you use your operating system's search feature to search all hard drives?

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New Here ,
Nov 09, 2016 Nov 09, 2016

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Thanks.

What is the default location for LR backups?

And what is the default location for an LR catalog?

I will look again when I get home from work.

I used spotlight to look on my MacBook, and was looking for a file called lrcat.

I need to look again for files with a .zip suffix.

Greg

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LEGEND ,
Nov 09, 2016 Nov 09, 2016

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If you did a spotlight search for .lrcat and you found nothing, then it doesn't matter what the default location is, the catalog(s) are gone.

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New Here ,
Nov 09, 2016 Nov 09, 2016

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Have you searched for  xxx.LRCAT.ZIP   files on all drives? -- no, not with the .zip suffix. I will do that.

Have you been making regular catalog backups since April 2016? -- Yes. Whenever LR prompts me to backup when I am shutting down, I have been doing it -- since April and before.

gm

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Community Expert ,
Nov 09, 2016 Nov 09, 2016

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gm, you should study this link for some explanations-

http://www.lightroomqueen.com/backup-lightroom-files/

If you understand how you would store text documents (1234.txt)  or Word documents (1234.doc) in your computer, then you would understand that Lightroom stores catalog files  (1234.LRCAT)  in a similar manner. Catalog files are a database file.

looking for a file called lrcat.

No, the file is not called 'lrcat', LRCAT is the file-type suffix, it might be called something like-   ' Lightroom Catalog.LRCAT '  (And you can rename catalog files to anything that suits you- *seek instructions.)

And when you make a backup Lr (v6 & later) saves it as ' Lightroom Catalog.LRCAT.ZIP '

Regards. My System: Lightroom-Classic 13.2 Photoshop 25.5, ACR 16.2, Lightroom 7.2, Lr-iOS 9.0.1, Bridge 14.0.2, Windows-11.

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