Which catalog files can I delete from my computer....?

[short73]

Hi,

I've been using LR for a long time and seem to have too many ".lrdata" and ".lrcat" files on my hard drive. Presumably this is a result of upgrading LR over several years...

All my images are in one catalog (on two external drives). I know all the previews and metadata is stored on my computer, but I seem to have several versions of these.

Could anyone advise me on what I can delete based on these two screenshots?

Thank you !

Alan.

[Rob_Cullen]

In you first screen-clip you show that you are looking at Catalog- { LR5-2.LRCAT } "Today 10.42"

BUT you also show in second clip a Catalog {LR%-2-2.LRCAT} dated "Jan 1 2018".

Any time a Lightroom Upgrade does a Catalog Upgrade, then a '-2' is added to the catalog name.

So {LR%-2-2.LRCAT} dated Jan 1 2018 might be your most recent catalog. (Note the  -2-2 )

Hard for me to tell because the Classic upgrade compresses the catalog, so file size is no indication of content!

If {LR%-2-2.LRCAT} is indeed your 'latest' then (with Lr closed) keep the files shown in red highlight, and delete the rest-

[short73]

Wobert,

Hmm...seems to be the opposite of what you're saying because when I click on the "LR5-2-2.lrcat" I get the message below and the catalog doesn't open.... Looks like the "2" is added to the OLDER catalog? What do you think?

Thanks,

Alan.

[dj_paige · Accepted solution]

Catalogs created by (for example) Lightroom Classic CC (which is also known as version 7) cannot be opened by earlier versions of LR (cannot be opened by LR 6 or LR 5 or ...).

The opposite direction, catalogs created by LR 6 can be opened by LR 7.

[short73]

I'm using the latest version of LR (2015.12) so not sure why that cat won't open..?

Alan.

[dj_paige]

That's not the latest version. You ought to be running 7.1. If you're not then update your software via Help->Update, or through the Creative Cloud App.

[Rob_Cullen]

I agree with Paige in the post#6 above.

{LR%-2-2.LRCAT} was likely created by  Lr-Classic v7... and will only open with Classic-v7

You have opened { LR5-2.LRCAT } in the 'older' version of Lightroom (2015.12)

So you must have both Lr versions installed in your computer.

[short73]

Yes, thank you both for the information.

I now realise that I upgraded about two weeks ago, but I didn't add the new LR to the dock in my Mac....so I was using the old version all the time when I'd just open it from the dock.... . I've got it all straight now, and I deleted the old LR versions and the .cat and .preview files. Everything I kept has the "2-2" ending to the file names and it's all working correctly now.

Thanks again.

Alan.

[dj_paige]

You need to open the catalog files (.LRCAT files) and LOOK inside them to see what is in there. Once you have looked in all of them, you can decide what you don't need anymore.