2 LR catalogue's?

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jason
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A while back I was trying to free up some space on my laptop, as LR was running really slow and often not responding.
During that process, I think I accidentally deleted thumbnails or some sort of library/catalogue.
I don't use LR as an organised library.
When I go into the LR file, there are 2 catalogues.
One is 2017-2018, and the second is from 2018 up to present. If I try to open one, it says cannot open, please choose another catalogue.

I've come to the conclusion that my laptop needs a deep clean and I might put an SSD into it. If I do this, can I do a fresh install of Adobe products (I pay the subscription) and will this organise my files back into one catalogue. I don't want to lose all of my edits and original RAW files, although I do have most of them backed up on an external drive.
 
A while back I was trying to free up some space on my laptop, as LR was running really slow and often not responding.
During that process, I think I accidentally deleted thumbnails or some sort of library/catalogue.
I don't use LR as an organised library.
When I go into the LR file, there are 2 catalogues.
One is 2017-2018, and the second is from 2018 up to present. If I try to open one, it says cannot open, please choose another catalogue.

I've come to the conclusion that my laptop needs a deep clean and I might put an SSD into it. If I do this, can I do a fresh install of Adobe products (I pay the subscription) and will this organise my files back into one catalogue. I don't want to lose all of my edits and original RAW files, although I do have most of them backed up on an external drive.

Nope sorry it won't.

Unfortunately you can run into problems like this if you only run one catalogue.

I create a new catalogue for every project and each catalogue is backed up so that stuff like this doesn't happen.
 
If you have deleted something from the Lightroom catalogues then it wont open as it doesn't have a database to open. Will one catalogue open? Do you backup yor catalogues, if so you may be able to open fom a backup, provided it's intact.
 
I think it's best to have a clear folder structure for your archive of raw files and processed files, and to be clear where these are so that you can preserve them and back them up.

It's also pretty vital to be clear about where your LR cat lives, what your LR backup strategy is and where its backups are stored. There are defaults for this but they can be user-modified.

Don't worry about thumbnails - just worry about your image files and your LR catalogue, which contains a record of all your processing adjustments.

Hunt for lrcat files - that's the working catalogue. Automated backups might be lrcat.zip & will be dated. Depends on your version.

First, establish what you have, as above. Strategy to deal with the problem comes next.
 
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I have 2 lrcat files. One for 2017-2018 and one for 2018 to present. As said, sometimes it will fail to open and states I have to choose a different catalogue. I think i need some training on how to organize files and catalogues to ensure swift and efficient operation.
Im just wondering if i uninstall and reinstall the programme, will it come back with only one catalogue, and if so, which one will it have?
 
It won't "come back" with a catalogue. Your catalogue is a (probably big) file that contains all the data relating to your images. When you re-install lightroom it will ask you to tell it where your catalogue is. You'll be looking for a file with a .lrcat extension. Lightroom will then try and open it. Lightroom is the librarian, and the catalogue is the library. Getting a new librarian won't fix a library that's "corrupt".

You can have multiple catalogues but Lightroom can only open/access one at once, so if you have a working catalogue and a broken catalogue, reinstalling Lightroom won't fix the broken one and LR will still give you an error trying to open a corrupt cat.

Don't worry about previews/thumbnails. You can happily delete them as LR just builds new ones if it can't find them.

To avoid [the resulting nightmare of rebuilding after a] catalogue corruption, I save my edits back to the original file. If you select any image (or a bunch of them) and CTRL+S, this will save your keywords and edits back to the raw file - either as a sidecar .xmp file (if you have raws), or as additional data in the jpeg or dng header. Once you've done this, if you open the image in any version of LR, your edits and keywords will repopulate. The only information stored in the catalogue is then things like flags, colour labels, templates for the develop module, print templates etc. If your catalogue blows up, at least you have your images, keywords and edits. The downside to this is that I'm doing a lot of backing up, as the images change as well as the cats. However my backups are performed on_file_change so everything is backed up as I work.

I tried multiple catalogues (1 for each year) and it was a royal pain to review older images, compare them to newer ones, etc etc.. Not worth it at all for a hobbyist IMO. For a business user though (who has jobs, or clients), multiple cats would probably be a godsend, so your mileage may vary.
 
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1. You can open catalog by clicking the *.lrcat file in file browser.

2. I suggest storing catalogs and images on external USB drive (be it old HDD or SSD) so you can move it and open it on any PC with Lightroom installed.

3. Make sure in the settings that you are automatically saving XMP files so even if the catalog file gets corrupted or else you still have final edit info in these text files next to the RAW.

4. I suppose splitting it up is good idea after some point, but you also don't want to to get into situation where you have to restart lightroom every hour to access different files.

5. Check you hard drive very well for errors and failure and move any critical images away from it if displays such erratic and otherwise unexplainable behaviour
 
I've come to the conclusion that my laptop needs a deep clean and I might put an SSD into it. If I do this, can I do a fresh install of Adobe products (I pay the subscription) and will this organise my files back into one catalogue. I don't want to lose all of my edits and original RAW files, although I do have most of them backed up on an external drive.

You will lose your edits and adjustments.

But you will not lose your original RAW files.

Analogy speaking: Lightroom is nothing more than an application software like Microsoft Word. Your photos in Lightroom is nothing more than photos imported into a MS Word document. Lightroom is only told where your original photos are, go have a look at them, display them. Whatever edits you made to the photos are only saved in a catalogue file, but the photos are not in the catalogue file, the photos are still on your hard drive.

So if you deleted the catalogue, you do lose your edits, and the links for Lightroom to know where your photos are, but it does not delete your own photos. The only way to lose your own original RAW files is if you were stupid enough to have your own original RAW files saved in the same folder as where your Lightroom catalogues are and/or where your main Lightroom application software is, and you deleted that folder with everything in it.

As long as your Lightroom application software is in its own folder (ie: C:\Program files\Adobe\Lightroom), the catalogues are in another folder (ie: C:\Users\MajorEazy\Documents or whatever), and the original RAW photos are in yet another different folder (ie: C:\Users\MajorEazy\Pictures or whatever) then...

If you delete Lightroom folder, for the purpose of a fresh reinstall, your catalogues and photos will be still there.
If you delete Lightroom folder and also delete the catalogues (either just delete the catalogue files themselves or delete the folder they're in), then only your catalogues will be gone, but not your photos.

But still, it is good to keep a backup anyway, keep up the backup work, no matter what, always backup.
 
Thanks guys. Laptop is going in tomorrow for an SSD. I'm currently transferring all my folders onto my external hdd. There are approx 12,500 photos in folders called 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019. I don't really organise my library. I just import and let LR sort the rest. I'm doing this by using the navigator panel on the left side of the screen. I've followed a YouTube tutorial. I've added a folder from my ext hdd and dragged the folders into it. Apparently this cannot be reversed. It looks like all photos including edits. So, it's slowly emptying LR and moving across. I will have the laptop wiped and start afresh with a new install after the weekend.
 
Also sometimes when lightroom change version it create a new catalogue. I got confused with that once because I had two LR catalogue but in fact one was the old lightroom version.
 
Also sometimes when lightroom change version it create a new catalogue. I got confused with that once because I had two LR catalogue but in fact one was the old lightroom version.

I think this has happened.
So, if I have removed all image files from my laptop and transferred them to my ext HDD, does that mean LR will not have any images to display, and I will have to use the ext HDD to feed LR?
Im confused between catalogues and images. Have I only removed the images, but the catalogues still exist??
Ive delayed putting the laptop in for an SSD just in case the laptop is performing a lot faster now I have removed the 12,000 or so image files.
 
The cat is just a database that records where the images that it references are stored, along with a record of adjustments made to them, etc. If you move image files but still want them referenced, move them from within LR.

The images themselves aren't physically in the catalogue.
 
ah ok, I did move the image files in LR using the navigation panel and adding a folder to my ext HDD.
 
I think this has happened.
So, if I have removed all image files from my laptop and transferred them to my ext HDD, does that mean LR will not have any images to display, and I will have to use the ext HDD to feed LR?
Im confused between catalogues and images. Have I only removed the images, but the catalogues still exist??
Ive delayed putting the laptop in for an SSD just in case the laptop is performing a lot faster now I have removed the 12,000 or so image files.


Using old fashion film and prints as an analogy, think of it this way...

  • Your own original image files that you transferred from camera to computer is like your own negatives you had developed.
  • A Lightroom catalogue is like one of those old fashion photo albums, a book with pages.
  • An image (the thumbnails) in the catalogue is like a paper photograph you printed from the negative, that you stick into the album.
  • Deleting the catalogue (accidently or purposefully) is like burning the photo album with the photos in it, but you do not lose the photographs because you still have the negatives.
  • Setting up a new catalogue and importing photos is like buying a new album, making new prints from the negatives, and stick the new prints in the new album.
  • Removing the images is like removing the prints from the album, so your album is empty of photos.

Expect that...

Lightroom is actually showing you a preview copy of your original image file by means of a link. The catalogue told Lightroom to follow the link to the original image file, look at it, copy the image, and display it as a thumbnail in a catalogue.

Kind of like: Your photo album have dozens of small thin screens inside it, each one is connected by a cable to a CCTV camera, and that CCTV camera is looking at your negatives.

So if you move the negatives, the camera is looking at nothing, it therefore shows nothing in the small screens in the album you have.

In order for the catalogue to show the photos, you need to relink it to where the photos have moved to, it would be like moving the CCTV camera to where your negatives now live.
 
The cat is just a database that records where the images that it references are stored, along with a record of adjustments made to them, etc. If you move image files but still want them referenced, move them from within LR.

The images themselves aren't physically in the catalogue.

@jpgreenwood

I agree with droj. Moving images inside Lightroom would help Lightroom keep track of where the images are going. You move the images to a new folder, Lightroom is just updating its own catalogues to keep track of where the images have moved to.

  • Using people and moving homes as an analogy: This is like you go to your friend's old home and help your friend move to a new home, you now know where your friend lives because you were there.

If you move the image files outside of Lightroom, (ie: using Windows Explorer or whatever Apple equivalent is), then when you open Lighroom, it don't know where the images are.

  • That would be like you stay at home, your friend moved, then you went to pop over to see your friend only to find an empty house.

For the catalogue to re-display the images, Lightroom would have to be told (by you) where to look. You would have to tell Lightroom where the images have gone to. Then Lightroom would have to go there and show the images in the catalogue.

  • That would be like your friend letting you know where he/she have moved to, so now you can pop over to your friend's new home.
 
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