Catalog Previews.lrdata Size - LR 3 vs LR 4

Just downloaded Lightroom 4 and have been using it for a couple of weeks adding 100 images to my catalog. Wondering why my previews.lrdata file in LR3 was 25MG and in LR4 is now 38GB.

My initial reaction was that Lr4 added some previews to support the added images, but it's possible Lr4 is not reusing or recycling previous Lr3 previews.
I recommend deleting all files in the lrdata folder and recreate all previews - "can't" hurt and might help... (you may need to run that overnight if you have lots of photos in your catalog).
Cheers,
Rob

Similar Messages

Lightroom 2 Catalog Previews.lrdata?

I am running into space problems on my C drive (hard to imagine, but I my computer was configured before LR and iTunes). I have moved the iTunes music to another drive, but still need to free up space. LR is using over 3GB in the following location:
C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\My Documents\My Pictures\Lightroom\Lightroom 2 Catalog Previews.lrdata
Under it are folders 0 through 9 and A through F (plus a file called thumbnail-cache.db). These in turn have their own subfolders. Can I remove the whole C:\Documents and Settings\DandJ\My Documents\My Pictures\Lightroom\Lightroom 2 Catalog Previews.lrdata structure? Do I need to change a preference to have this preview stuff go to a different drive in the future? My 'Camera Raw Cache Settings' is now pointing to a different drive, but this doesn't seem to be the same thing.
I would LOVE to have that 3GB+ free for other things (like defragging without having to move stuff back and forth)!
Thanks.

You can move your Lightroom catalogue and the previews to a different drive. The previews always must be in the same folder that the catalogue lives in. After you move them, simply double-click on the moved catalogue file to open it, and away you go.
Hal

Whatever happened to previews.db in Lightroom 5 Catalog Previews.lrdata?

In earlier versions of Lightroom, there used to be a file called previews.db inside a directory called "Lightroom 5 Catalog Previews.lrdata" , but in Lightroom 5.7, I see that "Lightroom 5 Catalog Previews.lrdata" has become a file (no longer a directory) and there is no previews.db. I had a plugin that needed to read previews.db in order to generate thumbnails. Now I don't know what to do. (Rob Cole, you wrote the function that did this, and it worked great while there was a previews.db -- perhaps you know what is up.) If anyone can point me to where a file similar to previews.db can be found (it has to be parseable by sqlite), that would be very helpful. Thanks!

I don't use a Mac, so cannot answer definitively, but perhaps this folder was compressed either via selecting some option on the folder, itself, or by running some maintenance function that automatically compressed folders that were deemed as wasting space. I would think you'd want this to be an compressed folder so as not to use up an inorfinate amount of time to work with the previews contained inside. Can you make an uncompressed copy and then rename the compressed original as something else and rename the copy to the correct folder name?
Here is some info on compressed folders on Macs I found by Googling:
OS X Mavericks: Compress and uncompress files and folders

Very Large Lightroom Catalog Previews.lrdata File

My Lightroom Catalog Previews.lrdata file is very large, about 12GB; Is this because of my preview settings? I only have about 10,000 photos in my Lightroom catalog and I'm concerned as to how large this file will get as my catalog grows.

I have 129,980 in my lightroom catalog. The photos go back to January 2000 and are only about 350GB but this previews file is over 116GB. This seems excessive.
Is the alternative to simply take a moment to build previews when I go to a folder? Most of my folders are pretty small.

Can't reduce previews.lrdata size

Hi all,
My Previews.lrdata folder is 45 GB. On a 500 GB SSD (late 2013 15" retina MacBook Pro), this is a reasonable chunk.
So I've gone through and used the "discard 1:1 previews..." menu item on all photos that I don't expect to edit again. Somewhat to my surprise, the Previews.lrdata folder has not changed in file size by 1 byte. I've used the "optimise catalog" option, but that didn't seem to do anything either.
I'd prefer not to flush the entire preview cache by deleting Previews.lrdata, as for recent photos that I haven't edited yet I appreciate having the 1:1 previews pre-rendered.
Am I expecting too much here? Should there not be a relationship between me discarding 1:1 previews and a reduction in the Previews.lrdata folder size?
Thanks,
Nick

ntompson wrote:
So if I reduce the size of the standard preview to below screen resolution, then Lightroom just uses (down-scales) the 1:1 preview...
That is correct.
ntompson wrote:
Are there any disadvantages to this?
No - your standard previews were set too high before.
ntompson wrote:
why have a standard preview at all?
For performance reasons - faster to grab/resize a smaller preview if it will do.
ntompson wrote:
Would I better off be setting the standard preview to the smallest possible size?
No. If you do that, then Lr will re-render a 1:1 preview for fit view, even if a standard preview was already available (since it would be too small). Granted, if the 1:1 preview was already available, it wouldn't need to re-render it, but if you're expiring them, it might not be available, and even so, it takes longer to load/resize a larger preview than a smaller one.
ntompson wrote:
when I make the standard preview size change in Lightroom, does it then invalidate all of the standard previews in my catalogue? Does it have to crank through and regenerate all the standard previews at the new size?
No, and no (but in my opinion, user should be prompted for whether he/she would like to rebuild when size or quality changes).
In many cases, the difference in having too small a setting or too large a setting, will be almost (or completely) inconsequential. To be honest, I'm surprised Adobe exposed this option to the user, since most users don't have a clue what an optimal setting should be. If I were Adobe, I'd assume Lr/main-UI was gonna be on the biggest monitor, and automatically size previews accordingly. Often when I mention this, people point out that the same catalog might also be used on a laptop, at which point previews would no longer be optimal, and there are other dual-monitor considerations.., but hey - whatever...
PS - Lightroom creates (up to) 7 different preview sizes: from 1:1 to tiny thumb. When it creates a big preview (1:1 or standard), it creates all smaller previews too, by halfening the size. Such is very fast, and no doubt accounts for the reason it won't discard 1:1 if next one down (standard) would be greater than half it's size (it's actually only creating 6 previews in that case - 1:1 through thumb, there is no big standard preview of the size you specified in that case , or if you prefer another way of looking at it: the 1:1 preview is your largest standard preview ).
If you want to better understand what's stored for previews, you can play with the PreviewExporter plugin I wrote (free) - it allows you to specify which level (1-7) preview you want to export, and if you enable verbose logging it will provide info about what was available, and which level of preview was exported. Here is an excerpt from "post-process action" (export-filter) UI:
Cheers,
Rob

Catalog Previews.lrdata folders

I see that in the previews.lrdata folder, there are several folders, each containing about a thousands empty folders. What are all of these folders? Are they really empty, or is it stuff that Windows just will not show. I have "show hidden folders" turned on.

Those folders are where Lightroom keeps it previews. It generates the previews when you import photos or later e.g when you go to Develop;
Are the folders empty? That probably means that they contained full-sized previews that now are empty because the full-sized previews were discarded (as chosen by you on the "File Handling" tab of the Catalog Settings Window.)
If these folders really are empty, then you could delete them, if you are worried about clutter.
I know that Lr will regenerate any missing folders in the previews.lrdata folder, whether it reuses empty ones I do not know.
Even if you delete the complete .lrdata folder Lr will regenerate, but it can take a long time for a large number of images.

LR previews.lrdata folders

I understand the LRCAT is the main file for a catalog. In LR4, the program is generating a preview.lrdata folder containing thousands of new folders and taking up a lot of hard drive space and a lot of time when syncing drives.
If I delete all of the preview files and folders and reopen the catalog, LR immediately starts generating these folders again.
Do I have something checked (like full size previews) that is causing LR to make all of these folders? I don't remember seeing this in LR3. I've looked around in the prefs and catalog settings for a check box.
Maybe it has something to with the preview size I have selected? I had Catalog Settingst at 1440/Medium/Discard 1:1 after one day. I just set it to 1024/Low/Discard 1:1 after one day.
My main catalog has 170,000 files now and the LRCAT file is roughly 2.63 gigs.
I am using Alwaysync to sync drives on a PC in Windows 7. Having all the folders is requiring extra time to analyze.
Thanks in advance,
M Jackson

Hi,
I'm about to set the same way you do - sync LR catalog on my PC with my NAS server and then with my notebook using AlwaysSync and it works.
You can use exclusion rules --> Job - Properties - your rule - Inclusion and Exclusion filter
beside inclusion rules I have these exclusion onces
\LR Catalogs\*\*Previews.lrdata ... Folders only
\LR Catalogs\*\*.lrcat.lock .... Files only
\LR Catalogs\*\*.lrcat-journal .... Files only
Notice I have one catalog per year and my folder structure for catalog 2013 is
...\Library\2013 - for images (with subfolders)
...\Library\LR Catalogs\2013 ... for catalog

Catalog Preview copy folders?

All,
Quick question. I have two folders in the Lightroom subfolder of the Pictures folder on my Macbook Pro. They are:
Lightroom 3 Catalog Previews.copy.1680lrdata
Lightroom 3 Catalog Previews.copy.1440lrdata
as well as the standard Lightroom 3 Catalog Previews.lrdata
Are those two copy files needed? Not sure how I might have created them. Thanks.
Jay S.

Ian Lyons wrote:
The folders are 100% not of Lr's making. On Mac platform Lr creates a package (lrdata) containing 2 files and 16 top levels folders (1,2,3,.....D,E,F). Each of these folders will contain multiple folder, and within these you will find the actual preview pyramid file for each image. If the image has a VC associated with it will be located beside the master. Each pyramid preview for a real file or VC contains multiple JPEG previews of various sizes (1024, 1400, 1680, 2048...). You need a special application to open the preview file as it is not a conventional JPEG (i.e. drop the preview file onto an app called File Juicer and it will extract all of the embedded previews).
http://echoone.com/filejuicer/
Ian,
Thanks for the link.. I'll look it up.. O.K., so the gaunlet is down. LOL .. I'm positive I didn't create those.. Again, when I was switching within the LR prefernces to different sizes for testing performance on rendering (1440 or 1680) that was the only place I was doing something. If not out of LR, I'm not sure where. It's odd that the two folder mirror the two sizes (by name) I was playing around with. I'm not at my Mac now so I can't test anything. They almost seem like programmed names though.
Again thanks for the filejuicer link.
Jay S.

Lightroom 2 Catalog Previews

I am running LR3.3.
I am doing some housecleaning, and I've found this folder: C:\Documents and Settings\My Name\My Documents\My Pictures\Lightroom\Lightroom 2 Catalog Previews.lrdata\
It looks like something that was abandoned during an upgrade, and thus it's a candidate for the trash bin. Any thoughts?

Lr 3 creates a copy of the original when you upgraded from an earlier version (i.e Lr1 or Lr2 to Lr3). Therefore, if you can locate a copy for Lr3 then yes it is redundant and can be deleted. The new file may not be labelled Lr3 but the date stamp should still give you a clue as to which is the most recent. That being said, a new copy will be created upon relaunch should you delete the wrong version. Basically, trashing the lrdata file simply means that Lr will need to rebuild a new copy.

Running LR3.3 - can I delete catalog previews from older versions?

I've got three folders on my HD with names like Lightroom 2 catalog previews.lrdata, Lightroom 3 Catalog Previews -2.lrdata and Lightroom 3 Catalog Previews -3.lrdata ... are all three necessary or can I delete the first two (I'm assuming that Lightroom 3 Catalog Previews -2.lrdata is from the version previous to 3.3)? Just trying to determine what's actually necessary to back up since my external drive's running out of space

You can delete any of the previews folders you like with the understanding that LR will rebuild previews, again, for folders you visit in LR, which is less likely for older versions.
You might also check your back folders and thin out (delete in Explorer/Finder) the older periodic backups to one each month or quarter or year instead of one each week the older they are.

X.lrdata vs. x.Previews.lrdata

Hello all - I am in the process of upgrading to LR3. So far it is awesome!! I have what I hope is a quick question and I suspect I know the answer. When I upgraded I also gave the converted catalog a new name. After upgrading to LR3 I see
1) "Raimist LR3 Catalog Previews.lrdata" == LR Upgraded Previews from LR2 with the new catalog name.
2) "Raimist One Catalog Previews.lrdata" == LR2 Previews from upgraded LR1; I will remove once I am confident in LR3
3) "Raimist One Catalog.lrdata" == I assume that this is the previews from LR1 and that they changed the name to include "PREVIEWS" beginning with LR2.
Is this correct? I have attached a screen shot as well. What is the the lrdata vs. previews.lrdata ?
Thanks in advance, David

lrcat = catalog and lrdata = previews
Including Previews in name began with Lr2

Size of Lightroom Previews.lrdata and upgrading to 1.1

Hi
Thinking about taking the plunge for upgrading to 1.1, but only have just over 8Gb free disk space. Given the upgrade to 1.1 will be rebuilding the database it's going to need the existing space of the databases and then some. The current database size is about 110Mb, but the Lightroom Previews.lrdata is using over 10Gb of space.
A couple of questions, does anyone know if the upgrade uses the existing Lightroom Preivews.lrdata or whether this is upgraded as well (implying I'd need well over 10Gb of free space before attempting the upgrade).
Secondly, is it safe to delete Lightroom Previews.lrdata - will Lightroom re-create and re-populate the previews (I previously had the preview sizes would up higher than I probably should - and whilst I can discard the 1:1 previews, how do you get the remaining previews to be discarded or re-built at a lower resolution?).
For this issue, I'm on a Mac.
Thanks
Greg

1.1 uses the same preview cache as 1.0. The only rebuild is some shuffling of data in the main database.
Mark

How do I separate the Catalog and the Previews.lrdata folder?

I have my catalog stored on a data drive that is backed up regularly. The Previews.lrdata folder is now located alongside with the Catalog.lrcat file. But since the Previews.lrcat folder is automatically generated and only contains previews of the photos, I don't want to backup this huge folder. I would like to store my preview.lrdata on a fast harddisk that I don't need to backup, and leave my catalog on my data drive.
Does anyone know the trick how to do this?
Thanks in advance for any help.

Hans,
I also wish one could specify the location where to store the previews on a catalog basis (as it is on a global basis for the ACR cache). I save my drives on a regular basis with an older version of Norton Ghost, which I'm very happy with. But, I cannot exclude files/folders from backups, so I'm stuck saving the previews regularely as well.
Beat Gossweiler
Switzerland

Where Does Lightroom Store Catalogs, Previews, and Backups?

1. By default, where does LR store:
a. Catalogs (.lrcat)
b. Previews (.lrdata)
c. Backups of Catalogs and Previews
2. Can these locations be changed?
2a. If so, how does one specify where LR will store each of the above?
3. Is there a specific relationship of location the Catalog, the Preview, and the Backups, or any partial combination of those three, must remain in?
3a. If so, what is/are that/those relationships?

a) By default in the Lightroom folder within My Pictures / Pictures
b) Always in the same folder as the catalogue
c) Wherever you tell it - which should be somewhere different. No backup of Previews.
Re 2, just move the catalogue in Explorer / Finder, double click it. If you didn't move the Previews, LR starts a new one in the same folder as the catalogue, following (b) above.
Re 3, answered above. Backups can / should be elsewhere and it's your choice where.
Notice that in Catalog Settings there's a Show button that reveals where your catalogue is.

Lightroom catalog/preview multiple folder merging

I have had Lightroom since version 2, have upgraded all along and now have Version 4.2. I noticed as I ugradeed to Version 3, the catalog was still named Lightroom 2 catalog-2. Somehow, along the way, this is now Lightroom 2 Catalog -2-2. This is the catalog Lightroom defaults to. With Lightroom 4 I decided to rename these to: Mark's Lightroom 4 catalog and Mark's Lightroom 4 previews. Well, all I suceeded in doing is I now have 5 folders.
Lightroom 2 Catalog-2Previews.lrdata with 21.1GB
Lightroom 2 Catalog-2-2 Previews.lrdata with 1.6GB
Lightroom settings with169KB
Mark's Lightroom 4 Catalog.lrcat with 34.6GB
Mark's Lightroom 4 Previews.lrdata with 4.78GB
I also have these two folders with the square Lightroom icon:
Lightroom 2 Catalog-2.lrcat 1GB
Lightroom 2 Catalog-2-2.lrcat 1.01GB
There is also the Backup folder and tempary import and temporary import journal folders within the Lightroom folder.
Windows 7 Ultimate, i7 quad core, new SSD c drive and new 3T Barracuda d drive.
I do back up my d drive on an external hard drive and have put this Lightroom folder on a separate hard drive.
Now, how do I merge those 5 folders into one l catalog and 1 previews folders with messing up.
I have searched the website and watched Julianne Kost's video on merging but am needing a little more specific guidance to not mess this up!
Thanks for any help you can give.

It seems to me that you do not see the file endings since you say "I presume these are catalogs".
The catalog is a file, not a folder, and - on Windows - does not have a yellow folder icon - although it can be (and usually is) within a folder. Open the folder - what do you see then?
The previews on the other hand are in a folder.
If you don't see the file endings go >My Computer >the drive where the catalog is on, select >Tools >Folder Options >View tab.
Make sure that the box that reads "Hide extensions for known file types" is not checked. If it is checked you won't see the file ending < .lrcat> because it will be hidden.
BTW that's on Windows but there must be something similar on Mac.
RE: Previews folders: You just merge the catalogs. You don't have to do anything with the previews.
I would suggest that you merge all of the catalogs you can find.You might have created the 1 GB catalogs inadvertyently.
You could check though by going >File >Catalog, then navigate to the 1 GB catalog and click on it. Lr will open with it (afterclosing down the present catalog) and you'll see what it contains.
If Lr cannot open it then there's not much you can do about. The catalog might be corrupt.
Here's the address for Lr Help that shows you all the options available in <Import from Another Catalog:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/lightroom/using/WS9616DD60-0C3A-484b-8413-053347F21456.html

Catalog Previews.lrdata Size - LR 3 vs LR 4

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