Lost link to Lightroom Catalog

My kids were playing with my PC and accidently renamed my main storage drive. I renamed the drive and didnt think much of it until I opened Lightroom.
It has obviously lost the link with my catalog and is now asking to upgrade to catalog to work with LR4. I am concerned that if I go with this option I will lose all the the changes I have made to my images.
I have 55000 photos in the catalog so this would be pretty bad. I have been importing all of my files as DNG for quite a few years now and I am sure I had it set in preferences to embed changes into the DNG Files.
Can anyone advise on the best course of action from here.

Nothing in the upgrade process will cause you to lose your changes.
However, something else is wrong here. You shouldn't have to upgrade a catalog, so apparently you haven't renamed the disk properly, otherwise LR would know your catalog location.
Can't you find the catalog file on your hard disk? Use your operating system to search for files that end with LRCAT, and double click on it when you find it.

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Lightroom catalog maintenance question.

The Lightroom catalog is a convenient feature that allows changes to photographs without making changes to the original picture.
I have had problems when I have to reorganize folders and files in Windows. If I rename a folder in Windows I damage the path to the pictures and I lose the Lightroom catalog.
I have a very dynamic set of image files that have to be created and filed away (deleted) very frequently and the stability of the Lightroom catalog seems to be in the way. Maintenance of the Catalog feels like an extra burden.
What is the best way to repair (modify) the Catalog links to the Windows files when they have been deleted or renamed?
Thanks in advance.
Al

You can change the links via
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm
I have a very dynamic set of image files that have to be created and filed away (deleted) very frequently and the stability of the Lightroom catalog seems to be in the way.
Most people don't delete photos once imported into LR, and everything works very smoothly. Once the photo is imported, leave it in Lightroom. Saves you some work.
Furthermore, the idea of importing the photos to a certain location, working with the photos and then moving the photos somewhere else might make sense in your operating system, but in Lightroom this is an extra step with no obvious benefits (in my opinion). Better would be to import the photos to their destination, and not perform the two-step Move to Folder A followed by Move to Folder B.
By the way, I hope you understand that if you delete photos from Lightroom (but not from your hard disk), your edits may not stay with the actual photos. By default, the edits and other metadata are not stored with the photo files.
And as John said, an organization scheme that uses keywords and other metadata will be far superior in the long-run than moving photos from folder to folder and location to location.

Where is my Lightroom catalog?

Help! I lost a 1TB external hard drive of my photos(my whole collection). When I went to upload my files from my backup drive, I noticed my catalog was empty(all my edits gone). Im not sure what happened, but I tried to look in the "backup" folder that lightroom backs up the catalog to, and that seems empty as well.....Im using Lightroom 5.6 on a mac book pro with the latest operation system. Admittedly im not very computer savvy, so this is frustrating. I have thousands of edits im missing. Even stranger is the 3TB external I use a "time machine" should contain backup files of my lightroom catalog(I think?) but it has a folder of about 100 random edits in it.....Im fearing the worst here......any help would be appreciated......The lightroom catalog was stored on my mac hard disk, not the 1TB hard drive I lost, so Im confused as to why I lost all edits.........

The LR catalog is a file ending in the extension ".lrcat". Perhaps it wasn't stored where you think it was. You could try using Spotlight to search for it, though my own experience is that Spotlight is not reliable for searching the entire drive. I suggest downloading the free EasyFind app from the Mac app store and searching your Macintosh hard drive for ".lrcat" (with the options Only Files, Phrase, Ignore Case, Package Contents, and Invisible Files & Folders).

Lightroom catalog not complete

I'm in a bit of a pickle. Yesterday I installed OSXC yosemite on my iMac 2013. Prior to doing this I opened lightroom and backed up my catalog, which is stored along with all my pictures on an external thunderbolt drive.
I installed yosemite clean, meaning I formatted my hard drive. installed lightroom and told it to open my catalog which is on the external.
the problem is when it opened, it was missing about 6 months of work and files?? it was not up to date??
i right click on the folder and tell it to synchronize. so indeed all files are there but the main issue is all those presets, changes i made to each file are gone.
it means I now have to redo all the work on the original files, cropping, exposure and all that.
is there a way to get it all back?
why did it not pickup exactly where it left off - which is what i expected
any help is very much appreciated as I've lost over 6 months of work
again, files all seem to be intact but the actual work done to the image is gone.

When i open lightroom, prior to installing and updating to yosemite, it would open the catalog stored on the external drive.
the date on that file is 10-17-2014, thus current.
my lightroom catalog is stored on the external drive, same place where all my pictures are.
as for backups, they are identical, same issue.
i dont understand why lightroom when opening my catalog on 10-17 was fine but when i update to yosemite and open exact same catalog its missing 6 months of information, despite the fact date on catalog is 10-17 and is same file on same location on an external drive.
i tried a backup file and same thing.

Lightroom catalog backup find missing file location- please help!

Hi,
Before I start, if anyone can answer this question I would be so grateful. I would cry!
Ok, so let me start.
Recently I cleared my whole entire mac and backed up everything on a hard drive. when I reinstalled lightroom on my clean mac, I also imported the catalog that I backed up. It all worked fine, and this post isn't about a lost catalog, or accidentally deleted photos.
So, what is hapenning is. When I imported my catalog I got an error message, for all the photos and folders. this:
So I found re-finding the folder, or finding the "missing file location" (which is so annoying because I wished Lightroom just backed up the pictures along with the catalog). But when I found the folder, only some photos showed up and some still displayed the exclamation mark.
Now I do have all the photos with the exclamation marks in folders on my backup hard drive, BUT they are all unedited raw versions. I honestly cannot go back and edit 2000 photos, especially after me having to clean all of the photos when my camera had over 30 spots of sensor dust on the photos. So those backup photos are what lightroom backed up, but I want to know how I can recover the photos in the lightroom catalog with the edits APPLIED.
May I PLEASEE get help on this. I am SO STUCK and do not want to mess up ANYTHING at all!
I would appreciate so much for ANY help! PLEASE!
Kind regards,
Josh

Please post on the Lightroom Forum.

Delete Lightroom Catalog to bypass Lightroom CC 2015 crash on startup

!Lightroom 6 (CC 2015) crashes on startup. I'm running Mac OS X Yosemite (10.10.3). I've tried the various fixes listed on the forum (restarting the computer, logout/login of Creative Cloud, and numerous uninstall/installs of both Creative Cloud and Lightroom. None of these have worked.
However, I've found a temporary fix.
1. Logout of Creative Cloud
2. Open your photos folder
3. Delete any Lightroom Catalogs
4. Login to Creative Cloud
5. Open Lightroom CC
6. A dialog window appears: Lightroom Catalog was not found. Choose the option "Choose a different Catalog"
7. Choose the option "Create a new catalog"
8. Lightroom now successfully opens.
To clarify, I'm not trying to open a Lightroom 5 catalog. I'm not even going to bother importing my actual working catalogs until this issue is resolved.
This option, while successful, is tedious. Is there an easier fix? Is this an issue with file permissions? Or is the process of opening existing catalogs corrupted?

Jay,
If you just completed installing Lightroom CC, try signing out and back in and see if it helps. This link explains how:
sign in and sign out of the Creative Cloud desktop app
Pattie

Lightroom Catalog portability

Can I move a catalog created on a Macbook Pro to a PC and get it to load the same files (and tree structure) on the PC as on the Mac?
I am running LR 4.4.1 on both machines but cannot import videos on the PC whereas I can easily do this on the Macbook.

You can change the links via
http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm
I have a very dynamic set of image files that have to be created and filed away (deleted) very frequently and the stability of the Lightroom catalog seems to be in the way.
Most people don't delete photos once imported into LR, and everything works very smoothly. Once the photo is imported, leave it in Lightroom. Saves you some work.
Furthermore, the idea of importing the photos to a certain location, working with the photos and then moving the photos somewhere else might make sense in your operating system, but in Lightroom this is an extra step with no obvious benefits (in my opinion). Better would be to import the photos to their destination, and not perform the two-step Move to Folder A followed by Move to Folder B.
By the way, I hope you understand that if you delete photos from Lightroom (but not from your hard disk), your edits may not stay with the actual photos. By default, the edits and other metadata are not stored with the photo files.
And as John said, an organization scheme that uses keywords and other metadata will be far superior in the long-run than moving photos from folder to folder and location to location.

HELP!! I viewed my "backup" files, and now ALL of my photos are no longer "linked" to Lightroom.

I thought I was missing some files, so I viewed my backup files. I received a "warning" that Lightroom would restart and view my backup files. I did NOT receive any warning, that there was NO GOING BACK!! I've tried everything. I cannot re-link ANY of my photos. Well, I did just do one, and it told me all the other photos in the folder were corrupt and Lightroom would not be able to edit them (and no, it was not an exported .jpeg file). Fortunately, I am not concerned about this folder, that's why I tested it. I was forced to moved all of my photos from my C drive to my D drive because for some weird reason on this computer, my D drive is 5 times bigger and I ran out of room. When I did that, I was able to relink all the pictures. Sadly, it didn't keep my Folders, it just relinked them all by date. That I can deal with, even though it makes finding photos much more difficult, but I wasn't about to try to rename any of them and have to relink again.
Now, I can't relink any of them because it appears in Lightroom that all photos are back in the C drive and therefore, the new photos that I placed on the D drive are not there, and nothing will relink, period, not even the ones that were originally on my C drive!
I have never been so aggravated in my life. I LOVE Lightroom capabilities. I have version 2.3. When I look it up on the online help, all I get is how the photos are in whatever location they were saved, but they are linked, etc. I already know that part. I seriously wish I had NEVER looked at my backup files. I don't think I'll bother backing up stuff anymore because apparently looking at the backup messes up everything.
I fully anticipated that I would be able to go back, choose my folders on my D drive and have all of my current photos available. Sadly, not.
My user name should be FREAKED OUT!

Thanks! I've been practicing deep breathing between yelling at my computer. I use Windows 7. I was in my "regular" Lightroom photos, and I couldn't locate some pictures I took last December. So, I thought, well, why not look at the back up files? I'm normally excellent at remembering exact steps, but I'm so worried about all of my thousands of photos, I can only explain what I think I did. I went into Windows Explorer, and chose the backup files. When I did, I received the warning about Lightroom restarting and loading the backup photos. I hesitated for a full minute, but thought, well, isn't that what backup files are for? So, I selected it. Lightroom opened the backup photos without any problem. But, when I went back, and tried opening the photos that were linked to Lightroom, they were no longer linked. When I click on the formerly linked photos, they just open in Windows Explorer, not Lightroom. When I open Lightroom, it has says all the photos are "missing." All of the folders are listed in my C drive (in Lightroom), not where they'd been moved to on my D drive. The one photo I relinked, stated the photos in that folder could not be edited in Lightroom. So, I'm afraid to try to relink anymore of them. Also, as I said, any photos that I originally imported to my D drive are not showing up in Lightroom at all.
I would say, I normally learn software quickly. That was my experience with Lightroom. I installed it, went through all of the online training sessions, and have loved it. Admittedly, I'm sure there are features that I don't make use of that many people do, but I'm just a passionate photography nut, not a professional.
The online help basically explains the linking, and even how to relink if you "move" a file, a folder to another location. It doesn't cover this, or not where I can find it.
I've think I've given up on yelling at the computer, now I just have knots in my stomach about getting photos relinked. I have probably 80% of them exported, with the adjustments I made, but that does not make me feel one bit better.
Thanks!!!

Technical question: Is it possible to work on the same Lightroom catalog across two computers and have the catalog sync? If so, how??

Technical question:
Is it possible to work on the same Lightroom catalog across two computers and have the catalog sync? If so, how??
Here's a little more information on what I am trying to do.
I have a desktop computer with 4tb worth of pictures that has Lightroom and Photoshop on it. I also have a laptop with Photoshop and Lightroom. I would like to be able to edit those same pictures with their current edits that are currently on my desktop on my laptop. If this can be done, I'm sure I need to be on the same wifi network for my laptop to be able to access my desktop's photo library. I am technically savvy enough to map a network drive, but how do I get my two Lightroom catalogs to sync when I make a change on one of my computers? Would i be working only on one catalog? Or two separate catalogs that would need to be manually synced to the other computer? Would it be beneficial to put my lightroom catalog on something like dropbox?
I'd appreciate any information or tutorials if someone knows how to do this.

I do this by having my LR catalog and photos on an external drive that I swap between the two computers. I am on Windows and have the same drive letter assigned to the drive on both computers.
Because the photos are on a portable drive I back up the portable drive to another hard-drive every night or after important work, because portable drives are susceptible to damage or loss.

Can I move the Lightroom Catalog from one location to another?

Lightroom by default, places the Lightroom Catalog in the Pictures folder on my PC. My image library though, is located on an external hard drive. I've read that it is better to have the Catalog at the same location to avoid disconnected images, which sounds reasonable. Is it feasable to move the Catalog over to the same drive as my image library, or will that cause a problem? In other words would I need to start over again and create a new Catalog on the external drive? I know this sounds like a dumb question, but I've learnt to my cost that the obvious solution isn't necessary the correct one.

For better performance it is preferable to have the catalog located on an internal hard drive. By default the catalog and the preview files have to be located in the same folder since there is continual read/write taking place while working in Lightroom. Lightroom does not make any changes to the original files so its fine for them to be located on another hard drive internal or external. Lightroom loves lots of hard disk space to operate so if your catalog is on an internal drive make sure it not starved for disk space.
However its ok for your catalog/previews files to reside on an external HDD with your original photo files.
Your photo files can reside on a HDD conected to a network but your catalog and preview files cannot be located on a network.
e.g I have my catalog / previews on the main HDD with my operating system with over 50% free disk space. My Photo files are on a secondary internal HDD with over 75% free disk space. I back up to external HDD.

Why do i get the following message when i attempt to open my backup file for lightroom cc? "Lightroom cannot use the catalog named "Lightroom Catalog" because it is not writable and cannot be opened". This message just started coming up after downloadi

why do i get the following message when i attempt to open my backup file for lightroom cc? "Lightroom cannot use the catalog named "Lightroom Catalog" because it is not writable and cannot be opened". This message just started coming up after downloading lightroom cc (previously using lightroom 5)...am i backing up properly or not???

Open Pictures folder and move the files named lrcat-journal and lrcat.lock to Desktop.
Make sure that , they are not inside Pictures folder any more and try to open backup from Lighrtroom and check..
Any LRcat file with .lock extension , move it to Desktop.

I went to download the new lightroom update but my computer went dead at 51 percent. I got back on and it was gone so i reinstalled now when i click to open it sats the lightroom catalog named lightroom 5 catalog cannot be opened because another applicati

please help I need to open my my lightroom to edit and it says lightroom catalog cannot be opened bc another application already has it opened.... I went to download the update but computer went dead when came back on it was gone so I reinstalled. now wont open but ps will help birth session to edit

Make sure you don't have another copy of Lightroom actively running on your computer. If not, find your catalog file in Finder/Explorer. Look for a file with the same name, but with a .lock extension. delete that file. Now Lightroom should open the catalog again.

I have a new Mac Pro computer and have migrated my files from my older computer to the new computer. In trying to open a Lightroom catalog on an external hard drive I keep on getting the message "lightroom cannot use the catalog named " " because it is

I have a new Mac Pro computer and have migrated my files from my older computer to the new computer. In trying to open a Lightroom catalog on an external hard drive I keep on getting the message "lightroom cannot use the catalog named " " because it is not writable and cannot be opened. I have fixed all the "permissions" and yet it will still not open. How do I fix this?

Hello Forum Members,
I figured it out. You have to select the actual logo of the Lightroom catalog and then click on "get info" and allow what ever your new user name to "read and write". That worked!
Henri Silberman

I have a new computer. I wish to uninstall Lightroom5 and photoshopCC on old computer and re-install on new computer. How do I do this. Also, Lightroom catalog is currently on external drive. Will Lightroom recognize it on new computer

I have a new computer. I wish to uninstall Lightroom5 and photoshopCC on old computer and re-install on new computer. How do I do this. Also, Lightroom catalog is currently on external drive. Will Lightroom recognize it on new computer

Hello Francinera,
please have a first look here: Activation & deactivation help >>> http://helpx.adobe.com/x-productkb/policy-pricing/activation-deactivation-products.html.
Please come back if necessary.
Good luck!
Hans-Günter

Files missing in Lightroom catalog after import?

I've got an external HD that has 7712 pictures in a single folder. All the files are either .JPG or .CR2 files taken from the same camera, a Canon EOS 5D. After importing the pictures into Lightroom the catalog only shows that 6712 pictures were imported. So there is a difference of 1000 pictures between what is in the folder on my external HD and what was put in the Lightroom catalog. Is there an easy way to determine which of the 1000 files did not get imported into Lightroom?

It might be that some Raws and Jpegs shared the same base filename, and Lightroom treated them as one Raw+Jpeg.
Check if your "treat jpegs and raws as separate files" option is selected in Preferences. If it is not, select it, and reimport your folder. Synchronize folder might work too.

Lost link to Lightroom Catalog

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