Recovering from lightroom catalog backup

Hi,
For the past 2 months i have been using lightroom.
I used to store my original photos in E dirve(E:) and import in lightroom for processing. Unfourtanetly a week back my hard-disk crashed and i am not able to recover any files other than C Drive(C:).
Luckily had installed lightroom in C Drive(C:) only.
And i think i should be recover lightroom folders in too.
Is it possible to recover any of the photographs from the lightroom metadata stored in the lightroom folders in C:. I read in some websites about catalog backup. Would it be possible to recover from that, i never explicitly created a catalog i used to directly import to lightroom?
Kindly help me!. I would really appreciate that.
Thanks,
Sridhar

If you imported the files from your E drive and chose to store them on your C drive by choosing a folder on your C drive in the Import Photos dialog, "Copy to:," you will find your images on your C drive in the folder you chose. Go to the Import dialog and look under "Copy to:" Lightroom displays the last place you copied files to. If you chose "Add Photos without moving," the photos are not on your C drive. However, you may be able to recover the photos on your crashed E drive using data recovery software.
When you import your photos, Lighroom creates previews which are still available, but Lightroom cannot process the photos without an actual copy of the photo to work with.
I suggest using the Backup to feature of Import Photos, backing up those originals to DVD, and backing up processed photos on portable hard disks. It is a good idea to have off-site backups also.

Similar Messages

How to recover my files from Lightroom Catalog?

I lost my (NEF) files from hard drive.My Lightroom 1.4 Catalog is on separate hard drive.It is possible to recover my files?

If you have no way of recovering the original .nef files then these are gone forever.
The best then that you can hope for is to extract .jpg files from Lightroom's Preview files. These are in the .lrdata folder next to your catalog (.lrcat) files. Your results will also depend on the size/quality of previews that you had generated.
If you are on Windows (I have only ever tried this on Windows Xp), then you can download lightroom_recover from here:
http://www.ploki.info/index.php?pagename=Main.LightRoomRecover
It will extract .jpg, but they have the same unwieldy names as Lightroom gives to the preview (.noindex) files.
If you still have the disc from which you lost your .nef files it may be worth searching for a data/image recovery program or indeed having a look at recycle/trash first.

HELP! Need to restore corrupt file/recover deleted file from LIGHTROOM Catalog

Hi,
I recently edited a wedding I finished and sent to her via WeTransfer. It showed that she opened the file, so I deleted it off of my computer. A few days later she said she couldn't open the file because it was corrupt (at this point I couldn't resend because I had deleted it as stated).
She sent it back to me to see if I could try opening -- but every time I try to open in Lightroom it reads:
Unexpected Error Opening Catalog
The Catalog could not be opened due to an unexpected error.
Can ANYONE help me recover this file?? I've also tried to run a Data Recovery software to retrieve it from the trash, but it won't recognize .lrcat files (it brought up all of the .jpegs, photoshop, .tiff files etc -- but no lightroom catalogs.
I REALLY really really don't want to have to re-edit 1000 photos again.
Thanks so much in advance for any advice xo
LB

City where you were born? wrote:
Thanks Rob --
Just did the scan (mind you I have NO clue what I'm doing), but I dropped it in the SQLite and clicked "expand" and it came up "Idle".
I've attached the two messages I got :
Uh, yeah - it's not an archive and so you don't want to try and expand it as if it was one.
I'm not sure which SQLite app you are using. I think SQLite Spy is Windows-only, but for Mac, maybe:
https://www.sqlitepro.com
Other Mac users may have more recommendations.
Once you get a real SQLite app, then open the .lrcat file with it.
R

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.

Restoring and Recovering from RMAN cold backup

DB Version: 11gR2
os : Solaris
Before dropping a DB we had taken an RMAN backup of the DB using
RMAN> backup database;We hadn't set a FORMAT (like db_%d_S_%s_P_%p_T_%t) for this DB , so the backups went to ORACLE_HOME/dbs directory. The 2 backup files are
/u02/app/oracle/11.2/db/dbs/01mo9fms_1_1
/u02/app/oracle/11.2/db/dbs/02mo9fnc_1_1 -- spfile and control fileNow we need to recreate this DB on a new server.
In the new server, we've placed the backup files in /u04/backup/rmanbkp .
Since We hadn't set a FORMAT parameter for the original DB which we have dropped what format i will give during restore?
Will RMAN automatically recognize the FORMAT of the backup piece and restore ?
RMAN> run
allocate channel c1 device type disk format 'i_dont_know_the_format';
allocate channel c2 device type disk format 'i_dont_know_the_format';
restore controlfile;
restore database;
}This the SHOW ALL output from the DB we have dropped .
RMAN> show all;
RMAN configuration parameters for database with db_unique_name BRCFTST are:
CONFIGURE RETENTION POLICY TO REDUNDANCY 1; # default
CONFIGURE BACKUP OPTIMIZATION OFF; # default
CONFIGURE DEFAULT DEVICE TYPE TO DISK; # default
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP OFF; # default
CONFIGURE CONTROLFILE AUTOBACKUP FORMAT FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO '%F'; # default
CONFIGURE DEVICE TYPE DISK PARALLELISM 1 BACKUP TYPE TO BACKUPSET; # default
CONFIGURE DATAFILE BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG BACKUP COPIES FOR DEVICE TYPE DISK TO 1; # default
CONFIGURE MAXSETSIZE TO UNLIMITED; # default
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION FOR DATABASE OFF; # default
CONFIGURE ENCRYPTION ALGORITHM 'AES128'; # default
CONFIGURE COMPRESSION ALGORITHM 'BASIC' AS OF RELEASE 'DEFAULT' OPTIMIZE FOR LOAD TRUE ; # default
CONFIGURE ARCHIVELOG DELETION POLICY TO NONE; # default
CONFIGURE SNAPSHOT CONTROLFILE NAME TO '/u02/app/oracle/11.2/db/snapcf_brcftst.f'; # defaultAs you can see we hadn't set the format explicitly , ie. the line
CONFIGURE CHANNEL DEVICE TYPE DISK FORMAT is missing

Hi,
Before dropping a DB we had taken an RMAN backup.I hope you were in mount mode.
Will RMAN automatically recognize the FORMAT of the backup piece and restore ?No it won't.
First you have to restore a controlfile in nomount mode with:
restore controlfile from '/u04/backup/rmanbkp /02mo9fnc_1_1';
and do alter database mount.
Than you have to run "catalog start with '/u04/backup/rmanbkp'; " so the instance now knows where to find the pieces.
Now you can run a restore database command.
Than open the database with resetlogs.
Regards,
Tycho

How to recover deleted lightroom catalog

Hi there.
I have by accident deleted my "Photos" folder from my Windows 7 computer. I wanted to move it to a new internal drive. I "thought" that I have copied the folder, including the folder with my complete catalog. I wanted to work on photo's a friend of mine wants and discovered that I have indeed not copied the folder to the new drive and most certainly deleted it from my C-drive.
Can you please suggest a program with which I can restore that folder, please? I have a NAS backup server and from some reason the folder is not on there either. My photo's are safe and sound but all my tags and all LR stuff is missing. Something free will be very nice.
Please.
Thank you.
Deon

Same problem here, can you please help? thanks!

Trying to recover deleted lightroom catalogues

Trying to recover deleted lightroom catalogues. It appears I have found them (with help of recovery software) but in recovery all of the names have been changed to random numbers. If I choose to recover, will the catalogues not open since the original names have been changed?

Catalog name is irrelevant as long as it ends with .LRCAT. Double-click on the file to open it.
And from now on, make regular and automated backups of your catalog file(s), preferably using the built-in Lightroom catalog backup function.

How do you move many "Folders" from one Catalog to "one" other Catalog?

When I first start using LR, I did not know anything about catalog.
After 5000 photos, everything is in the Lightroom Catalog.Ircat (by the way, what does Ir stand for?)
Some photos are done in the office (work related for PowerPoint). Many others are done at home.
Now I have learned to export a folder (containing birthday photos) to a new catalog in my external USB drive and deleted the folder from the laptop HD, I have done another folder (containing party photos) to yet a new catalog in my external USB drive.
My question is: How do I set up one Home.Ircat in the USB HD and move all my Home related folders to the external drive leaving all my work related folders as it in the laptop? Then, when I want to see my home photos, I won't have to deal with relaunching new catalogs every time I want to see something. Do you understand what I am trying to accomplish? (exactly, my boss won't buy me a bigger HD for the laptop, sucks!)
I am sure this is very simple. Please help.
Eddie

Thank you. Wish they had said Lrcat!
I can export folders into a new LR catalog, but if I export 10 folders, I ended up with 10 catalogs and each catalog contains only one (1) single folder.
What I like to do is to create a new catalog, such as Home.lrcat and move the folders over from Lightroom Catalog.lrcat so now one single Home.lrcat can contain 10 folders of home photos.
How do I do that?
Please help.

Consolidating catalogs & backups

I gather by reading some of the posts in this forum that should be possible to merge old catalogs, into one new one as to consolidate picture locations into one.
If this is correct can I do the following without problems. I have Version 11 waiting to install. I have reorganized my PC & have some old catalogs,sometimes on different drives,as well as possible some stray pictures on them as well.
I was thinking of installing the new software & create a new catalog from scratch. I could then refer setup to the most recent version 10 catalog & have it import & upgrade it to 11. Once this done I could refer the program to older catalogs, & import them one at a time.
Can one if necessary restore a backup in lieu of a catalogue as well if necessary? If the program can update from these catalogs & backups as well will it create duplicates or just refer to the pictures being in the catalog already?
Can the program then do a search to find any other pictures that aren't in any catalog & add them in as well?
If I then end up with one consolidated catalogue that contains all pictures everywhere I think that a new backup might be in order. Any catalogue created this way would still result with pictures scattered across drives? I have lots of space available so backups aren't a problem. Do I move all files onto one drive first or would it be better to do so from the consolidated catalog & then move all pictures to one location?
Thanks in advance

From what you have written in other posts, I suppose you practically did not use tagging or other organization features like albums or stacks ?
If that is the case, in my opinion, you don't need to bother with old catalogs or backups. Your migration should be able to :
1 - create a new catalog in the PSE11 format from your current main catalog : it's the conversion process which does not change anything to your present older PSE version. No picture files are copied or moved, only a new different catalog is created. You keep both PSE versions and both catalog versions.
2 - import all pictures not included in your present catalog, even if they are on different drives.
Can the program then do a search to find any other pictures that aren't in any catalog & add them in as well?
Yes, of course. With the current catalog active, you use the menu 'get files from files or folders'. You can get files from external drives (USB, CD, DVDs...) You have the choice to do so in PSE11 after the conversion, or before in your previous PSE version.
If I then end up with one consolidated catalogue that contains all pictures everywhere I think that a new backup might be in order. Any catalogue created this way would still result with pictures scattered across drives? I have lots of space available so backups aren't a problem. Do I move all files onto one drive first or would it be better to do so from the consolidated catalog & then move all pictures to one location?
Absolutely : do a backup when the catalog is up to date.
You can move pictures to a single drive before or after the above job provided you move your folders from the organizer in folder view. Since the PSE11 interface has been changed a lot, you should be more at ease by doing so before the above conversion process.
The additional advantage of a full backup is that you can restore it easily to another computer or drive. If you choose the option to restore to 'custom' location, stating a master folder, various drives will be copied as new folders in the new drive. In that case, you don't need to move the files from the external drive. The restore puts them on the destination drive, with different drives showing as different folder trees.

I deleted photos cause the capacity is so big but i backup first on itunes then when i was to restore some of those i cannot find photos from the last backup that i 've done. What to do?

I deleted photos cause the capacity is so big but i backup first on itunes then when i was to restore some of those i cannot find photos from the last backup that i 've done. What to do?

As far as i know, you can use a third party iPad photos recovery software to have a try. If i remember correctly, this software has two methods to restore your photos. One is recovering from your iTunes backup, another is recovering from your iPad directly.
http://easy-iphone-recovery.blogspot.com/iphone-recovery-resource.html
It is worth to try if your photos are important.

Recovering a previous iTunes backup?

Alright, so I have had my iPod touch (4th gen) for a few years now and have taken fairly good care of it. Over the past summer (May-September 2013) I've taken many photos with it, written notes and events in the calander as well as using the other utulities on the iPod. Unfortunately, it started acting up in mid-October. The iPod was completely unfunctional; it kept resetting itself without even showing the unlock screen. The iPod would show the Apple logo (as if it was restarting) but then turn to a black screen that would stay on the screen from a few minutes to a few hours, then flash a white screen and start the whole process again. I took it to the Apple store to get it fixed, but to have it fixed all the data that was on it would be wiped clean. I told the Apple helper to go ahead and try to fix it, as it wasn't functional anyways and thankfully they restored it as if it was a new ipod!
Unfortunatly, the data that I had on that iPod had gone a few months worth without a backup, so I lost a lot of data I would like to get back. I know I should have been more frequent with the backups, but as I didn't I'd like to see if there is a way to recover information from a previous backup.
I do not know if its possible to recover an iTunes backup from a specific time, or specific backup. If anyone knows anything about this please let me know!
Thank you!

whitefiskerkarma wrote:
Unfortunatly, the data that I had on that iPod had gone a few months worth without a backup, so I lost a lot of data I would like to get back. I know I should have been more frequent with the backups, but as I didn't I'd like to see if there is a way to recover information from a previous backup.
I do not know if its possible to recover an iTunes backup from a specific time, or specific backup. If anyone knows anything about this please let me know!
Thank you!
You can recover from the last backup.
See this -> iOS: How to back up and restore your content

Had PSE 8 installed on PC Windows 7 with a catalog backup on an external drive. Now have a Mac with OS Mavericks. If I install PSE 12 or Lightroom on this Mac can I use the cat. backup from Windows or must I start from scratch

Had pse 8 on a Windows 7 PC with a catalog backup on an external drive. Now have a Mac with OS Mavericks. If install pse 12 or Lightroom on the Mac will I be able to use the old catalog backup or must I start from scratch.

If you made a full catalog backup using the organizer's backup command, and you did it to a removable drive, yes, you can restore it to the mac. A backup made on discs will not work, though.

Is there a way to recover deleted photos from Lightroom?

Hi,
I recently lost pictures from my hard drive and I don't know how but I had deleted or removed the pictures from Lightroom as well. The catalog name still shows up on Lightroom but it shows that there are "0" pictures in the folder. Any advice on this?
Thanks!

Your photos were never in Lightroom; Lightroom only displays thumbnails (called previews) of your photos. Thus, at best you can only recover the previews, which will be smaller sized and lower quality than the original photos. In order for that to work, you need to find a catalog file that displays the previews (the catalog with 0 pictures in it won't help). Look under File->Open Recent and see if you can find a catalog file which displays these previews. If you find such a catalog file, you can recover the previews via a plug-in
In general, to recover lost photos you should:
1. Restore from the Trash/Recycle Bin if they are in there
2. Restore from backups of your photos
3. If you don't have backups of your photos ... why not? ... you need to begin making regular and automated backups of your photos AND catalog file to a different hard disk, no excuses ...
4. Try an "undelete utility" which may be able to recover deleted files ... there are free ones available ... if you get down to this step, do not perform any other tasks on your computer except find and use this program
5. If that doesn't work, recover previews from Lightroom

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.

How do you move one (1) Photo Folder from one Catalog to another Catalog in Lightroom 5?

I want to move one (1) Photo Folder from one Catalog to another Catalog in Lightroom 5 and my laptop (no external hard drive involved). I have already started the editing process in Catalog #1, but due to the size of the Catalog #1, I want to move the current job and future work to a new Catalog.
Currently the backup feature takes an hour to complete. There are also significant delays during large image edits.    So I am thinking, that by moving over to a smaller Catalog, Lightroom will work faster.

Hello ... and thanks for your response.   But I have discovered a couple problems. And I am sure it is "operator error"
I used your method #1. The first window that popped up stated that it was making a temporary copy of the catalog. This took about 20 minutes.
Next, the window showed thumbnail photos on the right and a list of folders in my catalog on the left. The catalog contains folders stored on my LapTop, as well as my external hard drive.
There appeared to be a distinctive difference between those photo folders stored on the external hard drive and those on my LapTop.   The folders on the external drive were named as I have all my folders named: Date_CustomName. The folders stored on my LapTop were named as: Lightroom_5 Backup_Date_CustomName or some such combination and my memory is foggy on the actual use of underscore, slash marks, dashes, etc.
I searched the list closely, and the Folders without a reference to "Lightroom Backup" were not showing.
So as a test, I "added" to the new Catalog one folder from the external hard drive and two from the LapTop.   After the transfer, the new Catalog had accurately named my external hard drive and the folder within in and the photos and their edits transferred accurately.   The other two folders were not named but listed shown in the library module as grey boxes as images with indications of editing. But when I clicked on it, there was a notation that popped up that the file could not be found.
Any ideas?
I am going to create a second new catalog and try your option #2 now.
Thanks

Recovering from lightroom catalog backup

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