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.

Similar Messages

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

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

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

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

Lr 5.6 error message that reading preview cache failed and will correct when reopened; does not correct on reopening; removing preview.lrdata files allows LR to open but photos not shown; what action should I take next?

Lr 5.6 error message that reading preview cache failed and will correct when reopened; does not correct on reopening; removing preview.lrdata files allows LR to open but photos not shown; what action should I take next?

Yikesyou have helped me before and I thank you for that. Funny how at the last resort I ask a question and then an hour later I fix something that has been broken for five days. I got off on the wrong foot with Lightroom installation and I really stepped in it...a lot had to do with a bad hard drive and all that. I still have remnants of catalogues etc so I am never quite sure where I am. I ran a search and found more than one .lrdata files. I finally got the right one to delete and I think I am okI'll be crying to you again if I am wrongall best, thanks again for your helpjim sterne

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.

How do I consolidate Previews.lrdata files and folders?

After having succesfully consolidated multiple catalogs, how do I consolidate the different Previews.lrdata folders/files?
I have combined many catalogs into one "MasterCatalog" database but still have a dozen previews.lrdata folders spread over multiple hard drives.
How or should I combine them into one larger folder all on the same drive?

The previews for "MasterCatalog" are correct, and are a combination of all of the individual previews that existed previously.
The only thing you can do with the previews from other catalogs is delete them via your operating system, which shouldn't be a problem.

Backing up lightroom catalog - preview folder?

If the preview folder is not backed up, what effect does this have on lightroom? I am thinking only main effect would be those images that are no longer connected, you will lose their thumbnails/previews. Am I right in my thinking? For backup routines, do you usually include the preview subfolder?

The LR backup does not include backing up previews, it backs up the catalog file itself. These can be regenerated at any time, so backing them up isn't necessary, and if backup outside of LR I am not sure how you would re link them anyway so perhaps would be pointless.

Lightroom catalog previews dissapeared!

Hello, about a week ago i got some problems with my pc, and decided to use some clean-up applications. I fear these might have deleted some of my lightroom files.
What is happening is, that whenever I go into lightroom, it shows the photo names, folders and correct number of photos. But there are no images what so ever. I've then tried re-installing lightroom with success but only to discover that when i restart my computer or try running an update, it goes back to bad... Oh yeah, about the updates as well, adobe updater doesn't seem to work, it just won't install my updates.

> It says "no photo" in the big box
Then it's not the previews that have disappeared, but the actual photos. Looks your clean-up application was in a mood for cleaning up.
Check if you can find your actual files on your drive or in the trash box. If not, use some undelete software and avoid too much disk activity on your photo drive until then.

Very large jump in number of files on HD

I use SuperDuper every Saturday to clone my #1 HD to my #2 and #3 HD's (I'm a little paranoid) using smart update (incremental).
Last Saturday, 8/11, when I ran SD it evaluated about 490K files. This Saturday when I ran SD it evaluated about 840K files. I used Disk Utilities to look at #1 and it indicated about 840K files. Before I ran SD on #3 it indicated about 490K.
Last week Disk Utility indicated I used about 30G and it now indicates about 35.5G.
I have done nothing in the last week to increase my files by 70% or add 5G+. I've update a few app's but that is it. I have scanned #1 using VirusBarrier X6 and have also used Disk Utility to Verify #1.
I have also used HoudahSpot to look at files created/modified on or after 8/11 on #1 and there are no where near 350K. Note, I don't use Time Machine.
This is driving me crazy; any thoughts?
System Info: Pro Mac running 10.8 since July 26th.

Issue identified and solved.
When I installed Mountain Lion I went through and tested various programs to insure nothing got screwed up. I have a pref pane called Macaroni which runs a number of Unix like maintenance tasks on a regular schedule. I had turned it off and forgot to test it. One of the tasks it runs once a month is called Removing localized files; which, as you might think strips all non-English [this is configurable] lproj directories from all System directories, all application bundles and any other lproj directories found in the Applications directory and lproj directories found in the Users directory.
This morning I remembered it and turned it back on. I then manually ran it and the file count is back in a more "normal" range. It reduced the file count by over 200,000 and knocked off about 2G of disk storage.

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.

Buffered TDMS file still very large

Hello, I am trying to to stream to a TDMS file. I am writing approximately 10 channels of data at 20 Hz. I was creating a new file evey 5 mins or so and defragging the file once I was finished with it, which was giving me a reasonable size of file. I decided that I would like to make bigger files (over the period of hours) and the the defragging would be too computationally costly to do on the fly. I have been trying to set a buffer for the TDMS files but the resultant files are very large. You can tell the file isn't being writen until its closed (from watching its size in windows explorer) which suggests the file is being buffered. However its about 6 times bigger than an ASCII file of the same data, with and index almost as big again.
Does anyone have any ideas why it would appear to buffer but not actually reduce the data size. I'm running Windows XP, LabVIEW 10.0.
When I create each new file I run this to set the buffers. (I have also hard wired in a buffersize of 100000 on a one minute file to no avail.
Niall
Thanks
Niall

I has this marked as the solution but it turns out it only helped one of my programs. I am still getting very large (fragmented) TDMS and index files for another program. The problem is that if I just defrag the (supposedly buffered) file, it interupts the data logging because it takes so long. I'm 99% sure that it *is* buffereing as it doesn't write till it closes the file, and if I use the read properties function it reads back a set buffer size. Here is the VI that actually writes the data. There bit at the top is for writing an optional acii file so you can ignore that.
Its maybe a bit hard to see whats going on in the next one, but this is where the file is created before being passed to the setbuffer VI which I posted earlier. It also closes that last file
Its really hacking me off now and holding me up from going no to other stuff. It would be great if someone had some ideas.
Thanks
Niall

BPC log files very large

Hi All,
our BPC log files are very large compared to the data files. our
we have separate disks for data and log files:
DATA D:\ = 550GB total
LOG E:\ = 278GB total
D:\ICTSI_BPC.mdf = 5.6GB
E:\ICTSI_BPC_log.ldf = 185GB
is this correct? i have read that Log file should roughly be 25% of the
size of the total amount of data. Example: a 4GB database should have a
1GB log file. How can we adjust the size of the SQL log file?
we are using a multiserver set up, SAP BPC 7 SP04 (32bit)
MS SQL 2008 Server (64 bit)
thanks in advance!

Hi Jeb,
Do you already backup the database from the SQL Server ? Because in my server there is once when the log file is bigger then my database and that's because the backup schedule is not working.
So what i do is , do the backup manual from the sql server and the log file will shrink automatic.
After that , i create the automatic backup schedule again.
Hope this information helps.
Suprapto

Lightroom and preview cache and other related issues.

So I went to open up LR on Friday afternoon (1/30/15) and it wouldn't open. I can't think of anything I had done differently to it, nothing new with my computer. But when I clicked to open it, I got a screen that read, "The Lightroom catalog named 'Lightroom 5 Catalog' cannot be opened because another application already has it opened." I sought some outside advice. I made sure there was nothing even open in the task manager (after having already shut down and re-booted my computer a couple of times) and then opened my most recent backup catalog. I also deleted the "lock" file.
I was then able to import new photos to LR, but noticed that one folder was missing--the one from 1/29/15. That is likely the last folder I was working in before this whole mess started. After doing some clicking, I could see that those pictures were still in a catalog and on my hard drive, but I could not open a catalog with them in it. If I tried, I got a screen that read, "Lightroom encountered an error when reading from its preview cache and needs to quit." On the advice of a computer guy and with the reassurance that I can always restore if necessary, who told me to delete the preview cache file. I thought that's what I did, but now I'm not sure. I deleted a huge file folder entitled "Lightroom 5 Catalog previews.lrdata. This did allow me to open LR, but I had a few days' worth of missing folders and decided to restore what I had just done and seek advice again. Now I'm being asked this if I want to merge the deleted folder with a previews folder from 8/23/13.
Do I want to merge these? The August 2013 date is about the time I purchased LR. I have done nothing since seeing this. So I first ask if I should merge these and restore the files OR just keep the deleted previews folder in the recycle bin, then have LR find the missing folders. And secondly, what the heck happened to make this happen in the first place? Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Thank you for your reply. Very simple and helpful!
However, I am now a bit lost as my catalog is messed up. I am missing folders in the catalog that I have open. When I helped LR find them on my hard drive, I got a popup question that read, "The selected folder or one of its subfolders is already in Lightroom. Do you want to combine these folders. I clicked "Merge" and then the folder completely disappeared from the list of folders. I still see it in the correct place on my hard drive, but I can't get to it from LR now. I assume those missing folders (and another folder full of pics I imported but now don't see listed in the catalog) are in another catalog as I think I have been working with the backup catalog that I opened at the beginning of this whole mess. Can you help me get everything current and in one catalog again? Thank you.

Very Large Lightroom Catalog Previews.lrdata File

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