Lightroom Restart

If you would like to post, you'll need to register. Note that if you have a BCG store account, you'll need a new, separate account here (we keep the two sites separate for security purposes).

Dmacfarl

Dmacfarl

Active member
Member's gallery
Hi

I have had a catastrophic failure of my external hdd which had all of my photos. Fortunately, I have all of my images on a back up cloud service ( IDrive ).
I also have lrcat backups.
What is the best ( and easiest ) way to get back to my previous set up without losing all of my previous exits?
I have about 10,000 images backed up on IDrive.
Arggggghhhh..

Thanks.
 
Member's gallery
This might take a while, but don’t worry.

FIRST STEP…
  1. Download your photos stored in the cloud to your replacement external drive.
  2. I suggest giving the new external hard drive exactly the same name as the deceased HD.
  3. Download your latest LrC catalog file and your catalog backups. Hopefully, the latest backup is very recent.
  4. Coffee break (most likely, a lot longer!): let’s recover the lost files before going to the dreaded “Second Step” which involves linking catalog and files.
… David
 
Last edited:
Member's gallery
David Berry said:
This might take a while, but don’t worry.

FIRST STEP…
  1. Download your photos stored in the cloud to your replacement external drive; let’s call it “NEW HD”.
  2. Download your latest LrC catalog file and your catalog backups. Hopefully, the latest backup is very recent.
  3. Coffee break (or, maybe, a bit longer!): let’s recover the lost files before going to the dreaded “Second Step” which involves linking catalog and files.
… David
Click to expand...
Thanks very much . I was afraid of that ! 😂
“Missing Photos”!
Oh well … it’ll keep me out of the pub !
 
Member's gallery
If you have the ability, it would be good if you could re-create the file/folder structure of your old drive. LRC only knows the name of the drive and the file structure, not the exact drive (your original drive). If you can re-create everything on the new drive identically to the old one (with respect to your photo folders and files), then LRC will be none the wiser. That is why it is best, when possible, to create a back up that is identical to the working drive with respect to files, folders and names.

Good luck,

--Ken
 
Member's gallery
All files on NEW HD? Time for Second Step which ensures that new system mirrors the old.

SECOND STEP…
  1. Check that NEW HD (the replacement external drive) has exactly the same name as OLD HD (dearly departed).
  2. For example, if OLD HD's name was "LaCie 5TB", then that is exactly what NEW HD must be named.
  3. If NEW HD is named "WD 8TB" (because Western Digital decreed it to be so), right-click the disk's icon and choose "Rename".
  4. Now check the folder structure on NEW HD: it should be the same as that in OLD HD. (Only the folders related to LrC, of course.)

THIRD STEP…
  1. It's time to launch Lightroom Classic—LrC.
  2. Find files named "LrC Catalog-v14.lrcat" and "LrC Catalog-v14.lrcat-data" (or similar — the extensions are the critical identifiers).
  3. Right-click these two files and choose "Duplicate”. (Play it safe!)
  4. Double-click "LrC Catalog-v14.lrcat".
  5. Lightroom Classic—LrC works perfectly. Joy! Time for refreshment.
  6. Lightroom Classic—LrC doesn't work properly…
  7. Close LrC and delete the dud file "LrC Catalog-v14.lrcat" as well as"LrC Catalog-v14.lrcat-data". (Don't fret: we made duplicates at #3 above.)
  8. Proceed to Fourth Step.

FOURTH STEP (hopefully not needed)…
  1. It’s time to restore from an archived catalog. Let's assume that the last backup was made at 3:20 pm on Christmas Day.
  2. Find a file named "LrC Catalog-v14.zip" (or similar) which will be inside a folder named "2024-12-25 1520" — in turn inside a folder called "LrC Catalog Backups".
  3. Right-click "LrC Catalog-v14.zip" and choose "Duplicate". (Play it safe!)
  4. Double-click "LrC Catalog-v14.zip" to extract the needed files.
  5. Drag the two files "LrC Catalog-v14.lrcat" and "LrC Catalog-v14.lrcat-data" to sit alongside their (presumably dud) namesakes (those made in #2 and #3 of Third Step).
  6. Double-click the newly-restored "LrC Catalog-v14.lrcat".
  7. Lightroom Classic—LrC works perfectly. Joy! Time for refreshment.
 
Last edited:
Member's gallery
Anjin San said:
And to add one more recommended step…keep a local backup of the images drive. Samsung T7 Shields are pretty cheap. Recovering that way vice needing to download everything is a lot faster.
Click to expand...
Thanks . Fortunately I have all backed up to IDrive. And An external hdd. It’s just reclining stuff that’s a pain . Started and it’s going well so far..
 
Member's gallery
Dmacfarl said:
Thanks . Fortunately I have all backed up to IDrive. And An external hdd. It’s just reclining stuff that’s a pain . Started and it’s going well so far..
Click to expand...
You should really have a local backup as well as a cloud one…I was a long time sysadmin in my working days and we are paranoid about backups. I have probably 3 local copies besides the originals as well as BackBlaze. David has gotten you well on the way.…and if the folder structure is different then Find Lost Folder in LR is your friend…start at the top folder and that will find all the folders underneath…one reason my top level folder is Photos with year folders underneath there.
 
Member's gallery
If you have all your files on a spare hard drive, you can copy those files to the new replacement hard drive and avoid downloading everything.

I just copied files from 3 different internal hd's to a new 12 TB internal HD, then re-connected the new 12 TB HD to my LR catalog. At the beginning I was very careful to keep the same structure on the new hard drive that I had used on the old 3 internal HDs.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top