Lightroom and Mysteriously Deleted Files
Jul 10, 2020 20:58:16 #
Tommy 86
Loc: East TN
Long story - sorry.
Bought a new PC back in January or so and transferred LR to new PC with only minor complications. Yesterday, I got this notice from OneDrive: We noticed that you recently deleted a large number of files from your OneDrive. There were 309 files in OneDrive recycling that showed they were deleted yesterday. There were also 541 deleted 7/6 - 7/8. None of these files appear in the regular recycling bin.I did not delete these files. All files were from a folder named Lightroom Catalog - Master Previews.lrdata. In the process of trying to track down what happened, I discovered that I have two Lightroom folders: one is shown under OneDrive in Explorer, as well as under Pictures under This PC; the other LR folder is in C: Users, then in my personal folder. The LR folder under Users appears to be the one that LR uses when I open it. It has all my backups and several other folders and files that are very recent. The one under OneDrive appears to be older folders and files, perhaps duplicates. Some folders are identical in size to corresponding folders under Users. The LR folder in OneDrive does have the Lightroom Catalog - Master file that the Users folder does not have.
My questions are:
what are these preview files that were mysteriously deleted;
do I need to restore them;
how do I consolidate these folders and files from the two different locations.
Thank you, and please be constructive with your criticism. 😊
Bought a new PC back in January or so and transferred LR to new PC with only minor complications. Yesterday, I got this notice from OneDrive: We noticed that you recently deleted a large number of files from your OneDrive. There were 309 files in OneDrive recycling that showed they were deleted yesterday. There were also 541 deleted 7/6 - 7/8. None of these files appear in the regular recycling bin.I did not delete these files. All files were from a folder named Lightroom Catalog - Master Previews.lrdata. In the process of trying to track down what happened, I discovered that I have two Lightroom folders: one is shown under OneDrive in Explorer, as well as under Pictures under This PC; the other LR folder is in C: Users, then in my personal folder. The LR folder under Users appears to be the one that LR uses when I open it. It has all my backups and several other folders and files that are very recent. The one under OneDrive appears to be older folders and files, perhaps duplicates. Some folders are identical in size to corresponding folders under Users. The LR folder in OneDrive does have the Lightroom Catalog - Master file that the Users folder does not have.
My questions are:
what are these preview files that were mysteriously deleted;
do I need to restore them;
how do I consolidate these folders and files from the two different locations.
Thank you, and please be constructive with your criticism. 😊
Jul 10, 2020 21:36:28 #
In your LR catalog settings, under the File Handling tab, there's a setting for discarding 1:1 previews. You likely has a number (309?) age-out and were purged, probably during the catalog back-up processing.
The 1:1 previews are relevant for editing your images. Typically, you'll edit an image to completion over a short period of time and having the preview discarded has no long-term impact. If you return to the image and need a pixel-level view, the preview is dynamically rebuilt as you view the image.
I say the above with 'confidence' but not with 'certainty' of this being the exact issue. The preview files are named with encoded hash values, making them unique, but giving no way for a human to link the preview files with the images, as the values are stored internal to the LR catalog in ways we (users) cannot access.
While talking about LR catalog maintenance, you mentioned 'all my backups'. There's no sense in retaining more than the current (most recent) catalog back-up. The date-stamped back-ups let you identify the most recent so you can delete the older out-of-date files. LR does not automate this maintenance. Many people let LR back-up the catalog weekly and they manually delete these back-up every month or so.
The 1:1 previews are relevant for editing your images. Typically, you'll edit an image to completion over a short period of time and having the preview discarded has no long-term impact. If you return to the image and need a pixel-level view, the preview is dynamically rebuilt as you view the image.
I say the above with 'confidence' but not with 'certainty' of this being the exact issue. The preview files are named with encoded hash values, making them unique, but giving no way for a human to link the preview files with the images, as the values are stored internal to the LR catalog in ways we (users) cannot access.
While talking about LR catalog maintenance, you mentioned 'all my backups'. There's no sense in retaining more than the current (most recent) catalog back-up. The date-stamped back-ups let you identify the most recent so you can delete the older out-of-date files. LR does not automate this maintenance. Many people let LR back-up the catalog weekly and they manually delete these back-up every month or so.
Jul 10, 2020 22:10:11 #
Regarding the catalog and duplicate files, there are really only two important 'things' that LR manages:
a) The LRCAT file that is the LR catalog that manages the locations of all images in the catalog and the history of all edit actions on these images. And, the collection organization, keywords and so forth, but these just extended attributes of the image files.
b) The LR settings, assuming you've updated your LR parameters to store all these settings in the same folder as the catalog.
The image files are kept where the images are located on your hardware, not within the "Lightroom" folder. The thumbnail previews of the images are 'important', but still they can be rebuilt if you have the LRCAT and the original image files.
As you investigate any of these seeming duplicate 'Lightroom' folders, investigate and consider the contents based on the observations above.
a) The LRCAT file that is the LR catalog that manages the locations of all images in the catalog and the history of all edit actions on these images. And, the collection organization, keywords and so forth, but these just extended attributes of the image files.
b) The LR settings, assuming you've updated your LR parameters to store all these settings in the same folder as the catalog.
The image files are kept where the images are located on your hardware, not within the "Lightroom" folder. The thumbnail previews of the images are 'important', but still they can be rebuilt if you have the LRCAT and the original image files.
As you investigate any of these seeming duplicate 'Lightroom' folders, investigate and consider the contents based on the observations above.
Jul 10, 2020 22:17:33 #
Tommy 86 wrote:
Long story - sorry. br br Bought a new PC back in... (show quote)
You might have draged your complete photo directory to the OneDrive folder. This would have included the Lightroom folder. You do not need to include that folder.. open your OneDrive folder and look at what you have in it.
One drive is not a back up system. It is a place to put files to make them available from anywhere, or share them. It is like drop box.
Jul 10, 2020 22:25:29 #
Tommy 86
Loc: East TN
Thanks, CHG. I knew you would be one of the first responders. As always, you have given easy to understand, thorough advice, and it is much appreciated!
Jul 11, 2020 06:44:16 #
Tommy 86 wrote:
Thanks, CHG. I knew you would be one of the first responders. As always, you have given easy to understand, thorough advice, and it is much appreciated!
He does know his $hit. In a good way.
Jul 11, 2020 11:38:35 #
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