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Can all my old catalogs be deleted?

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floyd

New Member
Joined
Sep 5, 2022
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24
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
Classic
Lightroom Version Number
Lightroom Classic 11.5
Operating System
  1. macOS 12 Monterey
Over the years I've upgraded computers, upgraded external drives, moved files between computers, etc. In doing so I've accumulated a bunch of Lightroom catalogs (see attached). I can't image I need to keep all of them, but I don't dare start throwing files in the trash without knowing if it's safe to do so.

I know this is a newbie, ignorant, stupid question. But I'd rather ask a stupid question, suffer some grief/flames from people, but get sound advice than trash years of work.

I've attached my folder with all these catalogs. The catalog with the green dot is the only one I open and use. All the others are never opened. So, can I trash ALL the other catalogs and files other than the catalog with the green dot?
 

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This certainly not a " newbie, ignorant, stupid question." It's annoying that Lightroom Classic doesn't ask you if you want to delete outdated files after an upgrade. You can delete everything that doesn't have a v11 in the files name.

BTW, it doesn't look like you are generating Smart Previews. I would recommend that you create an import preset and create Smart Previews and use Standard Size previews. Supposedly Smart Preview allow images to load faster in the Development Module (as well as allowing you to work on images if your catalog is on a laptop hard drive and your images are on an external drive without having the ext drive connected. )

I'm not convinced that Smart Preview load appreciably faster, but at least they make me feel like I'm doing something to speed up Lightroom Classic.
 
LR catalog backups are just like any computer backup. You should keep what you need in case of a disaster with your current catalog. I will usually keep a couple of backups of any catalog (and spread out over time) in case of finding an issue later on that may not have been immediately apparent. But I also delete older versions that are quite old. So, choose and delete carefully, but do feel free to delete what would not be helpful in case of a catalog issue.

Good luck,

--Ken
 
I'm not convinced that Smart Preview load appreciably faster, but at least they make me feel like I'm doing something to speed up Lightroom Classic.
That's because in many (most?) cases there won't be a difference in loading speed if using Smart Previews. A lot depends on specifics, such as type of file being loaded, location of the catalog, location of the ACR Cache, location of image files if converting to DNG with Fast Load Data enabled.

In my case, shooting Raw, there'll not be any speed advantage when loading images into Develop if I create SPs during import. That's because if there's not an SP, LrC will load from the ACR Cache entry (which is automatically generated during preview generation)....and as both catalog and ACR Cache are on the same drive, the SP is not likely to offer any speed advantage over the ACR Cache entry. I guess the reason LrC defaults to the SP if one is available would be because of the larger pixel size of the SP might give a more pleasing initial presentation to the user on first loading (before it gets silently replaced by the full resolution preview which is generated in background).

Obviously there are a couple of good reasons to generate SPs during import....either for specific use in the Develop module via the Preferences>Performance Tab option to "Use Smart Previews instead of Originals for image editing", or as you suggest for editing while travelling without the original images. But if neither of those reasons apply I see no benefit in automatically generating SPs during import, so in my case I do not.
 
Over the years I've upgraded computers, upgraded external drives, moved files between computers, etc. In doing so I've accumulated a bunch of Lightroom catalogs (see attached). I can't image I need to keep all of them, but I don't dare start throwing files in the trash without knowing if it's safe to do so.

I know this is a newbie, ignorant, stupid question. But I'd rather ask a stupid question, suffer some grief/flames from people, but get sound advice than trash years of work.

I've attached my folder with all these catalogs. The catalog with the green dot is the only one I open and use. All the others are never opened. So, can I trash ALL the other catalogs and files other than the catalog with the green dot?
It appears to me the catalog with the green dot is not your most recent catalog. When you upgrade to the next version of Lightroom Classic it appends a "-nn" to the old catalog and puts out a new copy of the catalog with the "-nn" name. Your current catalog is the one named "Lightroom Catalog-2-v10-v11.lrcat". All files and folders with that "Lightroom Catalog-2-v10-v11..." name are related and required. These can be kept and the "*.lrcat" files could be zipped and moved to your backup folder. All the "Preview" folders except those with "Lightroom Catalog-2-v10-v11 Previews.lrdata" and "Lightroom Catalog-2-v10-v11 Smart Previews.lrdata". can be deleted.

Furthermore, you can rename "Lightroom Catalog-2-v10-v11..." to something shorter like "Master-v11...." to avoid all of the name appending and in the future when you install a new version, pause an choose your own file name instead of letting Lightroom append the next version to the existing name.
 
Oh, this is amazing information! So helpful! Thank you, everyone!

So if I understand correctly: The "green dot" catalog is actually an older catalog that I can delete. The catalog I'm actually opening (via the green dot catalog) is "Lightroom Catalog-2-v10-v11.lrcat," so when I click on that catalog I will go to the catalog I've always been using. That probably explains why I'd always get an "Upgraded Version of Catalog Found" warning each time I opened it.

Just to be certain, I can delete any file that DOES NOT have "v11" in it, correct? So basically I can delete my "green dot" catalog and change the "Lightroom Catalog-2-v10-v11.lrcat" catalog to my new "green dot," right?

Sorry for asking for confirmation. I am an extremely anxious person. Literally, each time I open Lightroom I worry and stress that I'll get some warning message or an image will open but the original file cannot be found.

Thanks again! Deeply appreciative!
 


Sorry for asking for confirmation. I am an extremely anxious person. Literally, each time I open Lightroom I worry and stress that I'll get some warning message or an image will open but the original file cannot be found.

Thanks again! Deeply appreciative!
I believe the answer to all of your additional questions is “yes”. To ease your anxiety, move the file to a temporary folder. Once you are convinced all is good you can delete the temporary folder and its contents.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
I'm following this as I have the same questions. Thanks for all the good info, @clee01l !

On followup question about your catalog renaming suggestion to simplify the name - does this need to me done from LR somehow? Or do I just rename it in Finder and then set that as the catalog opened when starting LR?
 
I'm following this as I have the same questions. Thanks for all the good info, @clee01l !

On followup question about your catalog renaming suggestion to simplify the name - does this need to me done from LR somehow? Or do I just rename it in Finder and then set that as the catalog opened when starting LR?
You can rename as you would any other file or folder (when Lightroom Classic is not running of course). The Catalog file and Previews folders need to have the same name included to match.

When you upgrade to a new version of Lightroom Classic, the upgrade dialog gives you the opportunity to change the name of the new upgraded catalog copy.
 
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