help understanding proper catalog and backup usage

[monkeyman2279]

ive been using LR since it came out as a beta in version 1 and have fallen in love with it. currently im on LR2, though i havent updated to the .1 or .2 versions. ive just been busy and didnt want to take a chance with anything.

anyways, its never been a issue, until i realized that i must be doing something wrong with my catalogs and backups. i dont even know if i know how to voice my confusion, but i will try.

i always, thought that if i backed up my catalog and i had my prefs set to open the most recent, then it would open the most recent backup catalog, since i thought it would have the same info...maybe not saved thumbnail preview images, but where the files where, their ratings and adjustments.

i went along, for a long time, in happy bliss till one day i realized that it was never looking at a new backup, but the old backup which it was looking had grown to over 7 gigs, while the backups looked like 4'' or 5'' MB. well, that cant be right! :cheesy:

so then i figured that once i tell it to backup, then i need to go ahead and tell it to open that most recently backed up catalog and from that point on, it will look to that location, til i change that around, but today i noticed that some edited tiffs i had imported to a folder, last night, werent recognized in the backup catalog that i made, then set to today.

so im kinda lost and only now am i realizing that i really dont have a clue what im doing

fortunately ive never had a catastrophy with this whole thing, but i figure i need to get a handle on it in case i do...

someone set me straight.

my goal is to have all my pictures viewable in one catalog...i mean just their ranks and adjustments...especially things that are sent to my quick collection. can someone help me please?

 

[Brad Snyder]

Steve,

First 'Open the Most Recent' simply means, open the catalog that was open the last time I closed Lightroom. It has nothing to do with backups

Secondly, when you back up a catalog, using Lr's interface at start-up, a simple copy of the *.lrcat catalog file is made in the location which you designate. Generally the copy is placed in a dated subfolder.

In your normal operation, you would be always making a backup copy of the same catalog file, (which of course is 'newer' every day). And then Lr would open the regular working copy of the catalog file. The drawback to this is that old backup files continue to pile up, taking up space, as there is no automatic mechanism for only keeping the most recent few.

From your description, I can't tell what it was that had grown to 7 GiB, and although it seems that the individual backup files (and thus the working catalog file) were approx 4''-5'' MiB. What's 7GiB ?

That's the very basics. There's a lot more, but rather than rambling off on a tangent, I'll let you follow up with questions.

 

[monkeyman2279]

glad you cleared up the most "open most recent" thing for me.

the 7 gig file...that was the catalog file (or more correctly, folder) that was being used for a long time. in fact, it was in the dated folder from Nov 11, 2''7, if you can believe that. i dont know when i switched over from it (and therefore it stopped growing).

now i think im about to have a lightbulb go off, but correct me if i start to go wrong.

im looking at my backup folders (my documents/lightroom/backups) where i have that really old folder from 2''7, one from the end of '8 and 3 from this year.

as i look into them i see that some of the ones ive never "used" (meaning only created as a backup and never set them to open) only have a "lightroom 2 catalog" in them. its file is 45' MB.

the other, more recent, backup folders that i have worked in have a subfolder called "lightroom 2 catalog previews.lrdata", then "lightroom 2 catalog" and "lightroom 2 catalog.lrcat.lock"

the old folder from 2''7 (the one thats 7 gigs) has "lightroom database previews", "lightroom database" file (notice thats from version LR1 apparently), and "lightroom database.lrdata.lock"

now as i look across my dated backup folders, even though the folders, as a whole, are vastly different in size, the actual "lightroom 2 catalog" (or database from LR1) are actually about the same size (45'-ish MB). apparently the difference is in all of the previews folders.

am i being clear so far?

so the catalog is basically staying the same (though being updated as i work). the backups are just recent copies of the original catalogs.

the difference is in the previews being built up over time, correct?

so does the actual "lightroom 2 catalog" hold all the vital info? ratings, picks, quick picks, cropping, develope module adjustments?

if thats the case im assuming that the preview stuff is info that can be recreated on the fly, as needed. if thats true, that stuff is expendable, right? that stuff can be deleted as i need to free up space.

i have a few more questions, but lets make sure im on the right page first.

 

[Kiwigeoff]

It sounds like you have it pretty right.
The Open recent will show a list and the top one is the last - latest.
Open this to see if it is indeed the one you want to keep.
The folder you mentioned that contain only .lrcat or earlier versions of that are only catalog back ups as you describe.
.lrcatlock files are to prevent a catlog being accessed by two LR instances at the same time. They should disappear if the catalog has been closed properly. If they are in old folders they can be removed when you remove the folder.
The .lrpreview file is the previews which can be regenerated at any time. It may take some time though depending on how many files you have and how big you have your previews set.

Before you start deleting I suggest you make a copy of the whole lot to a DVD or something similar.
Then delete what you don't want. If it turns ugly you have your copy to go back to.

Hope that helps..........

 

[Brad Snyder]

I'm still not clear on why you're opening (indeed, doing anything at all with) the backup catalogs. Other that an integrity test, you really shouldn't be using them at all. If I understand what you're saying (not always a safe bet ) it seems as if you're leapfrogging from catalog to catalog. That's not the intended workflow.

as i look into them i see that some of the ones ive never "used" (meaning only created as a backup and never set them to open) only have a "lightroom 2 catalog" in them. its file is 45' MB.

That should be the case for all your backups. What's your reasoning for opening them?

 

[monkeyman2279]

i was leapfrogging from catalog to catalog...now i know that was wrong...

lets see if i have this straight. lets just pretend that i took my most recently used LR2 catalog and copied it out of its currently used location (in backups) and pasted it in just the plain old lightroom folder.

lets pretend, for the sake of clarity (i dont actually plan on this) that i set this as the catalog to open. i open it and everything runs fine.

ok, heres the theory part i want to wrap my noggin around, if i deleted every backup i had, all the previews, the lock files, everything, but that ONE .lrcat i copied out of backups, would everything still be OK?...in theory...

i know i wouldnt have cached previews and stuff, but would all the actual info on cropping, toning, curves, ratings, picks still be in that one .lrcat file, from way back in the day when i first started using lightroom?

btw, thank yall so much for the help!

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Short answer is yes.
If you move it to a new location, I have mine in a Lightroom folder and you can then double click it to open the catalog and check that what you want to see is indeed what you do se!!
If it is then you can dump the rest and then render new previews.