Save/export Preview files?

[pjoyce]

I have searched the forum but could not find an answer to the problem I have.

I'm using MS Vista and basically had a HDD crash, so much so that the partition is showing as "not formatted". I have not written anything to the drive since and despite trying to use numerous Recovery Data software cannot get back some specific images I'm after (some I did get back).

The specific .CR2 images I'm after were previously imported into Lightroom 1.2 "from their current location" and were therefore not copied. I can see the images I want in the Library but cannot Export them as the original files imported are no longer there.

Apart from a) viewing the photos within Lightroom and taking screenshots of each image or b) keep trying Recovery Software to find the original images is there anything I can do?

As I can see the images in the preview, are the actual Lightroom preview images somewhere on my HDD that I can re-save/export?

Apologies if the above does not make sense but I've tried to describe my situation the best I could! Finally, anyone have any links explaining the best way to back up such data in the future so I don't have the same problem again?

Many thanks in advance for any advice!

 

[Clicio Barroso]

As I can see the images in the preview, are the actual Lightroom preview images somewhere on my HDD that I can re-save/export?

Well, yes.
The images are into a special file called "***Previews.lrdata", where *** stands for your Catalog name.
IF you had created 1:1 previews before the crash, they should be big enough for web and small print work.
I hope you recover your HDD.
:?

 

[Victoria Bampton]

The previews are split into odd formats though, and I've just grabbed a 1.7mb file out of a preview folder and given it a jpg extension, and only got the tiniest thumbnail. I've believe there's some complicated coding which pieces all of the 'bits' together, so it's not quite as simple as that.

For a start, I'd suggest backing up the previews, just in case the coding is ever worked out to enable you to retrieve them from there. But for the moment, it's not looking like a viable possibility I'm afraid.

I'm just trying to move files around on my hard drive so that LR loses them, but it keeps following me! So someone else will have to test this for the moment! I'm trying to remember which output options use the 1:1 previews rather than the original files. Don't web and slideshow (on windows) both use 1:1? And print when set to draft quality? My thinking is that you may be able to try a few different output options to see how big a file you can get out of LR using the normal tools.

 

[DonRicklin]

If all you have is previews, one way to retrieve them is do a Draft Print to a file as high a setting as LR will let you do.

Don

 

[pjoyce]

Thanks for everyone's replies (apologies, I've been away). In the end I managed to create a HTML slide show and set the images to as large a size as possible and export the previews that way. I got the images I wanted and the size/resolution is fine for what I need them for.

I shall be keeping my eye on this forum as I think I'll be able to get some useful info from here based on the threads.

 

[palmero]

Hi,

I am new to the Forum and also a switcher to MAC....

I had a little problem with my pictures since I was migrating data a external drive to the MAC and didn´t know that in MAC when you copy a folder to a location in which you have a folder with the same name the contents are not added, but replaced...

I mean, I had a folder named 2''7, and 12 folders inside, and subfolders for each day in the tree, so each folder contains the pics of a single day.

I dragged a folder called 2''7 to the same level, with only a few pictures inside.... and all the pictures were gone, except for the new ones...

I have lost about 1''' pictures, but I keep the 1:1 previews and I have exported them using WEB module....

But now I have two questions for the GURU´s:

1 - Is there any way in which I can override the limitation of 2'71 pixels in the size (my previews are 3'72x2'48, so I am resizing and cropping a bit)

2 - Is there any way to get the EXIF or Metadata out with the JPG exported files. If not, everything is exported into a single folder and there is no shooting data...

Thanks,

AND BE CAREFUL WHEN COPYING FILES IN MAC... NOW I USE FTP to localhost..

Regards

 

[Mark Sirota]

See my response on the other thread where you asked the same question.