I deleted my problematic LR6 off my external HD because I read to do that and just reinstall it. I have the 6 with the disk, come to find out is no longer possible. So I was able to get the program from an old back up on the other external HD I have but it was an old catalog. I thought I was backing up to the disk with the LR program on it but I guess I wasn't, it is the wrong HD
Is all the latest information in the .lrcat even if I didn't back it up? If I find the lrcat I just deleted will it be the latest one or does it have to be a backup version? Sorry talking in circles, my mind is fried because of this. I have a Mac and it was a stand alone LR6. I was able to find a backup from 2021. But need my latest work.
I can't help you because It has been many years since I have installed a program from disk and no one backs up programs or operating systems anymore. It just isn't done. Unheard of. Unworkable. Can't do it. So let me advise you in another way:
Programs are loaded from your accounts - Microsoft, Apple, Adobe, Norton, Good Sync, RawDigger, Helicon Focus, or many other programs that I could name that we use in our photography.
If you just lost some old legacy program that you bought (or were given) on disk ages ago (saved from the ancient computer world we all left so long ago), that is a good thing and in your case is the powerful and ancient
Gods of Adobe (who have absolute control of all the Aztec, Greek and Hittite Gods of the Ancient World) telling you it is time to load a new version of LR from your Adobe account, which you must open now if you want to use LR or PS. Loading this new version of LR and having an Adobe Account will open up a whole new world for you. By the way, did someone hand you that disk 7 years ago or did you buy a copy from Adobe with a copy/account number? Doesn't matter. That was then. This is now. Anyway, if there were still no Adobe prescription program, under the old rules you would still have to buy a new version by now anyway. So, look at it as a blessing.
Welcome to a new version of LR, (which you have to buy because it is impossible to pirate like I did with my first 2 versions of Photoshop 23 years ago - LOL!).
You must thank the Ancient Gods that have spited you for trying to use this old LR version from the Ancient World. They removed it from you like a cyst from your armpit - painful but will make you happy in the long run.
You losing that version of LR is a blessing in disguise. I tell photographers all the time that the 12 bucks a month I pay Adobe for LR and PS is the best deal in the world of photography. I'm being serious here. I'm not joking. Trust me. It is time.