Two Catalogs, one is not wanted.

[herb]

I managed to get my photos down to one catalog, but the default catalog is not the one I have most of my photos in, it is an old one which keeps opening every time I open LR5.
I presume it is ok to delete the one that keeps opening? I have Time Machine on my mac should some need arise for the old one, but I don't see that happening.

 

[DaveS]

Hello,

You can open the proper one, by navigating to the lrcat file in the finder. When you double click on it, it should open up into Lightroom. In order to get it to be the default catalog, you go to the preferences (I think it's under the Lightroom menu on a Mac), and select the General tab (it's the first one). In that section, where it says "Default Catalog", you can pick the proper catalog off the pop up menu. If it doesn't appear there (it should, if you've opened the desired catalog (by double clicking as above)), you can pick Other, and then navigate to it in the dialog box that opens up. After that, Lightroom should open the proper catalog by default.

After that, feel free to delete the other one that you aren't interested in anymore.

Dave.

 

[Hal P Anderson]

Or zip up the one you think you don't want, just in case. Catalogues compress really well, so a zipped catalogue won't take up a lot of room.

Hal

 

[herb]

When I go to Finder and search for LR cat, I get two responses, one for Master and one for Best, the names of the two catalogs in question. Problem is, there are over twenty copies of each shown in finder! WTH have I done here??

 

[DaveS]

Can you post the results of that search? With luck someone can help pinpoint the correct one.

 

[herb]

Multiple catalogs in Finder

Can you post the results of that search? With luck someone can help pinpoint the correct one.

Best Catalog-2.lrcat
Best Catalog-2.lrcat
Best Catalog-2.lrcat
Best Catalog-2.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Ok here's one of the catalogs listings shown in Finder.

I am going to get my expensive Mac guru over here next week, maybe he will know WTH is going on.

Cheers

herb

 

[herb]

I did manage to get the desired Catalog to be the default, so some progress is being made.

 

[clee01l]

Best Catalog-2.lrcat
Best Catalog-2.lrcat
Best Catalog-2.lrcat
Best Catalog-2.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Best Catalog.lrcat
Ok here's one of the catalogs listings shown in Finder.

I am going to get my expensive Mac guru over here next week, maybe he will know WTH is going on.

Cheers

herb

All of these catalogs have the same name. They are probably backups of your current catalog. The important part is the path and this is missing from your list. How Many of them are found in "/Users/{yourUserName}/Pictures/Lightroom/Best Catalog/?

You probably have set the default catalog via the General tab in Preferences in the "Default Catalog" section it should point to your desired catalog in the drop box labeled "When starting up use this catalog:"

You don't need an expensive OSX tech involved. Unless they are LR literate, there will be less help that us here.

 

[herb]

I did manage to get my catalog default to the one I wanted, my question now is what do I do with all these backups, if indeed that is what they are. I have LR set to backup everytime I log off, but it seems like having all these backups clogs up the hard drive, no?
I think my question is about Mac usage as well as a LR default choice.

 

[clee01l]

Light room just makes a copy of your catalog when you log off. I set mine up to do this only once a week. This backup copy is not to be confused with a "real" backup of your critical sere data. This is what Time Machine and other similar apps are for. LR does not backup your master original images, it just makes a copy (a snapshot in time) so that you can recover your LR database if it some how manages to get corrupted or you screw up and do something stupid. It the catalog backup is on the same drive as your master catalog, it offers you no protection from the eventual certainty of when your HD fails. Again this is what TimeMachine and friends are for.

LR does not manage these daily/weekly catalog backups. So, you need to do your own housekeeping and clean out this folder periodically. You only need to keep catalog backups to recover any mistakes that you have created. How far back is that? Only back far enough to get beyond the level if risk you are willing to take.

 

[herb]

Thanks a ton Cletus: you da Man!