Now, if you’ve updated to the latest version of LrC
(currently version 10), then you may also see your old
catalog file from when you were using the previous version
of LrC. In my case, the file named “Lightroom Catalog
.lrcat” is my old catalog. When I opened the new version
of LrC, I was prompted through the process of upgrading
Ideally, this is exactly where you expected your catalog
to be located; however, it’s not uncommon for people to
discover the catalog they have open isn’t at all where they
expected it to be stored. If your catalog isn’t where you
expected, or not where you want it to remain, then you’ll
want to check out my article on LightroomKillerTips.com
on moving your catalog to a new location.
Next, click that Show button to open the folder
containing your catalog, and take a look inside. Along
with the .lrcat file can be several .lrdata files, which are
supporting players to your catalog, and they contain
some type of preview used in the normal operation of
LrC. If that catalog file is currently open in LrC, you’ll
also see some other files that automatically go away
when the catalog is closed (notably the .lock and -wal
files). That’s all fine.To make sure you know where your catalog is located,
go to Lightroom Classic (PC: Edit)>Catalog Settings,
click on the General tab, and you’ll see the location of
the currently open catalog.a copy of the old catalog and renaming the new copy
to be used with the new version. For me, the current
(updated) catalog is named “Lightroom Catalog-v10.lrcat.”
I’ve been using the new version without a problem for
a few months now, and have plenty of backup copies.
I’m not going to go back to LrC version 9, so I no longer
need the old Lightroom Catalog.lrcat file, so I can delete
it to recover that disk space. Clearly, you need to be
just as certain as I am about which catalog is which.
This is why we started by looking at the name of the
currently used catalog in the Catalog Settings dialog.
Once you’re sure, you can safely delete old catalog files
that you no longer need.
While you’re in this folder and you decide that you
don’t like the name of your catalog, you can rename
it to something else. Check out my article on “How to
Rename Your Classic Catalog” (and its supporting files).
Next, ensure that the catalog file is backed up on a
regular basis. Head back to that Catalog Settings dialog,
and note the Back Up Catalog drop-down menu at the
bottom. I have mine set to prompt me to back up the
catalog Every Time Lightroom Exits. I don’t actually run
the backup every time I quit Lightroom, but I do like to
have the option and the reminder. This way, if I’ve done
a lot of work, I can click the Back Up button, but if I don’t
have time, I can click Skip this Time.Note: The prompt that appears when you exit Lightroom
is the only place where you can configure the location
for the backup copy to be stored. I’m a big Dropbox
user, so I send my backup copy to be stored within my
Dropbox folder. This ensures that my backup copy of the
catalog is going to be synced to the cloud and my other
computers automatically and quickly. If you don’t use a
cloud storage service, then simply pointing that location
to another drive is good enough.
Each time that backup process runs, it creates a copy
of your catalog at that moment in time in the location
configured in that backup prompt, and then compresses UNDER THE LOUPEKELBYONE.COM