Adobe Lightroom, as well as Photoshop, is a tool that allows you to edit, process, and organize your photos. Have you encountered Lightroom catalog file loss? If you are bothered by that problem, you come to the right place. This post from MiniTool will introduce some ways on how to recover Lightroom catalog files to you.
A Brief Introduction to Lightroom Catalog Files
What Are Lightroom Catalog Files
A Lightroom catalog is a database used to store information related to photos, such as file location, editing, keywords, and so on. It is also a center where you can find and manage your images. LRCAT files contain all the information about the photos you import into your Lightroom, including the file location and editing history of each photo.
Through the LRCAT file, you can edit photos without overwriting the stored original files. Moreover, it allows non-destructive picture editing, because each modification is stored in the catalog file along with its corresponding LRCAT-DATA file which most LRCAT files are accompanied by to store additional information.
Where Are Lightroom Catalog Files Stored
The Lightroom catalog is stored in C:\Users\[user name]\Pictures\Lightroom by default. However, the location of the catalog can be changed. You can choose to store the Lightroom catalog in any location on your computer including the external storage device. One thing you should notice is that if you save the Lightroom catalog to an external disk, you will need to connect it to your PC each time you use Adobe Lightroom.
As mentioned above, most LRCAT files are accompanied by an LRCAT-DATA file that contains additional information about the photos. If you want to move your catalog to another location, be sure to copy both files.
After opening the Lightroom, you can choose Edit > Preferences > General > Default Catalog to verify its default location. It should be noted that your photos are not included in the Lightroom catalog. They are still stored in the original location, while the metadata, revisions, and the original location of the images are stored in the Lightroom catalog.
How to Recover Lightroom Catalog Files on Windows
Can You Recover Deleted Lightroom Catalog Files
It is possible to restore accidentally deleted catalog files, but the likelihood of successfully recovering a file depends on how the file was lost and if there is a data backup. Accidental deletion, malware/virus attacks, formatting, or computer crashes are the common causes of Lightroom catalog file loss. Luckily, you can most likely recover your catalog files with the following tips.
- Stop using the partition where your files are lost. Stop using the partition where your lost files are stored. This will effectively prevent the lost files from being overwritten and unable to be recovered.
- Scan your device and recover files as soon as possible. The sooner you scan your device, the greater the chance of recovery and the more complete the recovered files will be.
- Do not install the recovery software in the same location. If you are going to download and install recovery software, store the installer file somewhere else in case it overwrites lost files.
Now you know the reasons for Lightroom catalog file loss, then you may ask “how can I recover a deleted Lightroom catalog”. The methods will be explained in the following part. Keep reading.
Way 1: Recover Lightroom Catalog Files From the Recycle Bin
Files that are accidentally deleted can usually be found and restored in the Recycle Bin as long as you do not empty the Recycle Bin during this period. So when you accidentally delete the Lightroom catalog files or find they are lost, you are supposed to recover them from the Recycle Bin immediately.
Step 1: You need to double-click on the Recycle Bin to open it. All deleted files will be here.
Step 2: Find and right-click on the deleted LRCAT files you want to restore and select Restore.
Step 3: Now the files are restored to their original location. You can drag and drop the file to the desired folder as well.
Way 2: Recover Lightroom Catalog Files From the Backups
Lightroom Classic offers the ability to create regular catalog backups automatically, which means you can recover deleted LRCAT files using the built-in backup feature. Here are the steps on how to recover deleted files from Lightroom backups.
Step 1: Locate and extract the backup file. By default, Lightroom Classic saves backup catalogs to this location: C:\Users\[user name]\Pictures\Lightroom\[catalog name]\Backups\. Then open the Lightroom Classic app and go to File > Open Catalog.
Step 2: Now you need to navigate to where you’ve backed up the catalog file.
Step 3: Select the backed-up .lrcat and .lrcat-data files and click on the Open button.
Alternatively, you can copy the backup file to the location of the original catalog file and replace it.
If you want to change how often you back up your Lightroom Classic catalog files, you can do so by following these steps:
Open Lightroom Classic, and click Edit > Catalog Settings. In the General tab, you can choose the frequency of backups in the Back up catalog drop-down menu.
Way 3: Recover Lightroom Catalog Files Using MiniTool Power Data Recovery
If you don’t enable the backup feature, don’t worry, you can use a data recovery tool to recover deleted Lightroom catalog files. MiniTool Power Data Recovery is the best choice for you.
This powerful and reliable recovery tool works well on various types of data recovery such as hard drive recovery, USB flash drive recovery, SD card recovery, and so on. Additionally, it also supports scanning the specific folder where your files are stored which is faster and more targeted. Moreover, it is capable of restoring most types of files such as recovering WMF files, recovering HTML files, etc.
As powerful and free file recovery software, this tool is compatible with almost all Windows versions (including Windows 11/10/8.1/8) and is regarded as the most complete and effective recovery tool. No matter what the reason is for your data loss or whether you are a novice or an experienced user, you can use it to retrieve your lost files. Download and install it on your computer to do a free recovery for 1 GB of files.
MiniTool Power Data Recovery FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
To restore Lightroom catalog files, you are supposed to complete the following steps in MiniTool Power Data Recovery.
Step 1: Launch the MiniTool Power Data Recovery app
After installing the MiniTool Power Data Recovery software, you need to double-click on the icon to open it. When prompted by the UAC prompt, just click on Yes to continue.
After opening, you will see the main interface including two main parts, Logical Drives and Devices. The former shows all disk partitions, including lost partitions and unallocated space, and the latter displays all disks. On the bottom, the Recover From Specific Location column supports recovering files from the Desktop, Recycle Bin, as well as recovering files from a specific folder.
Step 2: Select the Pictures folder to scan
To reduce the scan duration, you can go to the Select Folder section and select the Pictures folder > click on the Select Folder button to start scanning. This scanning process will take some time. However, to obtain the complete results, you should be patient to wait for the process to be completed instead of interrupting it.
Step 3: Select the wanted LRCAT files from the scanning results
After the scanning ends, the scanning results will be displayed under the Path tab according to the path by default. Typically, there are three types of files: Deleted Files, Lost Files, and Existing Files. Now you are expected to find the LRCAT files you want to recover by expanding the target directory. Moreover, the following features can be of great help.
The Filter feature in the upper-left corner can classify the scanning results based on file type, modification date, file size, and file category. You can set conditions according to your situation.
Most importantly, the Search box in the upper-right corner can help you find the targeted files quickly by typing the keywords of the file name. To find your LRCAT files, you can type lrcat in the box and press Enter.
Step 4: Save the selected LRCAT files to a new location
Now that you have selected the wanted LRCAT files, then you need to save them. Click on the Save button at the bottom. There will be a new window named Select a directory to save files.It’s recommended that you choose a new location instead of the original place in case the lost files in the original place are overwritten and cannot be recovered. After selecting a location, click on OK in the window to continue.
Once the recovery is completed, the Notice window will pop up. You can see the size of the recovered LRCAT files and the free remaining recovery capacity.
Way 4: Recover Lightroom Catalog Files Using MiniTool Partition Wizard
MiniTool Partition Wizard is a reliable and professional data recovery tool that provides partition recovery and data recovery functions to help you easily recover lost or deleted partitions and data. This tool can help you convert MBR to GPT without data loss, recover data from hard drives, format a partition larger than 32GB to FAT32, partition hard drives, and so on.
Here are the steps to recover LRCAT files with MiniTool Partition Wizard.
Step 1: Click on the following button to download and install it on your computer.
MiniTool Partition Wizard FreeClick to Download100%Clean & Safe
Step 2: Double-click on the MiniTool Partition Wizard software to open it.
Step 3: On the main interface, switch to the Data Recovery section on the top and click on the Select Folder section to scan the Pictures or Lightroom folder.
Step 4: After the scanning is over, find and tick the LRCAT files you want to recover.
Step 5: Click on the Save button to recover them.
How to Repair Corrupted Catalog
Catalog file corruption can occur due to hardware and operating system problems, including system crashes, hardware failures, or power outages, which prevent Lightroom Classic from accessing the catalog. Moreover, if the connection of the drive where the catalog is stored is lost when you write a catalog in the Lightroom Classic, the catalog may be corrupted. When will the drive be lost? If the external drive is accidentally disconnected or the catalog is stored on a network drive, this problem will occur.
How to repair the corrupted catalog?
- Launch the Lightroom Classic app and hold the Alt key while opening it.
- In the Select Catalog window, check the Test integrity of this catalog option. After the process ends, close the app.
- Hold the Alt key while opening the Lightroom Classic app again. Then click on the Create a New Catalog button and then try to import the corrupt catalog. After the repair process is over, you can try opening the backup catalog to see if they are fixed.
To Sum Up
This essay introduces what the Lightroom catalog file is, how to recover Lightroom catalog files with different tools, and how to repair a corrupted Lightroom catalog. It is worth mentioning that MiniTool Power Data Recovery and MiniTool Partition Wizard are the most reliable LRCAT file recovery software you can use to recover Lightroom catalog files. Hope they can help you.
If you have any confusion about these two MiniTool recovery tools, feel free to contact us via [email protected].
About The Author
Position: Columnist
Chelsea graduated from university with a major in English. She has a strong interest in English writing. It is this passion for writing that led her to become an English editor. Her articles mainly foucus on data recovery and other computer industry news. As an energetic and outgoing girl, Chelsea enjoys listening to music, singing, riding bikes, and eating in her spare time.