LR problem

For some reason I suddenly have hundreds of LRPREV files filling up my pictures library folders. Any idea why this is happening or how to stop it. Can I delete or move these files?

Thanks,
MIke

Well, those are LR Preview files, so you must have gotten some settings mixed up. Go to your Edit/Catalog settings dialog and look around and see if you have your preferences pointed to somewhere unintentional. And then initiate a backup using the same dialog to back up when you next exit LR and when the little backup dialog opens examine the backup destination folder.

My Pictures is the default location for the "Lightroom" folder which LR creates. LR needs those previews to function. You can change their location (and the location of the .lrcat catalog file) but they will still be on a drive. You can delete them, but LR will have to make them again, which will slow its operation. You can reduce the amount of drive space used by choosing in Preferences to have 1:1 previews deleted every day, once a week, once a month, etc.
If you decide to put them somewhere else, it is recommended to be an internal drive or very fast external (not usb) that is always on-line.

tonylong wrote in post #13506157
Well, those are LR Preview files, so you must have gotten some settings mixed up. Go to your Edit/Catalog settings dialog and look around and see if you have your preferences pointed to somewhere unintentional. And then initiate a backup using the same dialog to back up when you next exit LR and when the little backup dialog opens examine the backup destination folder.

Everything looks OK; I don't see what has changed. I can see where the backup folder is, but how do I find would where LR preview files are saved? I've used LR for years and this is the first time I've encountered this issue.

Any other suggestions? - again these LR preview files aren't in a specified LR file, but rather they are all mixed in with my photo files, creating a huge mess.

When you go to your catalog folder that you noted in your Catalog Settings dialog, open it and you should see your catalog .lrcat file and also a Previews folder (named after your catalog file).

The .lrcat file and the previews folder should have a "modified" date corresponding to the last work you did in LR.

You can test this out by going to one of the images with the "stray" previews, doing a mod, and then checking for the dates in the catalog folder and in the "stray" preview. If the "stray" preview shows the mod, well, then something is off. If it doesn't reflect the mod, then something was evidently off in the past.

I've seen some goofy things! Things that have showed up while I've been doing my "crazy Lightroom project" over the past few days, things that I did and don't even remember doing, probably late at night when I need to be sleeping but instead I'm pushing myself and then see the results and wonder what the heck was I doing?!

Lets start off with the basics. In LR go to Edit/Catalog Settings/General tab. You will see the location of your catalog and its previews listed there. By default it should say C:/..../My Pictures (according to OS the path will vary, in Windows 7 it is C:/Users/User/My Pictures). Click on Show and Explorer will open and show you the Lightroom 3 Catalog.lrcat catalog file, a folder with the name Lightroom 3 Catalog Previews.lrdata, a Lightroom 3 Catalog.lrcat.lock file and a Lightroom 3 Catalog.lrcat.journal file and a Backups folder. Inside the Previews.lrdata folder are 2 more levels of subfolders and eventually .lrdata files. The only thing essential here is the .lrcat file, LR can (and will) recreate all the others.

In my opinion C:....My Pictures is not where I want the LR junk to be. I don't use the My Pictures folder for anything, preferring to leave it empty (and also the My Music, etc. folders) and have all data storage on the D drive where I created a master folder called Photo. I created a Lightroom folder in it. I suggest you do something similar, finding a new location for the LR stuff - preferably on an internal drive. However, you cannot move the .lrcat file to a new location while LR is open. The .lock file prevents it - it is created when LR launches and is deleted when LR closes - so close LR. Now move .lrcat to its new home. I suggest you move the Previews folder also, putting it alongside the catalog. You don't have to, you can order LR to create new previews, but moving it over will save you time. This is assuming there is a Previews folder there, although you think LR is not putting the .lrdata files into the proper folder(s). If there isn't a Previews folder, you will have to force LR to create one.

Once the relocation is complete, with LR still off, double-click on the .lrcat file. LR will open and while doing so will take note of the new location and use that location every time. If you need to force the creation of a new set of previews, go to Library/Previews/Rende​r Standard Sized Previews. Depending on how many photos are listed in the catalog this could take some time. There will be a progress bar in the upper left corner. Once you have checked that LR is functioning o.k., you can go back to My Pictures and clean up any detritus that may have been left there.

Thanks so much for the input guys, I will try these suggestions.

OK, now I really need your help guys.

I went to Edit - catalog settings - Show -

I then clicked on the LR3 Catalog and when LR opened I'm looking at where I was like a year ago - no recent photos are there. What do I do now?

Thanks

I think I might have figured it out.

You say you "might have figured it out" ? Show opens a file browser window showing the catalog folder and if you open that folder you see the catalog .lrcat file and the current preview folder.

versedmb wrote in post #13521034
OK, now I really need your help guys.

I went to Edit - catalog settings - Show -

I then clicked on the LR3 Catalog and when LR opened I'm looking at where I was like a year ago - no recent photos are there. What do I do now?

Thanks

What folder was the catalog in?
I would guess that a year a go you somehow created a second catalog and have been using that. Once you find it (possibly with a system search) it will not be a problem to merge the two. Have you been backing up your catalog regularly? How about if you double-click on your most recent backup, what does it contain?