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Archive 2015 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is stil...

  
 
Focus Locus
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


I was scrolling through about 4,000 pics, saw one I didn't like, selected it and deleted it.

It was odd that it took so long, then the spinning beach ball appeared.

I looked at the top left status bar, and LR4 was deleting the entire catalog of photos, as well as all my edits of the last three days.

LR4 backs up only when I close, but I've been working on this project almost 24/7 for 3 days straight. Now all that work is gone. Not the pics... those are in several places... but all the EDITING work.

What happened? Prior to seeing the photo I wanted to delete, I had selected all of the photos in thumbnail the Library module to make a global IPTC data field change. I then went back to individual file viewing, still in Library module, and in that mode there is no way to see that all of the pictures are still selected... due to viewing only one picture at a time. So when I deleted the bad image I saw, not only did all of the images get deleted, but all of the instruction sets for the previous images I had already invested the last 3 days editing.

I looked in the trash, and indeed saw all 4,600 images there. But Apple has eliminated the "Restore to original location" feature, and replaced it with a "Put Back" feature, which unfortunately is only availabe if the files were deleted with Finder. Otherwise, "Put Back" is greyed out and unavailable to use.

But far worse... there was NO .lrcat files in the trash at all. Only the pictures.

I have backed up the .lrcat files when prompted on shut down, but I haven't shut the computer down in 4 days now, so that dialog box has not appeared. Furthermore, even if I did know how to "backup" the .lrcat files without being presented with the opportunity, I still don't know how to recover those backed up .lrcat files in the event that I need them.

Like now. Only I doubt that the backups have the last 72 hours of work on them, because I have not been prompted to back them up, because I haven't shut down. And I'm still not shut down. Can anything be recovered?

I manually put the 4.600 images back in the files I originally copied them to on the Raid 5 Array, but even though the files are back, LR doesn't see them... I guess because they have to be re "imported", right? More hours lost.

I've searched, and most of the answers found are not good news. But some of the situations presented are more severe... such as the hard drive was wiped, or the files were overwritten, etc. But I haven't done any such thing. I command Z'd a few steps back, and LR4 actually REMEMBERS all of the rating and color sorting choices I made, on images LR no longer sees, from a catalog that LR not only trashed, but vaporized, because it isn't in the trash.

Is there anything I can do to get the last three days of my life back and recover those edits?

One more thing: I looked at the Catalog settings, and the box was checked where it says "Include Develop settings in metadata inside JPEG, TIFF, and PSD files." I shot in JPEG, and my develop settings were applied to JPEGS. I recovered those JPEGS from the trash. Does this mean that my Develop settings were embedded by LR into the metadata of the JPEGs that I edited? If so, in what field? I've never seen EXIF data that had an LR settings field. Some of my edits involved an estimated 100 adjustments per photo. I thought all of those instructions were stored in an .xmp sidecar file?



Jun 09, 2015 at 01:05 AM
Keith B.
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


I don't have an easy solution, but hopefully someone who can suggest one will speak up.
Assume Mac(spinning beach ball): for the future, deselect all is accomplished by typing: command-D.
I've deleted entire catalogs by accident, but got them back intact via Time Machine® by Apple.




Jun 09, 2015 at 02:06 AM
Focus Locus
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


I have a time machine, but this work is on a laptop from the last 72 hours. I haven't plugged in the Time Machine in the last 72 hours.

Lightroom offers to "back up" their catalog.. Where does LR keep the backup? How do I invoke the backup when it is needed?

I've backed up the lightroom catalog several times, but like most things from Adobe, I don't understand how they work or relate to how they think. Completely non intuitive to me. So several backups of my .lrcat where made... how do I reinstall an LR backup catalog?



Jun 09, 2015 at 02:54 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


ok a couple of things .

1ST : how far past the delete have you gone in LR ? if you make a mistake and delete something(s) from the catalogue you can do a Command Z and step back . although if you've closed the application you will have lost that option .
Also as a note when you delete I find it better to MOVE any deletes to a delete folder and then I delete them from the Catalogue (not the computer) . I can go into finder at a later date and delete the delete folder .

2nd : do you write edits to XMP files ? if so those xmp files may still exist . you need to have the amp in the same location as the image file . most of your edits should still be there . you won't have an edit HISTORY though as history is only contained in the LRCAT .

3rd: Backups . the LRCAT back up file is a complete file . you can double click it and it will run . you can also open it from the open option in the file menu .

4th: not wishing to preach , but if your working on lots of images, especially over a long period its good practice to STOP and do a backup .



Jun 09, 2015 at 05:19 AM
Focus Locus
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


I was at zero clicks past the delete in LR. I literally had to WAIT for LR to finish deleting all of my work before I could do anything further. I had the opportunity to watch the progress bar moving across, while the beach ball was spinning, as Lightroom wrested control from me, as it so often does, not permitting me to click anything until it was done deleting.

So as far as how far past the delete did I go? Zero clicks. As I mentioned in my original post, I command Z'd to step back...about 10 to 15 times. And the sickening thing was that LR remembered all the recent steps I performed.... ie, I coded this picture yellow, that picture blue, this one purple, that one cropped... etc. BUT AT THE SAME TIME, Lightroom reminded me that the image was no longer available.

Even after I went into the trash, found all of the pictures, and manually put them back in the original folders Lightroom said they should be in. I had to do this manually, because the Mac "Put Back" menu was gray, and because I could not find any "undo" provision in Lightroom, and Command Z didn't work.

So that ruled out the 1rst and most intuitive solution.

As far as xmp files... I would hope LR writes to xmp files. That would have been my intention if I had seen the option. But now that I think about it, I've only seen the option in LR2, not in LR4. Apparently, the LR4 Import module hides a lot more things from view, and drastically rearranged them. I discovered this when it comes to rendering 1:1 previews. In LR2, the dialog box was clear to me. In LR4, I didn't even think about it because I didn't see it.
So that means that while I would have chosen to write edits to xmp files attached to the image file, I don't know what LR4 did, and I don't even know how to find out.

I don't see XMP files anywhere obvious. Where or how would I find them? Where or how does one make the election to write to XMP in LR4 (as opposed to 2).

As far as backups, turns out that LR deleted the backup when it deleted the catalog. The folder was empty.




Jun 09, 2015 at 09:33 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


In which case things dont sound too good

im not in front of my LR machine at the moment but I think XMP creation can be turned on in the preferences . Like I said before not everything is stored in the XMP . stuff like history and catalogue stuff (picks rejects , colour lables etc) I dont think are .

as for the backups , not sure why or how LR would have deleted them . by default I think LR puts a backup folder in the same place as the LRcat file which is pretty pointless as thats the last place you want to put a backup . But you can choose the backup destination . Its an option if you see the backup dialogue box when you close LR . maybe worth searching your entire system for the file .LRCAT . as mentioned before each backup is a complete file and can be run on its own (ie its not incremental so doesnt need a previous backup ).
If you ever upgrade to LR 6 you will probably like how they've changed the backup . it now Zips the backup file (my 1.5ish GB LRCat zips down to around 150mb), so if you let LR backup frequently it doesnt eat as much hard drive space




Jun 09, 2015 at 11:30 AM
Focus Locus
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


Ian, I appreciate your help. I gave up on the recovery, and will miss the deadline due to starting over.

Here are the workflow changes I'm now gearing toward:

1. I import into LR, and it naturally does whatever the heck it wants. HOWEVER, before I do a single edit or selection, I go in and manually move the LRCAT, the BACKUP, and the PREVIEWS files, along with my image files, to where I decide I want them to be. So I know where they are.

2. I do the above by copying the folders above to my designated place. I then throw all of the LR made files in the trash, but leave the trash unemptied.

3. I close LR, restart the computer. LR opens, and complains that it can't find the files. Good. Then I use that dialog box to choose a different catalog. I have to press choose a different catalog twice, because LR doesn't know where I put my stuff. Which is a lot better than me not knowing where LR put my stuff.

4. I navigate to where I put my stuff, and choose that LRCAT file.

5. It opens, and everything is where I left it last, which is imported, but untouched.

6. I shut everthting down again, and but this time I empty the trash of the original LRCAT that LR made.

7. I restart, and it all works. I know where I put my stuff, and LR knows where I put my stuff. NOT the other way around.

8. I changed LR to back up catalog to every single time I exit program.

9. I found the LR Preferneces setting to add XMP files to all images. This was apparently not done in my LR4, even though many other preferences from my previous (and still loaded) LR2 software carried over into the new version.

And finally, 10. I'm going to shop for an alternative to LR. I'm thinking of Capture One 8. I"m fed up with not getting how Adobe thinks. I'm never going to the cloud. I like to work offline. I like to know where my stuff is. I don't like losing 3 days of work in one click.

The last question I have is how to keep LR from closing after an unspecified amount of time of inactivity. I never want it to close when I'm working on a project. I want it on 24/7. I want to go to bed for 2 hours, and get up again in the middle of the night and keep working right where I left off.

If I'm not there to babysit LR, a dialog box will appear and say it will close if I don't press Cancel or something like that. Once it gets to the next dialog box asking if I want to back up the catalog or not, THERE IS NO OPTION TO CONTINUE WORKING. i am FORCED to pick one of three options, ALL of which will automatically close the program. I wish to find a way to STOP that, until I can move away from LR into a program that suits me better.

Any ideas?



Jun 09, 2015 at 03:35 PM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


sorry but i don't get the first steps .

you can specify at import where files are moved to . and you can specify at catalogue creation where you want the catalogue to be created .

Personally mine is in Pictures in a folder called Master LR . in there I have a folder that contains LR5 cat and a folder that contains LR6 cat .

(also don't fret about moving preview files with the Catalogue file . If the preview file inst present then it just creates a new one )

step 10 . ether are alternatives but I'm yet to find one that does everything that LR does as well as LR does them .
also I don't get 'having to babysit LR" bit . I've left my LR open for days without it wanting to shut down . is the mac wanting to SHUTDOWN after a period of inactivity ? mine only goes to sleep . if i want it to shut down then I will shut it down myself .



Jun 09, 2015 at 06:00 PM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


also here's my workflow if its of any interest/use

1: import . I point LR to move files to the current month/year folder on my images drive (external) . LR creates a subfolder which I name (usually the shoot). LR is set to create smart previews on import . (i use smart previews on my laptop when I'm away )

2: 1st cull . In library mode I set LR to show only NON FLAGS . then I go into full screen mode (f) and just hit P or X to pick or reject . as its showing only non flagged it moves onto the next image as soon as you flag .

3: 2nd cull . rejects from above are moved to a rejects folder . and then I remove the pick flags and repeat above but this time i don't set to show only non flags . I'll Pick (or again reject as this time I'm more critical) or just leave unflagged . (unflags are probably things I'll keep but most likely won't work on) . again any rejects are moved to the reject folder .

4: close LR and backup . I also make sure Time machine has backed up the images . (at this point i still have the originals on my cards)

5: edits . after each edit session I close LR and make sure its done another backup . I DONT use xmp files by the way

6: export . if I need to export to post online or send to friends family I do otherwise I create a collection in my LR smug mug uploader . the edited files are put in that collection and then LR syncs it to smug mug .

DONE.

I also let LR ask me if i want to back up each time I exit . if I've not done anything I won't bother . if I have I backup . my backups go to a separate external drive . I keep 1 months full backups . 6 previous months final back up of the month . and now as LR6 zips the backups I cloud the last couple of backups to my amazon cloud .

Reasons I use LR over the others .

1: its cross platform . This is the biggie for me . I can take the LRcat file and smart preview file (or the original images) and run it on my windows laptop . when I'm done I just overwite the cat file on my mac and I'm upto date .

2: I find LR a faster enviroment to cull and edit my images than using alternatives that may involve more than 1 application .

3; Ive used LR since Ver 1 . its grown and got better but most of the stuff I've already learnt is still applicable . I tried aperture when I first got my mac as lots assured me it was a better easier program . I couldn't get my head round it like I could with LR so i gave up .

4: lots of people don't like the way LR handles their files . but I do (and you can get LR to not do anything with your file structure if you want ) so it keeps me organised

I hope your search for something better/else is fruitful



Jun 10, 2015 at 01:56 AM
Focus Locus
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


Ian... many thanks for your workflow ideas. I will try to incorporate them as I suffer through my bias against LR, built up in no small part by my own lack of understanding on how to use the program.


Jun 12, 2015 at 03:57 PM
Trey Neal
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


I know it's no help but your experience is why I never liked LR and for that matter Aperture's library. The sort of mysterious location and database structure they keep hidden always made me nervous. And yes, I know how to open those packages to get to the data, but it isn't intuitively organized in my opinion.

I prefer to import my cards using Photo Mechanic so that I have complete control of where my 'catalog' resides. I import to two separate locations simultaneously so that I always have at least one backup of my RAWs. I can then cull, keyword and flag images and for those I want to edit, I can launch PS6 or any other editor I have installed. It isn't a vertically integrated system like LR and that is why I like it. I just feel more in control of my data.



Jun 22, 2015 at 09:53 PM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


Trey Neal wrote:
I know it's no help but your experience is why I never liked LR and for that matter Aperture's library. The sort of mysterious location and database structure they keep hidden always made me nervous. And yes, I know how to open those packages to get to the data, but it isn't intuitively organized in my opinion.

I prefer to import my cards using Photo Mechanic so that I have complete control of where my 'catalog' resides. I import to two separate locations simultaneously so that I always have at least one backup of my RAWs. I can then cull,
...Show more


I don't get that .
when you say 'catalogue resides' are you referring to the ACTUAL IMAGES (raw etc) or the database of image locations and edits etc?

either way you have all the control you want over where they reside .. if your talking about images thereupon import you can specify where they go and what is done to them . you can also make a duplicate copy ton send to a second drive as a backup .

if your talking about the database file again you can put it in a known location .

If you don't like that LR holds all the info about your images then you can write to XMP sidecar files which keep most of the edit info . (the stuff not in there is LR specific like flags and edit history ) .



Jun 23, 2015 at 02:41 AM
obscure
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


Focus Locus wrote:
1. I import into LR, and it naturally does whatever the heck it wants. HOWEVER, before I do a single edit or selection, I go in and manually move the LRCAT, the BACKUP, and the PREVIEWS files, along with my image files, to where I decide I want them to be. So I know where they are.....

1. What makes you think that Capture One will be any less complex to learn than LR? Powerful software with lots of features usually has a learning curve.
2. LR doesn't do whatever the heck it wants. It is like a car. It does exactly what you tell it. If you don't tell it where to go it will just go straight ahead. It is incredibly flexible and will put your images wherever you want (and do a lot more besides) but you do have to set it up.

If you want to know where LRs default catalog (or backup catalog - or anything else is) then Googling will instantly provide the answer or you can use Lightrooms excellent Help, which is built into the menu.

Alternatively use the excellent help/tutorial videos that Adobe produce. Their videos really are clear and easy to follow https://tv.adobe.com/show/getting-started-with-adobe-photoshop-lightroom-4/https://tv.adobe.com/show/getting-started-with-adobe-photoshop-lightroom-4/




Jun 23, 2015 at 05:20 AM
Focus Locus
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


obscure wrote:
1. What makes you think that Capture One will be any less complex to learn than LR? .


I don't think I suggested C1 would be less complex. But I did say that I don't get the way Adobe thinks. I cannot relate to Adobe's logic. Neither in Photoshop, Lightroom, or Flash.. I do not enjoy using Adobe software. I dread it.

obscure wrote:
2. LR doesn't do whatever the heck it wants, but you do have to set it up.


Yes, that is a problem. I don't know how to set it up, and there is no help menu in Lightroom. It's all online. My photo editing computer isn't online. I don't wish to give Adobe more money to buy another Lightroom license to load onto an online comuter just to access the help menu that should have come with and been available to access with the cost of the program.. Without help, the default method Adobe chooses to put stuff is neither obvious or logical to me.

Furthermore, if I dare move my picture files with Finder without using LIghtroom, then another nightmare ensues of trying figure out how to tell Lightroom where I'd like my photos.

obscure wrote:
"... or you can use Lightroom's excellent Help, which is built into the menu."


No, only a LINK to help online is built into the menu. The Lightroom program itself offers no help whatsover, other than a 10 tip slideshow that presents itself upon initial installation.

obscure wrote:
Alternatively use the excellent help/tutorial videos that Adobe produce. Their videos really are clear and easy to follow https://tv.adobe.com/show/getting-started-with-adobe-photoshop-lightroom-4/https://tv.adobe.com/show/getting-started-with-adobe-photoshop-lightroom-4/



And that illustrates yet another Adobe problem. I clicked on that link to see those videos, and all that appears is an error message that says I need Flash. At least Flash 10.2. Well, I have Flash 18.0.0.4, the latest Flash, downloaded directly from Adobe's genuine Flash site, following all instructions to use Adobe's Flash uninstaller to get rid of all the previous versions of Flash which didn't work either, and which apperently can't be simply deleted like any other program, nooo, it requires yet another special Adobe product to delete and replace the crap Adobe products that I have to install to look at videos of how to use more crap Adobe products. And even after all that, the videos STILL won't play. Running security down to wide open, all Active X controls enabled, all privacy settings depleted... still no workie.

As for googling and forums... I have a question right now I"m trying to find out. I made a mask out of an adjustment brush in LR5... my third version of this program. The part I painstakingly brushed is much smaller than the rest of the photo. I'd like to leave what I brushed as is, because that is what I exposed the photo for. I'd like to apply an adjustment to everything else. But apparantly one can't invert the adjustment brush. One can invert the Radial filter mask, one can invert the Graduated filter, but not the adjustment brush.

The only answer I learned after pages of forum reading where no one else seemed to know the answer either.. was that you can invert the mask in Capture One.

So in addition to losing days of work, I simply flind Adobe products frustrating to use. I'm continuing to use them to get through current projects, but when I can take a break, I am definitely looking for alternatives.




Jun 28, 2015 at 01:54 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #15 · p.1 #15 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


Focus , Im sorry but I feel I have to pick up on 2 points above .
I don't wish to give Adobe more money to buy another Lightroom license to load onto an online comuter just to access the help menu that should have come with and been available to access with the cost of the program.

how many non connected machines do you have LR installed on now ? LR is a 2 machine licence . so your not "giving adobe more money"


Furthermore, if I dare move my picture files with Finder without using LIghtroom, then another nightmare ensues of trying figure out how to tell Lightroom where I'd like my photos.

yep this is one thing that seems to annoy a lot of people. but it obvious really . Lightroom is a LIBRARY . if you walked into a library and moved all the books around without the librarian knowing , how would the librarian be able to help people find the books .

actually moving stuff around outside of LR isn't always a huge problem . I find that LR is slow at moving stuff (that is one thing I will say I DONT like about LR) . so If I want to do large amounts of file moves I will do it outside of LR . but I will only usually move whole folders . i.e. I have the current year folder on my internal drive and all my other year folders on my external . At the end of the year (or when there's too much in there) I will move the folder from my internal drive to my external using finder (or explore back in my windows days ) .
but the import thing to remember is to go straight to LR and point LR to the moved folder .

to use the Library analogy . I walk into the library and move a book shelf to another part of the library . then in the morning when the librarian walks in and can't find the bookshelf I tell them where I've put the shelf

theres actually a couple of good LR videos on BH's youtube channel . they are filmed in their event space .





Jun 28, 2015 at 03:06 AM
Ian.Dobinson
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p.1 #16 · p.1 #16 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


can't help with the brush thing (yeah I don't think you can invert a brush) . But I have to say if I'm wanting to mask stuff out then Photoshop is the better tool for the job , and as a CC subscriber I get both boxes of tools

the only thing I will say is if you 'painstakingly brushed a part of the image then I guess you could have just as easily brushed around the outside of that part and then made the brush much larger and brushed out the rest of the image and in effect you would have had the inverted mask



Jun 28, 2015 at 03:15 AM
Focus Locus
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p.1 #17 · p.1 #17 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


Thanks for confirming that LR5 CANNOT invert an Adjustment Brush Mask.

That seems so illogical that Lightroom cannot do such an obviously useful thing. There are many times that I want to use the same mask for more than one adjustment, where one adjustment is to apply to the part that was brushed, and another adjustment is to apply to the part that was not brushed.

Applying an adjustment to the entire image, and then erasing it out of the part that the adjustment isn't suppose to apply to produces different results than if the wrong adjustment never had to be temporarily applied in the first place. Some of the adjustments appear to "stack" on top of each other when done in one mode and undone in another, leaving strange artifacts and other noise, pixelation, and grain issues that wouldn't be there if one didn't have to do those stupid work arounds in the first place.

I'm not a programmer, but the application needs a very simple if then statement:

IF the area has been brushed, AND, IF an "invert brush" box is checked, THEN apply adjustments to everything else instead of what was brushed. END.

I don't get why Adobe doesn't get how that would be useful.



Jun 29, 2015 at 08:05 PM
OntheRez
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p.1 #18 · p.1 #18 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


Focus,
I gather you saved your pix which is the critical thing. As to Lr losing it's catalog, I've not had that experience though given how loosey-goosey Lr seems to be at times I can imagine it happening. As noted by others be extremely careful when selecting to delete.

Also, I keep all my pix files on a separate drive than the catalog and back up the catalog religiously to yet another place on my main drive. (There should have been a place where backup Lrcats were located. You could have reverted to one and saved a lot of effort.) The picture files are just files on your hard drive in whatever folders you created (at least under Mac OS). You can see and manipulate them if you wish. If you move a file or folder your catalog - Lrcat - will put up a ? mark, but you can direct it to the new file(s). (I also maintain two backups of my picture files themselves.)

Lr is just an SQL database and normal SQL has stringent protections against deleting its structure. Lr - unfortunately - doesn't seem to have this other than the second "are you sure" modal dialog box. This all fits with my long held belief (though disputed by some) that Adobe threw Lr up as a kludge to counter Aperture, but they're stuck with a poor foundation. Keep looking for a way around the product, but haven't found one yet.

As for the edits being in the JPEGs I can't help you as I always work in raw and only export to JPEG when necessary. The exported JPEG has all the edits and no sidecar so I'm guessing your changes are "baked" in cause when I open them with any other tool, everything is there.

Also, don't know your platform, but at least on the Mac side there are several tools that can recover "deleted" files so long as you haven't done much to the hard drive in the interim. Disk Warrior comes to mind. I would expect there to be similar tools on the win side.

Sorry about the missed deadline. Truly sucks, but I've been there (My editor screaming at me that I'm on deadline while I still have ~500 pix to work thru before I can select, clean up and send. She keeps claiming she'll just not print them - I'm the sports photographer/reporter for a small town weekly. She'd catch all hell if the kids' stories and pix weren't in the current issue. Mostly I love her, but there are times when …)

Robert



Jun 30, 2015 at 08:57 AM
gdanmitchell
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p.1 #19 · p.1 #19 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


Trey Neal wrote:
I know it's no help but your experience is why I never liked LR and for that matter Aperture's library. The sort of mysterious location and database structure they keep hidden always made me nervous. And yes, I know how to open those packages to get to the data, but it isn't intuitively organized in my opinion.


You can choose an option that keeps the files in your normal directory structure. That's what I do, so that I can access files from either LR or ACR.

Dan



Jun 30, 2015 at 10:06 AM
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p.1 #20 · p.1 #20 · LR4 catalog just deleted. Not in trash. Can it be recovered? Mac is still on.


Focus Locus wrote:
Some of the adjustments appear to "stack" on top of each other when done in one mode and undone in another, leaving strange artifacts and other noise, pixelation, and grain issues that wouldn't be there if one didn't have to do those stupid work arounds in the first place.

You had auto mask on when deleting.

Auto mask allows you to limit masking or erasing to areas of the image that are the same colour. If you have it enabled when deleting the mask will not be deleted from areas that are a different colour from the area under the cursor. It is a very useful tool for masking/erasing up to edges but if you want to delete an entire area regardless of the colour you should turn Auto mask off.

Ticking the "Show Selected Mask Overlay" box under the image will display a red overlay onto the image in areas where the mask is active so you can see any small areas where the mask hasn't been deleted.



Jul 07, 2015 at 02:12 AM
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