Recover Lost Images with LRViewer

May 032009

A user over at the Adobe Lightroom Forums was having a problem recently. It seems that he had imported some images into Lightroom and now could not locate any of the original files. While he could work on them in the Library module he couldn’t do anything else without those source files. The previews were there. He could see the images. But that was it.

We discussed it a bit and tried some tests but nothing. A thorough search of his drives yielded no results. The originals were gone! Then Don Ricklin made a brilliant suggestion that I want to pass on to you. Marc Rochkind is a photographer and software developer. He has made available a free program called LRViewer. LRViewer let’s you view the contents of a Lightroom catalog and see the previews and metadata for the images.

One of the features in the program is the ability to export JPEG files created from the Lightroom previews! Just select some of the previews and then choose Export JPEGs… from the File menu.

Brilliant! Thanks to Marc for making such a useful utility and to Don for coming to the user’s rescue! LRViewer is available for both Mac and Windows. Go to Marc’s ImageIngester site to find out more. While you’re there take a look at the other fine utilities Marc has.

It isn’t as good as having your original RAW or JPEG files but it will get you a source image as good as the preview which you can import into Lightroom and work on. The moral of the story is twofold: (1) keep track of your source files and (2) BACKUP BACKUP BACKUP!

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About the Author: Gene McCullagh
Contact Gene

Gene is an Adobe Community Professional and and Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop Lightroom, Photoshop, and InDesign, and an avid Lightroom fan. He belongs to the Professional Photographers of America (PPA) and the National Association of Photoshop Professionals (NAPP). Gene also the Co-Founder, Manager and a frequent blogger for the Dallas Fort Worth Adobe User Group (DFWAUG).

In addition to running Lightroom Secrets, Gene also contributes to O'Reilly's media blog, moderates on the Adobe forums, and helps out on lightroomforums.net.

http://www.jasonsmith.com/ Jason

Great link, Thanks!
dealaddict

I accidentally deleted the files and trying to recover from the catalogue, however, I can't see the raw files from LRViewer. Does this work on RAW?
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

LRViewer will show you whatever was in the catalog the files where originally imported into. If the RAW file was imported and LR showed a thumbnail image then LRViewer should be able to see that image.

Remember, it doesn't work on the files but on the catalog (.lrcat) file.
dealaddict

hmm .. for some reason, it can't show the photos. Then I tried an old catalog from LR 1.3, it can show some of the RAW files, but not all, most of them says Image not available. I use Canon 5D and Lightroom 2.6, running Mac OS X .. any idea?
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

If you cannot see some of the images then the only thing I can think of is that the preview LR generated is no longer in the .lrdata file. If that is the case then you won't be able to recover anything for that file. Your only hope is if you have those original files backed up somewhere or if you can recover the deleted files via some other means. Sorry.
Benny

Is there a method for restoring the preview images generated in LR. RAW files have NOT been lost ONLY the previews reflecting the edits. The goal is to not have to re-do the entire catalogue. A search of lrdata files produced a list of folders some of which show data. How can these files in a system settings folder be restored into LR.

Thanks!
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hi Benny!

I'm not sure what you are asking. The edits are contained in the LR database. That's the file with the extension .lrcat file. In the Library module select the images you want to regenerate previews for and look under the Library menu. Got to Previews and then pick standard or 1:1. Lr will generate new previews.
Benny

Thanks for the speedy reply!

The preview images within the library/grid have all been deleted and 0 files are displayed in the catalogue itself. If I cannot retrieve the data from my edits I have to re-edit the RAW files.

It appears that all RAW, lrcat, and db files are intact and lrcat data was preserved.
Here's the data associated with the working folder:
Thumbnail cache 19.0 M
Previews-lrdata.db 12.0 M
LRCAT file 7,580k

This suggests to me that the data is there but resident outside LR. I want to reconnect the data in the files above with the cat itself. Hope this makes sense.
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hmmm… Sounds like your catalog is damaged in some way.

First thing… make sure you don't have any filter on that's just returning 0 files. Check all the filter possibilities, flags, colors, stars, filter bar, etc.

Second, make sure you are actually opening the catalog you think you are and not an empty one. (I've opened a similarly named catalog in the past and wondered where everything went).

If you have the correct catalog try having LR optimize the catalog (File…Optimize). Optimize deals with slow catalogs but I've found it can sometimes jar things back into place.

If it persists you may be forced to just restore the catalog from your backup. That will at least bring you back to the state you were at at the last backup and you will only have lost the edits since then.

That's all I can think of at the moment. Good luck Benny!
Benny

Last ?. Does LR automatically generate a backup? I did not create one while working. That's going to be the only hope for me. Does LR explain how to restore a cat? I can try that.

Last round, thanks again!!
http://lightroomsecrets.com Gene McCullagh

Hey Benny!

If you set your catalog for backups then LR will have made them. That's in Catalog preferences.

http://img.skitch.com/20100330-napaxdbjaued2ced…

Alternatively, you should have the catalog in your regular system backup independent of LR.
Benny

The job turned out to be a re-do, but all of your tips and reminders were helpful.

Many thanks!
Benny

The job turned out to be a re-do, but all of your tips and reminders were helpful.

Many thanks!
Benny

The job turned out to be a re-do, but all of your tips and reminders were helpful.

Many thanks!

Recover Lost Images with LRViewer

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