How to back up and restore a Lightroom Classic catalog
Previews, presets, and what to copy
You don’t notice your Lightroom library until it's gone. One bad drive. One bad update. One sleepy click on the wrong folder. Then the room goes quiet, and all your edits, flags, collections, and careful little decisions feel like they were never real.
A solid Lightroom Classic catalog backup is less about paranoia and more about respect. Respect for time. Respect for memory. Respect for the fact that computers don’t love you back.
Here’s how to back up and restore your Lightroom Classic catalog the right way, including previews, presets, and the parts Lightroom won’t grab unless you do it yourself.
Know what you’re backing up
Catalog vs photos vs presets
Lightroom Classic keeps your work in separate boxes. Mix them up and you’ll either back up the wrong thing, or restore the right thing and still feel lost.
Here’s what matters, and what you should copy:
| Item | What it is | Where it usually lives | Should you back it up? |
|---|---|---|---|
Catalog (.lrcat) | Edits, keywords, flags, collections, history | Your chosen catalog folder | Yes, always |
Previews (Previews.lrdata) | Thumbnails and Library speed | Next to the .lrcat | Yes, if you value your time |
Smart Previews (Smart Previews.lrdata) | Edit-able proxies when originals are offline | Next to the .lrcat | Yes, if you use them |
| Lightroom backup ZIPs | Compressed copies of the .lrcat | A “Backups” folder you choose | Yes, but store off the main drive |
| Photos (RAW, JPEG, video) | The actual image files | Wherever you keep photo folders | Yes, separately from the catalog |
| Presets, profiles, plugins, settings | Your tools and custom setup | In Lightroom’s settings folders (or with the catalog) | Yes, if you want your workspace back |
If you want a second opinion from a backup vendor that deals with Lightroom messes daily, read CrashPlan’s breakdown of what Lightroom files to back up.
Build a Lightroom Classic catalog backup you can trust
Lightroom Classic has a built-in catalog backup. It’s useful, but it’s not the whole story.
Use Lightroom’s built-in backup (and make it verify)
In Lightroom Classic, set the backup schedule here:
- Windows:
Edit>Catalog Settings - macOS:
Lightroom Classic>Catalog Settings
On the General tab, set Back up catalog to a rhythm you can live with. Weekly is a sane baseline, every time Lightroom exits is safer if you edit daily.
When you quit Lightroom and the backup dialog appears, treat it like a tiny interrogation room. Check the options that matter:
- Test integrity: This is the closest thing to “prove it” you’ll get.
- Optimize catalog: Helps keep the database from turning sluggish.
Adobe’s own guidance is clear and current, and it’s worth a skim when you want the official language: how to back up catalogs in Lightroom Classic.
Two gotchas that catch people:
- Choose a backup location on a different drive than your working catalog. Common sense: If the main drive dies, your backup dies with it. Tragic. Predictable.
- Lightroom’s backup is mainly the
.lrcatinside a ZIP. It does not back up previews. That means you can restore your edits, but you may still spend hours watching previews rebuild like a slow dawn you didn’t ask for.
Copy the whole catalog folder (that’s how you keep previews)
If you want previews and smart previews intact, back up the entire catalog folder while Lightroom is closed. That folder usually contains:
- Your
.lrcat Previews.lrdataSmart Previews.lrdata(if you’ve built them)- Other small helper files Lightroom keeps near the catalog
This “whole folder copy” is also what you restore when you want things to feel normal fast.
They’re dug up from the bone yard, pieced together in the dark when the rest of the world is asleep. They cost something to tell.
If you want to keep the lights on in this place, if these words are worth more to you than a cheap cup of coffee, then step up. Don’t just be a ghost passing through. Become a member. Keep the ink flowing.
Follow 3-2-1
Use the 3-2-1 backup rule:
- 3 copies of your data
- on 2 different kinds of storage
- with 1 copy offsite (or cloud)
Two backup application I use extensively, are Duplicacy and Arq. Duplicacy for my storage servers and Arq on my MacBook Pro.
Restore your Lightroom Classic catalog
And relink what went missing
Restoring is where the past either comes back clean, or comes back wrong.
Start slow. You’re handling evidence.
Step 1: Put the restored catalog in a sane place
If your backup is a Lightroom ZIP, unzip it first. You want a real .lrcat file again.
If you backed up the whole catalog folder, copy that folder back as-is. Keep the previews folders sitting right beside the .lrcat, and keep the base names matched. Lightroom likes things that line up.
Then open it:
- Lightroom Classic:
File>Open Catalog… - Point to the restored
.lrcat
Don’t overwrite your current catalog unless you mean it. If you’re unsure, restore into a new folder with a date in the name. Give yourself a way back.
Step 2: Deal with missing photos (the catalog remembers paths, not miracles)
Your catalog stores pointers to photo locations. If the drive letter changed (Windows), or a volume name changed (macOS), Lightroom will act like your photos vanished.
They didn’t. The map did.
In the Folders panel (Library module), right-click the top-most missing folder and use:
Find Missing Folder(common phrasing)- or
Update Folder Location
Do it at the highest parent folder you can. One fix can relink a whole tree.
Cross-platform restores (Mac to Windows, Windows to Mac) work, but paths won’t match. That’s normal. The relink step is where you pay the toll.
Step 3: Get your presets and settings back (two common storage modes)
Presets are the feel of your darkroom. Without them, everything still works, but it doesn’t feel like yours.
Lightroom Classic can store presets in two different ways:
- With this catalog: If you enabled “Store presets with this catalog” (
Preferences>Presets), Lightroom uses aLightroom Settingsfolder next to the catalog. Back it up and restore it alongside the.lrcat. - In your user profile: If not, presets live in Adobe application support folders.
Fast way to find the real location (best, because versions vary):
Go to Preferences > Presets, then use the buttons like Show Lightroom Develop Presets and Show All Other Lightroom Presets. Those open the exact folders on your system. Copy those folders when Lightroom is closed.
Quick path references that often apply:
- macOS:
~/Library/Application Support/Adobe/Lightroom/ - Windows:
C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming\Adobe\Lightroom\
If you want cleaner portability, export your preset groups (right-click a group in the Presets panel, export), then import them on the other machine. It’s slower than copying folders, but it’s tidy. Like labeling boxes before you move.
Step 4: Verify the restore, don’t just hope
Open the restored catalog and check the things that prove it’s really yours:
- Recent edits on a few known photos
- Collections and smart collections
- Keywords and flags
- The missing file indicator (Library > Find All Missing Photos, if needed)
Then run a fresh Lightroom backup schedule again. A restored catalog with no new backups is a survivor walking back into the storm.
Conclusion
Backing up Lightroom Classic is an ordinary act, and that’s the point. You’re not saving art in a vault, you’re saving your time, your decisions, your attention, the trail you left in the dark.
Close Lightroom before you copy. Back up the catalog and the photos as separate creatures. Keep previews if you hate waiting. Copy presets if you like your tools the way you left them. Follow 3-2-1, then test a restore while everything’s still fine.
Because “fine” doesn’t last, and you don’t want to learn that mid-edit.