In the course of moving a few files around on my system I've lost my Lightroom Library!

The default location was/is -: C/etc /My Pictures/Lightroom. I decided to create a specific back up folder on my desktop and moved the default folder "LIGHTROOM" accordingly.

Upon opening Lightroom I now get "Lightroom library was not found" - panic sets in!

I have all my RAW shots safely backed up and clearly I can merely re-import them all BUT, all the development work, adjusting etc is lost. I figure it must be somewhere on my system as I have all backed up including Lightroom database backups etc. BUT, wheres the work settings gone, and how can I restore same?

Hope you can help

I use the dinasaur Photoshop CS2, Adobe Bridge etc, but.....

the extension for a Lightbridge library is .lrcat I think.

Search for that from Start -> Search, enter *.lrcat, across your drives and it should turn up

Ok, panic over I've found it and restored all.

HOWEVER - now even more confused.

The back up folder containing the database and all my workflow is dated 24/10/2007 BUT contains all the shots/development right up to yesterday (10/02/2008)!

Any idea's as to why such an old folder is the elected backup directory?

I'm utterly confused

Lightroom has a confusing way of handling catalogues. As far as I can understand it:

When you do a back up, Lightroom will put the back-up in newly created directory with the date as a name. But when it opens Lightroom, it will always open the catalogue from the last location you were using; not from the new back-up location.

If you are using a catalogue that was originally a back-up, the folder name will not change and will always be the date when that catalogue back-up was originally created. So you are using a catalogue that was originally created on 24/10/07, even though it has more recent photos in the catalogue.

Thanks "Hughden" for the clarification. What you say certainly makes sense.

Confusing though when logic deems that the last back-up (viz 11/02/2008) should be the restorer