How to Recover Deleted Photos from Lightroom Backup

Where are Lightroom backups kept?

Developed by Adobe Inc., Abode Lightroom (known as Adobe Photoshop Lightroom) is image organization and manipulation software that can help you import, save, view, organize, edit, and share many digital images among Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and Apple TV devices.

The Abode Lightroom Classic catalog is the location of Lightroom backups. To be more specific, it’s a database that can automatically record and update changes in your edited photos.

If you’re the first time using Abode Lightroom, you can get an empty catalog file. After that, you can choose Edit > Preferences > General to check your Default Catalog.

How to find missing photos in Lightroom

Abode Lightroom provides two options for users to delete photos. As the picture shows, Remove from Lightroom or Delete from Disk.

In addition, starting from Lightroom desktop version 2.4  and Lightroom for mobile (iOS and Android) version 4.4, it offers users the Deleted album in the My Photos of Lightroom and allows users to retrieve deleted photos within 60 days. 

How to recover deleted photos from Lightroom backup

Launch your Lightroom. Then, click Edit > Catalog Settings (for Windows users), or click Lightroom > Catalog Settings (for macOS users ). At last, set the backup settings and click OK. It enables you to create daily, weekly, or monthly backups based on your needs. 

Let’s discuss how to recover photos from Lightroom backup via catalogs.

Step 1. After opening your Lightroom Classic, locate and unzip your backup file. Then, click File > Open Catalog.

Step 2. Go to the path of the backed catalog files.  

Step 3. Select the backed-up Ircat and Ircat-data files. Then click the Open button.

Step 4. If you need, you can replace the original catalog file with the copied backed-up catalog file.  

How to recover deleted pictures from Lightroom without backup

If you manually backup the edited photos in the Lightroom Catalog, you can easily recover photos from Lightroom backup. If not, there are still 3 useful methods to help you.

Way 1: Check the Recycle Bin 

If you delete photos from Lightroom but don't click the Delete from Disk option, there is a chance to find missing photos in the Recycle Bin. 

Step 1. Open the Recycle Bin on your Windows computer.

Step 2. Look for the deleted Lightroom photo, right-click it, and choose Restore. To select multiple photos, please hold down the Ctrl key.

Way 2: Restore photos from the Deleted Alhum 

In Lightroom desktop, mobile, or web version, you can see a Delete album for photos. Try to check if your photos are there. They will be kept for 60 days after deletion.

Step 1. Open Lightroom desktop, mobile, or web version, click the My Photos icon.

Step 2. Go to the Deleted album to find missing photos. It will display all the deleted photos from Lightroom.

Step 3. Select the deleted photos you want to restore and click the Restore icon. They will be restored in All Photos and the album where they were. 

Way 3: Recover deleted photos from Lightroom using software

If you still can't find missing photos in Lightroom, it's suggested to utilize professional data recovery software. MyRecover, with a user-friendly interface, more flexible recovery options, breathtaking recovery capacities, etc., can be a good choice.

MyRecover

Why Choose MyRecover?

• Top algorithm - thoroughly search disk for all recoverable data with Quick Scan and Deep Scan.
• Have fast scanning speed and high success rate.
• Retrieve 1000+ types of data, including documents (e.g. recover lost Word documents), pictures, videos, audios, emails, compressed files, etc.
• Search or filter files quickly through file name/extension, data type, etc.
• Preview files before recovery.
• Recover specific files or folders instead of all.
• Recover lost data due to accidental deletion, lost partition, virus attacks, system crashes, etc.
• Support storage devices in NTFS, FAT32, exFAT, and ReFS file systems.

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Now, download and install MyRecover to find deleted pictures on hard drive!

Step 1. Launch MyRecover on your PC. Then hover the mouse over the drive containing deleted photos from Lightroom and click Scan.

Step 2. It will automatically search, analyze, and classify its data through Quick Scan and Deep Scan technologies. Usually, it's categorized into 3 types: Deleted files, Files in the Recycle Bin, and Other missing files. So you can easily find them in the original location.

Step 3. Go to the Deleted Files/Recycle Bin/Other Missing Files folder to find the desired photos. Or search or locate deleted photos quickly in the following items:

Step 4.  Once found, double-click these photos to preview and select the desired photos. Then, click Recover x files and save these restored photos in a new location.

How to prevent photo loss from Lightroom

To avoid photo loss from Lightroom, you need to take some necessary measure in the following.

• Please think twice before deletion.
• Don’t empty the Recycle Bin(Windows)/Trash(macOS) folder.
• Cultivate a good habit of making file backups. You can choose to manually backup edited photos in the Lightroom catalog or use the free backup software for Windows - AOMEI Backupper. 

• For Microsoft Office files, activate AutoSave and AutoRecover features.

Conclusion

How to recover photos from Lightroom backup? It’s relatively easy for those users who have made created backups to restore pictures from their Lightroom catalogs.

Similarly, the restoration solution is also feasible for you to recover deleted photos from computers. But for those users without backups, there’s no better way than using photo recovery software like MyRecover.