# Lightroom creating readOnly.lrcat files above my original catalogue - what are these?



## exposurenz (Feb 14, 2012)

PLease help, this is driving me crazy - my catalogues are creating readOnly.lrcat catalogues above my original catalogs - why. Its very confusing as Im not sure which one I should be working on? I ve tried deleting them but they reappear.
Thanks


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## Hal P Anderson (Feb 14, 2012)

The <something>readonly.lrcat files are indeed mysterious. See this thread on the U2U forum. Nothing got resolved there.

So far, I've only heard of them on Macs, and they seem to do no harm. 

Do they match in size with their associated catalogues? Are they really read-only?

Hal


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## b_gossweiler (Feb 14, 2012)

I still suspect that some kind of backup process is creating those when trying to back up a catalog that's open. Just a gut feeling.

Beat


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## Kiwigeoff (Feb 14, 2012)

b_gossweiler said:


> I still suspect that some kind of backup process is creating those when trying to back up a catalog that's open. Just a gut feeling.
> 
> Beat


Time Machine most likely????


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## b_gossweiler (Feb 14, 2012)

Kiwigeoff said:


> Time Machine most likely????


That's what I had in mind, but possible also other backup processes that are installed.

Beat


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## exposurenz (Feb 15, 2012)

I am on a mac - but its not time machine and its not a backup. Today I deleted 3 of these files and it just creates another. There doesnt seem to be any issue with using the catalogs besides not knowing with one has your latest corrections on it. And not knowing why it is there! Does anyone one work on an external drive and take it home to another computer to contnue work? Im wondering if this is the problem? 2 different lightrooms (same version) but two diff' computers?


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## clee01l (Feb 15, 2012)

Kiwigeoff said:


> > _I still suspect that some kind of backup process is creating those when trying to back up a catalog that's open. Just a gut feeling._
> >
> > _Beat_
> 
> ...


I'm not that up to snap on Time Machine, but I don't think TM makes temporary files in the local directory. It might make them in the Yime Capsule Or equivalent drive but  not in the same folder as the file being backed up. That does not preclude any other Back up process trying (and failing) to get exclusive use of an active catalog.


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## clee01l (Feb 15, 2012)

exposurenz said:


> ...Today I deleted 3 of these files and it just creates another...


*IT* is not Lightroom unless you have LR regular to make Backup copies in the folder with the original Catalog.  How frequent are you letting LR do backups of the catalog on close  Are you certain the you are not confusing files named "{yourCatalogName}.lrcat.lock" and "{yourCatalogName}.lrcat-journal"  as copies of "{yourCatalogName}.lrcat"?  Note they all have the same name as the catalog including the Extension part.  The only difference being the extension part is ".lock" and ".lrcat-journal".

Do you have any active AppleScripts that might be causing this catalog copy process?


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## Hal P Anderson (Feb 15, 2012)

exposurenz said:


> Today I deleted 3 of these files and it just creates another.



Were all 3 existing simultaneously, or did you delete them between Lightroom sessions?

Do you know exactly when they are being created? While Lightroom is running, or when you exit the program?

Could you post a screen shot of one of the mystery files showing in Finder?

Thanks,
Hal


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## exposurenz (Feb 15, 2012)

Here are the screen shots of my finder window - hope you an see these images? If you have any idea idea what these are, you help would be muchly appreciated.
Thank you


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## Victoria Bampton (Feb 15, 2012)

That is a mystery!  What other software is running in the background?  A screenshot of Activity Monitor, showing all of the active processes, might add a few clues.


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## Victoria Bampton (Feb 15, 2012)

Oh, and one more question - do you see the same if your catalog's on the internal drive?


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## exposurenz (Feb 15, 2012)

I dont store any of my catalogs on the interenal drive - they are all on external drives. Here is a shot of the activity !
Thanks for your help!!


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## exposurenz (Feb 15, 2012)

Ooppps I chopped half of the activity monitor off! Heres a better shot


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## Victoria Bampton (Feb 15, 2012)

I can't seen any obvious causes there.  What happens if you just put a test catalog on the internal drive?  I'm just interested to know whether it's something about those external drives, help narrow it down a bit.


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## exposurenz (Feb 16, 2012)

Interesting - I'll try the catalog on the internal drive next week - (its a new external drive) so you may have something there! I'll let you know!


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## Kiwigeoff (Feb 16, 2012)

I believe it will be either a permissions or format of the drive issue.


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## Mark Sirota (Feb 16, 2012)

It does appear to me that Lightroom is the thing that's creating these files.  I guess this because the string "readOnly" appears several times in the compiled Lua files that are part of the package.  I have absolutely no guesses about why it is doing this, or whether it indicates a problem.


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## jeroensmit (Apr 18, 2012)

Seems like I found where these files are coming from. I've had them in the past, deleted them and haven't seen them in over a year. But.. they started appearing last week, strangely just after I installed & tried Hype (the hyped HTML5 app). While running & testing all Hype's features, that application hang a couple of times when I tried to go into the View menu. While force quitting the app multiple times, my automatic backup/sync utility notified me of (unexpected) changes in my photo projects folder: a lot of readOnly.lrcat files appearing out of nowhere.

In Hype's View menu is the "Media Browser" (see screenshot below). The Media Browser not only displays your iPhoto library, but all Lightroom catalogs as well. I assume that it took quite a while to make "read only" copies of all my available catalogs, hence Hype's hard time displaying the menu. I've seen such a "media browser" in other apps as well, but I rarely use it. Guess that's what caused these -readOnly.lrcat's to be created a year+ ago as well.

In my experience it's completely safe to delete them. I continue doing so and haven't had any troubles since. Only thing I don't understand is the reason behind these files.

Kind regards,
Jeroen Smit


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 18, 2012)

Ah, that's a brilliant bit of detective work Jeroen!  Thanks for sharing, and welcome to the forum!


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