Lightroom problem, help needed

[John Camp]

So I had a mac pro years ago which became obsolete and I put it aside, intending to get into it some days and move the photos to a new computer, but the problem didn't seem pressing. Eventually, when I moved to a new house, I decided to dump the computer. I yanked the hard drives and threw the rest of it away. Or maybe I gave it to somebody, I can't remember. Anyhoo, I recently plugged in the SATA drives to a modern iMac. I can see all the folders, etc, but I can't open Lightroom. I get a message that says, "Sorry, but this software expired on June 30, 2006." I can also see individual library files -- not the photos, just a file outline and the number -- but I can't open them because apparently the current Lightroom isn't that backward compatible. And I screwed, or is there some way to get at these things?

[mcbroomf]

Perhaps a little more info would help John.

What version of LR were you using?
Did you own it or was it a tryout?
The libraries you are describing sound like the ones in the LR Catalog Preview folder (listed 0, 1, 2 etc).  These are not your images which will be on a drive somewhere that you imported them to from your camera/card.  Do a search for your files (jpgs, tiffs or raws depending on what you import)
If you've paid for LR V6 then you might be able to find a way to download another version.
You could get the new CC version of LR (Classic) with the Photo payment and I believe it will update your old catalog (while making a new copy).  Others can verify but I think that will sort your problem out if you don't have V6 and/or cannot get another copy.

[Jim Metzger]

I believe Lucas Davenport can help

If the folders in question have your ORIGINAL images in them you can copy these to a current drive and then "import" them into whatever program you are currently using to catalog / work on photos. If there are "xmp" files associated with each image those are the original photo files.

As previously mentioned, if the folders are the Lightroom generated previews those will be of little help unless you do have the original images that they refer to. If the xmp's are there, a current version of Lightroom may be able to interpret your original edits of the images.

[John Camp]

Thank you. Using the suggestions from you guys, I spent some time screwing around with the files and got it all back. Thanks again.
JC