Are lrprev files in Lightroom just previews that I do not need to back up?

Question

In Adobe Lightroom, it is my understanding that the .lrprev files it creates, are only previews of pictures, but that these can be regenerated from the real pictures in case of disaster.

Is that correct?

Answer 1

Correct.

Lightroom stores its previews under (for example) Lightroom 3 Catalog Previews.lrdata, which itselfs contains the single previews in a folder hierarchy. You don't even need the whole .lrdata folder.

In fact, when you back up your catalog, Lightroom will only back up the .lrcat file. Do note though that those previews can come in handy in case you lose your originals, since you can export the previews from the .lrprev files.

See also: Adobe forums — same thing suggested there.