deleting XMP files

[Kris V]

I just finished deleting about 150 photos from inside LR4.
Some of them had adjustments resulting in the sidecar file.
After I deleted the photos (Remove from disk) I found that the sidecar files are still there.
Is there a way in LR that deletes the xmp file together with the actual NEF file, or do I have to delete these files manually?
Which is a big PIA!

[Glenn NK]

Kristianna-Marie:

I've never had any trouble deleting XMP files.

I highlight the photo(s), right click, and choose DELETE FILE(S).

Disclaimer - I'm using Canon - maybe the Nikon XMP are handled differently.

Glenn

[Colin Southern]

On a side not, why not just convert the files to DNG format so the image and adjustments are always kept in the same file?

[Geoff F]

I take it you mean converting to Dng from the original Raw files before any editing, Colin.

Something I keep experimenting with but have found a few slight drawbacks. The conversion time is a little longer. Around 10 minutes for 100 images in my case.

And I have occasionally had some corrupted files during the Dng conversion. But they worked OK when using the 'normal' conversion method.

Probably just a glitch with my computer though. I have more RAM on order.

One advantage with Dng is quite a saving on file size; and no xmp files to worry about, as you say.

[Kris V]

On a side not, why not just convert the files to DNG format so the image and adjustments are always kept in the same file?

Hm, something to think about....

[Kris V]

Kristianna-Marie:

I've never had any trouble deleting XMP files.

I highlight the photo(s), right click, and choose DELETE FILE(S).

Disclaimer - I'm using Canon - maybe the Nikon XMP are handled differently.

Glenn

True - the file gets deleted, but the sidecar file is still there
I'm not sure if it makes a difference if its a NEF or CR2.

[Mike Buckley]

True - the file gets deleted, but the sidecar file is still there
I'm not sure if it makes a difference if its a NEF or CR2.

I don't use LR. However, when I delete, move, copy or rename a NEF using either the operating system or other software apps, the XMP file is automatically affected along with the NEF.

[DanK]

Kris,

I don't see a "remove from disk." There is "remove" and "delete from disk". I just confirmed that on my computer, "delete from disk" deletes both the cr2 and xmp.

Dan

[Kris V]

Kris,

I don't see a "remove from disk." There is "remove" and "delete from disk". I just confirmed that on my computer, "delete from disk" deletes both the cr2 and xmp.

Dan

Sorry, you're right - it's delete from disk.
Regardless - When I checked in Windows explorer, the NEF files were deleted, but the xmp files were still there. So, it might indeed be a Nikon/Canon issue?
Although, I don't understand why that would make a difference....

[Colin Southern]

I take it you mean converting to Dng from the original Raw files before any editing, Colin.

Something I keep experimenting with but have found a few slight drawbacks. The conversion time is a little longer. Around 10 minutes for 100 images in my case.

And I have occasionally had some corrupted files during the Dng conversion. But they worked OK when using the 'normal' conversion method.

Probably just a glitch with my computer though. I have more RAM on order.

One advantage with Dng is quite a saving on file size; and no xmp files to worry about, as you say.

Hi Geoff,

Yes. I use Bridge to suck the images off the card - convert them to DNG - rename them - add metadata - and write them to the PC all in 1 operation. Just did a little test converting 100 images ... 2 minutes & 22 seconds

Never had any issues with file / image corruption.

[benm]

I have been using LR4 for about six weeks so I am just a beginner. LR does not use XMP files to store changes made to a RAW file. The changes are stored in the catalog. LR will only create an XMP if you export the RAW. What I am getting at is, are these XMP files left over from some other photo editing program?

If you want to find and delete all the XMP files just do a search for ".xmp" (without the quotes) and then you can delete them.

[Geoff F]

Checking whether xmp files relate to anything current, which you wish to retain, can be a bit tedious unless they are actually placed alongside the relevant Raw file. Which is where dng has an advantage.

And with regard to the time of downloading dng files. I checked today and it took me 30 minutes to download 70 images from CR2 to Dng. Which is 7 minutes longer than straight Raw.

Using a reasonable power dual core computer. But with only 2GB Ram; which was once considered to be excessively large!

[enaiman]

TIf there is enough interest in this I might have a solution for Windows.
I wrote a small application using a popular freeware called AutoIt to help me delete the raw files left on the disk after I deleted the JPG.
I am viewing the JPGs using the default Windows program and I am making my primary selection there - if the jpg is bad enough I just delete it straight away and that leaves as many raw files "orphans".

What my app is doing so far, it checks the files in a folder of your choice for image pairs (jpg and raw) and if it finds raw files without matching jpg, then it either move those raw files to a new folder, or simply deletes them based on user choice.

It won't be hard for me to add a more flexible pair structure (raw and xmp or whatever combination) so I will wait for feedback.
I'l go into more details if requested.

[Manfred M]

TIf there is enough interest in this I might have a solution for Windows.
I wrote a small application using a popular freeware called AutoIt to help me delete the raw files left on the disk after I deleted the JPG.
I am viewing the JPGs using the default Windows program and I am making my primary selection there - if the jpg is bad enough I just delete it straight away and that leaves as many raw files "orphans".

What my app is doing so far, it checks the files in a folder of your choice for image pairs (jpg and raw) and if it finds raw files without matching jpg, then it either move those raw files to a new folder, or simply deletes them based on user choice.

It won't be hard for me to add a more flexible pair structure (raw and xmp or whatever combination) so I will wait for feedback.
I'l go into more details if requested.

I've never had a problem removing xmp files with Windows Explorer. If I am working in either View NX2 or ACR and don't like where things have gone, I'll close the file and delete the associated xmp file and when I open up the file to eidt ACR and NX2 will create a new sidecar file for me to work with. I find this to be a fairly fast thing to do as a reset.