This seems an uncommon problem as I haven't found any other posts on it, but I'm having the issue that LR updates wipe out my catalog?! I've had LR4 for a couple years now. When the 4.4 update first came along awhile back, I accepted the download, and when I did so, to my horror my entire catalog was wiped out. I did a restore point (thus undoing the update) hoping that would restore the catalog, but it did not. I of course still had all of the files and side cars on my hard drive, but had to re-launch my most recent back up which had been a few weeks previous (I know, I know), and lost the history on the work I'd done on images after that.
Just now, when I launched LR, the update notice appeared. I did not accept the update as I felt is was a risk, and instead closed the box. Even so, my catalog was wiped out AGAIN.
My last back up was less than a week ago, but I'd done a lot of work on some images since then. While I still see the side cars of those files on my hard drive, I do not know if -- or HOW - I can import those side cars back into Lightroom?!! Please help if you can. Thanks so much in advance.