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Marcqc
Participating Frequently
August 11, 2026
Question

Content of directory erased

  • August 11, 2026
  • 15 replies
  • 158 views

While working on a project doing a lot of parameters sync, all the pictures suddenly disappeared from the directory.

There were 258 pictures in this directory.

The directory on the disk is also empty.

I have copied back the files from a backup and re-sync the directory in Lightroom.

I had to do again the modifications I have done before.

    15 replies

    MarcqcAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    August 16, 2026

    I have looked more closely at Lightroom behavior during the last few days, 

    I have noticed that Lightroom may have high peak use of memory. 

    Up to 30 Gb of memory was monitored with Clean my Mac.

    Anshul_Saini
    Community Manager
    Anshul_SainiCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    August 19, 2026

    Thank you for sharing the diagnostic file, ​@Marcqc. I reviewed the Jetsam event, but unfortunately, we couldn’t find anything to take the investigation further at this point.

    On your M4 Max, macOS uses a unified memory architecture, so the CPU and GPU share the same memory pool. Because of that, seeing Lightroom Classic temporarily use a relatively large amount of memory isn’t necessarily unexpected.
     

    The diagnostic log does show Lightroom Classic as the largest process (approximately 23.9 GB) at the time the diagnostic was generated. The log also shows the macOS backupd process running, which is associated with Time Machine and is consistent with your note that Time Machine was active at the time.
     

    So, seeing Lightroom Classic use a substantial amount of memory, especially during intensive operations, is not automatically indicative of a memory problem on this architecture. A peak of around 30 GB on a 64 GB M4 Max, by itself, would not establish a Lightroom Classic memory issue unless, for example, this usage continues to grow or remains unusually high while Lightroom Classic is sitting idle.
     

    At this point, however, the log doesn’t show whether memory usage or Time Machine caused the 258 files to disappear, so I don’t want to draw that conclusion.
     

    Since this has only happened once, please continue to keep an eye on it. If you’re able to reproduce the issue, particularly with Time Machine temporarily disabled versus enabled, that comparison would be very useful for further investigation.
     

    Best,
    Anshul Saini

    dj_paige
    dj_paige
    Legend
    August 19, 2026

    At this point, however, the log doesn’t show whether memory usage or Time Machine caused the 258 files to disappear, so I don’t want to draw that conclusion.

    But of course, memory issues would not cause files to be deleted, because the files are not in memory. Time Machine is not known to delete files by itself. Could this be an extremely rare bug in either the memory or Time Machine? Well, the likelihood is really really really really really really really close to zero, but not zero, however extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

    I said earlier I could not think of an explanation, but I have thought of another explanation, which will no doubt be unpopular, but we have seen in this forum similar things happen in the past. The cause could be user error. For example, if a user imported files with MOVE accidentally selected, the original folder would be empty and the files would be somewhere else (wherever they were MOVEd to), and you would not have to re-do the edits. There are of course other possible user errors that might result in a folder being emptied accidentally. But to me, after reading through all of the thorough investigations from ​@Anshul_Saini and ​@Marcqc , user error seems like a much more likely cause of this issue than anything else discussed so far.

    MarcqcAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    August 12, 2026

    Integrity check done, everything is ok.

    MarcqcAuthor
    Participating Frequently
    August 12, 2026

    Thank you Anshul for your help.

     

    I have check the logs in Norton antivirus and there are nothing logged.

    I have modified the preference to exlcude Lightroom directories to be verified.

    After the restoration, I only did a directory sync.

    I will do a catalog integrity later this morning.

    The trash didn’t contain the deleted photos.

     

    This is a single incident.

    I have find a log file for an event that happened on August 10. JetsamEvent-2026-08-10-111327

    It is located in /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports/Retired

    I can’t upload this file.

    Time machine was active.

    Mac Studio M4 Max/64 Gb/4 Tb

    Anshul_Saini
    Community Manager
    Anshul_SainiCommunity Manager
    Community Manager
    August 11, 2026

    Hi ​@Marcqc,

     

    I completely understand your concern; losing 258 photos from a folder is serious, and we want to help you get to the bottom of this.
     

    Based on what you've shared so far, here are a few targeted things I'd recommend investigating:
     

    1. Since you're running Norton on your Mac, this is a strong lead. Norton's real-time protection can sometimes interpret rapid file I/O (like Lightroom syncing settings across 258 photos simultaneously) as suspicious activity and quarantine or remove those files. Please check:

    • Open Norton > Security > History, look for any entries around the time the photos disappeared

    • Open Norton > Security > Quarantine, see if any of your image files ended up there

    • Check if Norton's Data Protector or SafeWeb features were active

    • Review Norton's "Data Protector" Configuration. This feature specifically monitors programs that rapidly modify large numbers of files, which is exactly what Lightroom does when syncing Develop settings to 258 photos. It may have flagged this activity as ransomware-like behavior.

     

    If you find your files there, you can restore them. Going forward, I'd strongly recommend adding your photo folders and your Lightroom catalog folder to Norton's exclusion list (for both Real-Time Protection and Scans). Detailed steps here: https://support.norton.com/sp/en/us/home/current/solutions/v20240116192643877

    1. Since this happened on your Mac Studio with M4 Max, the system may have logged what triggered the file removal:

    • Open console.app (Applications > Utilities > Console)

    • Filter by the timeframe when the files disappeared

    • Search for entries from "Norton" or "Lightroom" around that time

    • If there are any entries, right-click on them, "reveal in finder," and share that log with us.

     

    This could reveal whether Norton, macOS file protection, or another process was responsible.
     

    1. After the restore, did you run a catalog integrity check to make sure the catalog properly reflects the current state of your files?

    • Hold Option while launching Lightroom Classic

    • Select Test Integrity on your catalog before opening it

     

    A few additional questions that would help us investigate further:

    • Copy & paste your System Info from LrC Help > System info here.

    • Were the files stored on an internal SSD (the Mac Studio's built-in drive) or an external/network volume?

    • Was Time Machine or any other backup running concurrently when the files vanished?

    • Did you check the macOS Trash at the time?

    • Has this happened more than once, or was this a single isolated incident?

     

    We take data loss reports very seriously and want to determine whether a third-party interaction caused this or if there's something we need to investigate on our side.

     

    Best,

    Anshul Saini

      MarcqcAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      August 13, 2026

      I have replace .ips with .txt

      dj_paige
      dj_paige
      Legend
      August 11, 2026

      When you were doing these edits by syncing settings, were you working in a Smart Collection?

       

      Also, please specify if you were using Lightroom Classic (LrC icon) or Lightroom (Lr icon).

      MarcqcAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      August 11, 2026

      I was working in a directory.

       

      I use Lightroom classic

      dj_paige
      dj_paige
      Legend
      August 11, 2026

      Well this is pretty bizarre, and I cannot think of a possible explanation.

      MarcqcAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      August 11, 2026

      The backup is on an external drive

       

      MarcqcAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      August 11, 2026

      I use Norton antivirus

      No external editor.

       

      I was effectively syncing settings accross multiple photosle

      Srishti Bali
      Community Manager
      Srishti BaliCommunity Manager
      Community Manager
      August 11, 2026

      Hi ​@Marcqc 

       

      Sorry to hear about this, and I am glad you had backup files. To help us understand what may have caused the files to disappear, could you please share a few more details?

      • Go to Help > System Info, then copy and paste the details here.
      • What exactly were you doing in Lightroom immediately before the files disappeared?
      • Were you syncing edits/settings across multiple photos when this happened?
      • Are you using any third-party cleanup, disk optimization, antivirus, backup, or file-management tools that could automatically remove or relocate files?
      • If this happens again, please let us know whether the files appear in the system Trash/Recycle Bin.

       

      Also, were the missing photos stored on an internal drive, external drive, or network location? These details should help us narrow down what may have happened.

      Thanks, Srishti Bali | Community & Engagement Strategist, Digital Imaging | Adobe
      MarcqcAuthor
      Participating Frequently
      August 11, 2026

      Mac Studio

      Apple M4 Max

      64 Gb

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