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Salty+Kitten
Participant
June 22, 2026
Question

Deleted files

  • June 22, 2026
  • 3 replies
  • 13 views

So, when I import my photographs from my external hard drive I usually just move them, not add. So I don't know if this takes them off my external hard drive, usually it does not seem to. I had a glitch today in Lightroom classic while importing and so decided to start over again with my oresets. When I did, I removed the files from the recently added folder in LRC, when I went back to to my T7 they were gone. I know that when I deleted them from folder I did not choose to delete from disk as well, made sure not to smoke 1600 pictures lo. I do have Backblaze but I don't know if they were there long enough to backup. Any help appreciated! Thank ya

    3 replies

    Salty+Kitten
    Participant
    June 22, 2026

    wow, thank you both for responses.

    1. Usually every files lives on external hard drive. I did move I am pretty sure
    2. Presets. Usually when I have some pre sets for the photos while they are coming in
    3. Yes T7 external, and I agree sounds like a move
    4. The movement came from the T7 into Lightroom classic
    5. I am getting a sinking feeling

    I do have adobe cloud and looked to see if any deleted files could be found but could not

    dj_paige
    Legend
    June 22, 2026

    You have to tell LrC what folder to move the photos to. (The photos are not moved “into Lightroom Classic”) Do you know what folder you chose? If so, look in there.

     

    If you don’t know what folder you told LrC to move the photos to, then use your operating system (Windows Explorer or Mac Finder) search feature to search all folders on all disks for one of these photos, by file name. Do you find it that way?

     

    Also, did you look for these photos in the trash?

    dj_paige
    Legend
    June 22, 2026

    When you Import using Move, then the file is not longer in its original location, it is now in whatever location it has been Moved to by LrC. After the delete, you can find the folder you moved the files to, they should still be in there (unless you also told LrC to remove the files from your hard disk, but you said you didn’t chose this option). So look in the folder where they were moved to by LrC. 

    gary_sc
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    June 22, 2026

    Hi, ​@Salty Kitten, I think I need to back up a bit.

    1. Where are your LRC images kept: on the external hard drive or on your computer’s hard drive? You state you “usually just move them, not add…” so where do the images actually reside?
    2. You state “I had a glitch today in Lightroom classic while importing and so decided to start over again with my oresets.” I guess that’s a typo, what’s an “oresets”?
    3. Is the T7 an external hard drive? If not, what? BTW, if you “Moved” a file from any location, it will be gone from that location after the process is complete. If you “Copy” a file, it will end up being in both places. If you “Add” a file, it will remain in the original location and will be active within LRC’s catalog. So, it sounds like you “Moved” them.
    4. Did you move, delete, transfer any files in your OS (Mac or PC),” or did you do all movement from within LRC?
    5. If you removed files from LRC, but not from the disk, do you know where those files were being stored? If you do, than they should still be there.

    Waiting for your answer to these questions.