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fetusticianpj
Known Participant
September 5, 2018
Answered

https://forums.adobe.com/thread/2375611?et=watches.email.outcome

  • September 5, 2018
  • 2 replies
  • 756 views

I too need help.

YES I DID READ ALL THE LINKS ABOVE !

When i travel i download the pictures from my camera to my laptop by

copying the folder under the DCIM directory to the C: drive of my laptop

and then renaming the 100ND500 directory a date name (08-26_Alaska for

instance)

I then open LR classic CC on the laptop and create a new catalog for each

set of images for instance

Pictures>08-26_Alaska>

and

Pictures>08-26_Alaska>whales

where Pictures>08-26_Alaska>whales is the location of the catalogs

(Whales.lrcat, with several subdirectories

(whaleshelper.lrdata;whalespreviews.lrdata)

I do 3 backup of the images by copying (windows explorer) onto 3 different

SSD drives the entire folder (8-26_Alaska, including the subdirectories)

When i get home I copy from one of the backup to my drive

(E::>pictures>2010->2018 the entire folder and their subdirectories.

then i open LR by double clicking the appropriate subfolder catalog

(08-26_Alaska>whales Whales.lrcat) or by opening LR and selecting

File > open > catalog and navigating to the proper catalog.

<https://forums.adobe.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/2-10598056-1563510/Untitled-1.jpg>

I get the images loaded and the stars and edits are present

<https://forums.adobe.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/2-10598056-1563511/Untitled-2.jpg>

Aside from the last image that was worked on, all the images get the FILE

COULD NOT BE FOUND message

<https://forums.adobe.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/2-10598056-1563515/Untitled-3.jpg>

so i select ALL pictures in the lower thumbnails display, then click the

tab LIBRARY on the top right and on the menu select LIBRARY > FIND ALL

MISSING PICTURES

<https://forums.adobe.com/servlet/JiveServlet/showImage/2-10598056-1563517/Untitled-4.jpg>

Small indicators now appear on each thumbnail to confirm that the images

have had modifications (cropping, editing...) applied.

Yet when i go into DEVELOP tab and select a file i still have the FILE

COULD NOT BE FOUND message.

So what am i doing wrong ?

thanks !

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer ManiacJoe

    The image files are not "in" your catalog. They are on the hard drive, just like your spreadsheets, and are referenced by the catalog using the full path and file names.

    On your laptop, the files were on your C: drive. When you copied the image files and catalogs to your desktop computer, the files are now on the E: drive, but the catalog is still looking for them on the C: drive.

    To fix this, in the Library module,
    go to the "Folders" panel
    select the top-most missing folder (with the ? marker)
    right-click, find missing folder, navigate to the folder's new location.
    (repeat as needed)

    Fixing the top-most folder should automatically fix all the folders and files under it.

    See also this link:
    http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm

    ------------

    Once you have fixed all the missing folders, you may want to rethink all these multiple catalogs. Having multiple small catalogs on the laptop while in the field can work real well. However, when you get home, you may be better off merging all these "travel" catalogs into one master catalog using the "import from catalog" command.

    2 replies

    ManiacJoe
    ManiacJoeCorrect answer
    Inspiring
    September 6, 2018

    The image files are not "in" your catalog. They are on the hard drive, just like your spreadsheets, and are referenced by the catalog using the full path and file names.

    On your laptop, the files were on your C: drive. When you copied the image files and catalogs to your desktop computer, the files are now on the E: drive, but the catalog is still looking for them on the C: drive.

    To fix this, in the Library module,
    go to the "Folders" panel
    select the top-most missing folder (with the ? marker)
    right-click, find missing folder, navigate to the folder's new location.
    (repeat as needed)

    Fixing the top-most folder should automatically fix all the folders and files under it.

    See also this link:
    http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm

    ------------

    Once you have fixed all the missing folders, you may want to rethink all these multiple catalogs. Having multiple small catalogs on the laptop while in the field can work real well. However, when you get home, you may be better off merging all these "travel" catalogs into one master catalog using the "import from catalog" command.

    F
    fetusticianpjAuthor
    Known Participant
    September 6, 2018

    Brilliant ManiacJoe !

    I had done this before but not the (repeat as needed). I did one folder, moved it from my travel back up to a totally different path. The first go around of finding the missing folder got me the message that this was already in my catalog. I still clicked and LR asked whether I wanted to merge them, I clicked yes. The thumbnails were now all there, but still not editable (I had gone indeed from C:\ to E:\)

    I did this a second times (the folder was already properly assigned under FOLDER, then did "synchronize" and now "Voila":

    All the pictures in the folder, all the transforms presents and all editable.

    So Einstein was not totally right: Doing the same thing over and expecting different results is NOT always stupid.

    Incidentally I tried to edit the text file LRCAT for C:\ and replace the original path with the correct path but there are several variations.

    C:\username\Pictures

    and

    C:\\username\\Pictures

    and more strangely

    C:/username/Pictures

    plus a few instances of C: alone

    However this did not work, maybe because some Checkup Sums did not add up anymore

    Any ways great, now I know the process

    OK I will try to merge all files from a single trip into one catalog... but i will experiment on a different drive for that

    Thanks ManiacJoe !

    Rob_Cullen
    Community Expert
    Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 6, 2018

    Good to see you are on the right track -thanks to ManiacJoe​ for the correct post.

    Can I add a few comments-

    A catalog size of 25,000 images- not really big, but I admit your style of shooting (professional?) may require separate catalogs for separate jobs. If you add up the size of all your multiple catalogs and Preview folders, I am sure you would find they occupy more space than one single catalog might.

    If you have the time here are some links I have enjoyed-

    https://www.lightroomqueen.com/one-or-multiple-catalogs/

    Lightroom 5: How to Use Lightroom 5 On Location - YouTube

    https://lightroomkillertips.com/many-images-can-one-lightroom-catalog-still-perform-well/

    I also note you are using 'Synchronize' to help sort your catalog. I would highly recommend you NOT use it, except to adding sundry 'new' images that may be added to existing folders. Synchronize does both 'Import' and 'Remove' of files (depending on the options) and does NOT fix 'missing' images. Any 'Import' method will frequently make the 'Missing images' problem much worse and more difficult to correct.

    https://www.lightroomqueen.com/synchronize-folder/?utm_source=The+Lightroom+Queen&utm_campaign=66f3d347d0-August_Newslet…

    "edit the text file LRCAT"- is playing with danger as it is an sQLite database type file that any mistakes will make corrupt. Unless you have 'Programmer' expertise I suggest you leave well alone.

    All the best in future.

    Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.3, Photoshop 27.5, ACR 18.3, Lightroom 9.3, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.3 .
    Rob_Cullen
    Community Expert
    Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    September 5, 2018

    The first thing you are doing 'wrong' is creating a Catalog for each set of images.

    Please, please, follow the frequent advice to only have ONE catalog that references ALL photos on your computer.

    Trying to handle multiple catalogs is a 'nightmare', and very prone to major problems.

    'Missing' images can be caused by- moving, renaming, deleting  both Files and Folders. And if you do any of these things in one of your catalogs (or the operating system), another catalog will now show the 'Missing' errors.

    Can I suggest you obtain a free 'Quick Start' eBook from-

    https://www.lightroomqueen.com/

    and understand better how one catalog will reference all your photos.

    You will need more advice if you are to tidy up your (laptop) system, perhaps by merging all your catalogs into one, but seek advice before you go down that 'road'.

    "Returning home" and combining the laptop catalog with the desktop catalog is another big step- not to be attempted until the laptop is sorted. And it is not done by simply copying files. Sorting out the laptop is the first priority.

    Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.3, Photoshop 27.5, ACR 18.3, Lightroom 9.3, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.3 .
    F
    fetusticianpjAuthor
    Known Participant
    September 6, 2018

    Thanks WobertC.

    When I start using LR I did the one catalog approach, but it rapidly got hard to manage (over 25,000 image in 79 folders just this year) and it was several GB long (I do not build smart previews to save time, the catalog might have been larger with them). One day the catalog got corrupted (yes I did the optimize at least once a day !) and I had 3 full back ups. I could never get the backups to totally replace the original file: with many broken links, folders whose images were only partially recognized, erroneous star assignments and failed "synchronize"

    I have a well-honed, meticulous filing system by century > Decades > year > month and day. And I have close to 2TB of non-professional images. Picture go directly from the DSLR to the folder on my laptop, get edited and cataloged there, the entire folder is tripled backed up and one of the backup restored on my desk computer. This is actually not very many transfers, and I know that images are not "deleted, displaced, renamed or misplaced". I use the original file name from the DSLR as it is highly unlikely that i will ever do 9999 images in one setting and thus duplicate file names will be several directories apart. I occasionally change the DSLR file name prefix too in fact.

    So I am very willing to do a "trip" or even a "year" catalog but that does not change the fundamental issue: either I can do some editing while traveling (which I like because it allows me to correct acquisitions errors, review focus, lens etc) or I can edit only at home. I do 3 backups on 3 different SSD drives as I find them more reliable then HD. The vast majority of the time only one copy is needed (unless a fellow passenger drops one of my bag from an overhead compartment !)

    Yes I am familar with her ebook and several others. I do not believe the issue is there.

    In the example above I believed that the catalog gets somehow corrupted though still readable (I have not open any copy of a catalog with a text editor yet). When it read the images it did find 230 something out of 280. No amount of clicking "missing photograph" clicking or Library > Find missing files would find them. Even after searching for individual one and locating them with Explorer, LR would acknowledge their presence, and offer to find "similar" but failed to import them. Dragging them on the Library grid did not work either.

    Finally the only practical way to get access to all images on the folder was to erase the catalog and restart from scratch.

    I suspect that if this problem happened in that folder it might happen to others.

    As if you say multiple catalog is a nightmare, why is that and what could be done to fix that ? I suspect others do also edit while away from their desk and that if merging catalog was better optimized it would be useful

    This is really not a criticism of either  LR or Adobe, I am a big fan of both, just a query to understand the source of the "nightmare" so that it can be resolved more efficiently.

    Thanks for your suggestions!

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