Importing from wrong drive

A common cause of this problem is the first option mentioned by @john54goss . You placed a shortcut or a symbolic link to the C drive on the P drive, so Lightroom follows that link when you select the P drive.

I have built all my LR catalogue from photos on my external hard drive labelled P. I have sub-folders in P for the years. I have imported numerous times from P:\subfolder without any problems and it has just picked up new photos in that subfolder.

I went to do the same today and it found lots of additional files to import. On investigation, despite me clicking only the P:\subfolder I wanted, it was identifying numerous files on the C drive and trying to import those as well even though C drive was not selected. I have tried various ways of stopping this, all to no avail. 

Any ideas?

 

By HappyRewards@janet_1631

Hello,

Here are the three most likely quick fixes:

• Uncheck "Include Subfolders": In the Import window, look at the Source panel (top left). If "Include Subfolders" is checked, Lightroom may be following a shortcut/alias from your P drive back to your C drive.

• Check the "Source" Selection: Ensure you haven't accidentally selected "Devices" or "All Photos" at the very top left. Manually click the specific folder under the Files section of the drive list.

• Toggle "New Photos": At the top center, ensure "New Photos" is selected. If "All Photos" is highlighted, it will show everything it can find, including duplicates.

The "Clean" Workaround: Instead of using the Import button, drag and drop the specific folder from your P drive directly onto the Lightroom Library grid. This forces Lightroom to ignore other drives.