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Participating Frequently
February 3, 2026
Question

LR 15.1.1. Mac running Tahoe 26.2. LR has lost 1285 photos,

  • February 3, 2026
  • 4 replies
  • 6 views

LR has lost 1285 photos. I did NOT delete them. Mainly RAF, some Tiff, NEF, dng. Clients want copies, but cannot help them. Have others  found LR has lost their photos, amnd what was the solution to get them back?

    4 replies

    Legend
    February 4, 2026

    Have you tried using Spotlight (Apple Find feature) to search for those photos? Lightroom doesn’t just delete files so they are likely on a drive somewhere.

    gary_sc
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    February 3, 2026

    Hi, ​@nickthereef, I am assuming that you are referring to LRC (Lightroom Classic), not LR.

     

    I can think of two possible ways the images “disappeared.”

     

    1) Where are the files located? On your computer or on an external hard drive? If so, did you unplug the external hard drive? If you’re on a Mac, have you given the OS permission to access external hard drives? (If you need more information on that let me know.)

     

    2 If you’ve moved files around in the Finder or Explorer, LRC doesn’t have a clue as to where they are located. LRC is focused around a database. Anything you do INSIDE LRC is known by the database. Anything done OUTSIDE of LRC is completely unknown to LRC. So, for example. If you have a folder called “My clients,” and in the Finder/Explorer, you rename it to “My Favorite Clients,” LRC doesn’t have a clue where the files are because you changed the name of the folder. Similarly, if you moved a number of folders into another folder in the Finder/Explorer, or created new folders to put them into, the same issue will happen. [Note: do not ask me how many times I’ve done this before I stopped doing things like this.]

     

    Quick example: Your name on these boards is “nickthereef.” If you decide to change your name to “dimethereef,” you can’t get into these forums because you changed your name outside of Adobe’s knowledge. It’s no different here.

     

    If you see exclamation points “!” inside the thumbnails, that’s a clear indication that either #1 or #2 has occurred. To remedy this, click on the “!” and it will ask you where the file is located. Then, using the Finder/Explorer, dig into your system, locate that one image, and all of the images in that one folder (including sub-folders) will become available. If there are images in other folders that have been renamed or moved, you will have to do them separately.

     

    Any time you rename or move folders around, or from one hard drive to another, all that must be done inside LRC from now on. 

     

     

     

    I hope this helps you.

    Participating Frequently
    February 3, 2026

    Thank you.

     

    I have two external hard drives, carbon copy cloner I am hopeful an expert can help me go back to an old back up and find the photos.

    I have had this system for a year. No glitches. Plugged in, turned off if I’m travelling, plkugged back in, no issues at all. No changes in folders, no renaming. Somehow LRC has lost my RAF files from 02 - 04 -2025

    Legend
    February 3, 2026

    Regardless of whether you deleted them or not, the photo files are still on your computer or external disk(s) wherever they were, all you have to do is search for them. Unless you accidentally deleted them … which does happen sometimes.

    JohanElzenga
    Community Expert
    Community Expert
    February 3, 2026

    Please specify ‘lost photos’. Are these photos not in the catalog anymore, or are they in the catalog but shown as ‘missing’? If the latter, is their folder shown as missing in the folder panel (name in italics and question mark in front of it)?

    -- Johan W. Elzenga
    Participating Frequently
    February 3, 2026

    Thanks Johan. 
    I’ll give one example. I photographed a cabaret this time last year. All the RAF files from that night have gone. They are greyed out with an exclamation mark in the library (and clicking this takes me to my external hard drive where all my LR photos are). If I go to the folder, no ? mark on the folder. Only NEF files, no RAF files. Some were ‘the best’. I would not have deleted them 

    Legend
    February 3, 2026

    Greyed out with an exclamation mark? Can you show us a screen capture? Please use the “Insert Image” icon and not the paper-clip icon to include your screen capture in your reply.