Skip to main content
K
kittydoc2
Participant
August 3, 2020
Question

"Missing" photos after import

  • August 3, 2020
  • 1 reply
  • 256 views

Hi-

I imported my catalog into LR Classic, and it appears that about 35,000 photos are "missing".  LR clearly knows they exist -- they show in the library but as greyed out icons.  I have tried searching for the missing photos on my harddrive to no avail.  How do I locate the source of these pictures so that I can point LR into the correct direction to import them?

Thanks!

-Sandra

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

DdeGannes
Community Expert
DdeGannesCommunity Expert
Community Expert
August 3, 2020

See if the article at the link provides the info. Do not reimport this will complicate your problem.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-photos-missing-fix/ 

 

Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.3; PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.
K
kittydoc2Author
Participant
August 5, 2020
Thanks-
Unfortunately, I cannot get past the first step -- I can't find the photos
on my hard drive.

A little history -- I think most of these photos were taken and stored on a
previous computer that had a hard drive failure (this is in the
pre-Lightroom days). I was able to restore the drive using a carbonite back
up.

I have searched my current hard drive as well as the carbonite back up and
do not find the files associated with the missing photos. But clearly LRC
knows they are there, somewhere, since they are showing up in the library,
just greyed out.

So, I think I need some tips on how to best find these files which are
obviously somewhere on my computer???

Thanks-

-Sandra
dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
August 5, 2020

Lightroom does not know where they are. That's why it indicates the photos are missing. Lightroom may be showing you thumbnails or previews that it built when the photographs were available, which it can do even if the photographs are no longer available.

 

When you say you did the search, do you mean you used your operating system to search all hard drive(s) for one of these photos by file name? If not, then you should do this now.


What about backups of the photos? Do you have them?

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices