Participating Frequently

Question

Moving a folder to a new location has erased the missing photos !

Forum|Forum|5 years ago
September 18, 2020
2 replies
393 views

Hello all,

Well, everything is almost in the title !

I've moved a folder from an HDD to another HDD throught my LR catalog. In this folder, about half the photos were missing ones (another story). After the move, all the missing photos were deleted from the catalog (without any warning before or after) ! There is no option shown when you move a folder inside Lightroom, so for me it's a bug. What do you think ? Do somebody has already seen that problem ?

Can be very problematic when you move a folder that contains subfolders stored somewhere else !

Thanks,

Mickaël.

This topic has been closed for replies.

Just Shoot Me

Legend

If the actual image files, or folders, were missing there was nothing for LrC to erase. They were already gone. Just the reference to the files, or folders, that were already missing was removed from the LrC Catalog file, a Database file.

M

mickaëlb91434182Author

Participating Frequently

Hi,

I understand what you mean. It's true the physical files were temporarily missing but in Lr, you can still work on missing files thanks to the previews : add metadatas for instance or even editing if you have smart previews. So even if a photo is not physically connected to your machine at a time, it exists as an element of your Lr library. I think it's quite common that files are stored on a hard drive or a network drive that could be temporarily unavailable.

So I really think that this is a bug or at least that there should be a warning when you try to move a folder containing missing files.

For the moment, I haven't taken time to log this on feedback-photoshop but will definitely do.

Thanks,

Mickaël.

Just Shoot Me

Legend

Not a bug in my opinion. Before Moving folder and or files to some other drive make sure all drives that you have stored iomages on are connected and showing as connected. IE No images or folders or drives for that matter, showing as Missing.

This is clearly User Error IMHO.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

I have never tried this and I agree that you should have gotten a warning, but it does make sense. If you move a folder that contains missing subfolders, then how is Lightroom supposed to move those subfolders? It can't because they do not exist. By moving the parent folder anyway you give Lightroom no choice but to forget all about those subfolders.

This is a user-to-user forum, however. For feature requests of bug reports, go to https://feedback.photoshop.com. Search for your feature request first. If it is already requested by someone else, then don't create a new thread but add your vote to the existing request.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

M

mickaëlb91434182Author

Participating Frequently

Hi Johan,

Thanks for your response !

It's not only happening with subfolders. With a single folder containing a mix of missing and non-missing photos, the change of location (to a new disk) deletes the missing ones from the catalog.

I haven't tried yet to move to another location on the same disk to see what's happening then.

I'll log it to on feedback website then.

++

Mickael.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

Like I said, that is to be expected. The folder panel shows real folders, and moving a folder in the folder panel moves real folders on disk. Lightroom has no choice but to forget about any 'missing' subfolders when you move a folder, so don't do that when there are missing subfolders. Fix the missing subfolders first.

By the way: you should not have any missing folders in the first place if you use Lightroom properly. Never move or rename folders outside of Lightroom. Always use Lightroom for doing this.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

Sign up

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Sign in to Adobe Community

To post, reply, or follow discussions, please sign in with your Adobe ID.

Scanning file for viruses.

This file cannot be downloaded