Hello, I face the following challenge: I run LR Classic V 13.0.1 with my catalogue of ~100k images on a local HDDThe images (RAW and DNG format) were stored on a local NAS-Server.I synched roughly half of the images/albums into LR cloud based. Almost all images over the past 2yrs or so. This NAS Server crashed, all data is lost. The newests working backups > 3 yrs old I now face the challenge of recovering as many of my old images from different sources as possible:I have a woerking catalogue, some images from LR cloud and some old backups which I can use. Can someone please suport me in what is the best method/process to stitch that back together? Thanks a lot, any help very much appreciated. Best Thomas

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Thomas23885678o87g

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Recovery of Lightroom images after HDD crash

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Hello,

I face the following challenge:

I run LR Classic V 13.0.1 with my catalogue of ~100k images on a local HDD
The images (RAW and DNG format) were stored on a local NAS-Server.
I synched roughly half of the images/albums into LR cloud based. Almost all images over the past 2yrs or so.
This NAS Server crashed, all data is lost. The newests working backups > 3 yrs old

I now face the challenge of recovering as many of my old images from different sources as possible:

I have a woerking catalogue, some images from LR cloud and some old backups which I can use.

Can someone please suport me in what is the best method/process to stitch that back together?

Thanks a lot, any help very much appreciated.

Best Thomas

Windows

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Rob_Cullen

Community Expert

Your original 'lost' images from the last 3 years are gone. Never to be seen again.

IMO The best you can do is- (if the previews still exist in Lightroom-Desktop), Export them from Lightroom-Desktop to a local folder as "Small JPGS", or better "Small TIFFs"

You will get image files that are ~2048pixels on the long edge.

You cannot export them as anything "Full-Size" as the full-size file does not exist in the Lightroom Cloud ecosystem.

Then start again from 'scratch' with the smaller image files, and any existing files you can find on drives.

I can only stress the need to have full-size copies (backups) of ALL your original image files on a physical separate storage medium.

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Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.4.1, Photoshop 27.8, ACR 18.4, Lightroom 9.4, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.3 .

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Thomas23885678o87gAuthor

Participating Frequently

Thanks for the help! Two follow up questions:

- How do I best export the previews from Lightroom-Desktop to a local folder as "Small JPGS", or better "Small TIFFs"?

- There are no oroginal files stored in LR Cloud (synced albums?

Best rregards

Thomas

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Rob_Cullen

Community Expert

I am going to need to apologize and change my suggestions. An image 'deleted from Disk' in Lightroom-Classic (and synced to Lr from a Classic Collection) will also disappear from Lightroom-Desktop. (It did not appear this way to me when I tested first time, )

So- IF, and only if, you still see thumbnails of the synced images in Lightroom-Desktop (not Classic), then you should be able to Select, Share, as JPG or TIF small. Only your test will indicate if this is possible for you.

In Lightroom-Desktop (cloud)- Smart Preview only! of an NEF original that was deleted from Disk in LrC