Batch rename reassigned my starred files, put my files out of order and ruined a weekend of culling

[melisssap69691721]

I was batch renaming about 1,200 photos. I manually moved all the photos in chronological order and assigned ratings...some photos had five-star ratings, and others had no ratings. During the batch rename process, Bridge started to act wonky, then the spinning pinwheel. Finally, Bridge crashed. After restarting Bridge, all my files were entirely out of order, and hundreds that previously had five stars now had no rating and vice versa. I noticed that many files had also been assigned a '(1)' ending and some a 'copy' ending. I retraced my steps and realized that I chose a three-digit numbering sequence in the batch rename settings (beginning with 001), but I had over 1,000 photos to batch rename. I think this is what caused the problem. If you've ever watched your finder folder during a batch rename, you will know that Bridge runs a script that maybe creates a copy of the file, then renames and reassigns metadata, etc. I think that my choosing a three-digit ending for a four-digit volume of files may have created a sort of infinite loop that crashed Bridge while it was executing the batch rename - ruining my file order and metadata. Overall, just a huge mess, and an entire weekend of culling gone to waste.  If this is the case, shouldn't bridge refuse to execute a script it knows will cause problems? Can this be salvaged?

[Lumigraphics]

Did you select the option to write the old filename into XMP?

[melisssap69691721]

Thank you for your reply! I am not near my computer right now, but I will check. My main issue is the star ratings being reassigned. I rate five stars for photos I want to keep and no rating for photos I reject. Now that the ratings are removed and reassigned...and some photos duplicated, I cant tell what is what. I wish I had time machine running on my mac.

[Lumigraphics]

Star ratings are written directly into the XMP sidecar for RAW files, and the file itself for other types. If a batch operation goes awry and filenames are off, the XMP sidecar may get disconnected from the RAW file. Reverting name changes should fix this.

[melisssap69691721]

Ok, I'm back at my machine. I did not select the option to preserve current filename in XMP Metadata, and before realizing the snafu with Bridge, I moved all my unstarred photos to the trash. To make matters worse, I originally had the photos in five separate folders. I consolidated everything into one folder (my original goal) and moved the remaining empty folders into the trash. So now I have no way to associate the files in the trash with their original location, and since I deleted from Bridge, the 'Put Back' Option is not available within trash. The only good news is that the files weren't permanently deleted. However, starting with ~700 photos, I now I have a trash bin with over 2,800 original files, duplicates, triplicates, files ending in (1), and files that had 00000 & 00001 added to original CR2 name. I have no idea how to recover from this.

[Lumigraphics]

Are you on a mac or PC? You may need to find a duplicate files utility to sort things out.

[melisssap69691721]

I am using an iMac. 

[Lumigraphics]

Check the Mac App Store for file utilities, I suppose.