Moving Files Problem

[larsonm4531]

Hello,

I recently attempted to use the move feature to move an MP4 from my SD card to my Hard drive using bridge. I selected the wrong destination folder, and cancelled the move to select the correct destination, however the original MP4 File is no longer on my SD Card and appears to be gone. I am using Adobe Bridge 2023 on Mac, and searched both finder and the trash to no avail. Is the MP4 gone forever? Thanks!

[larsonm4531]

Addition to original post: I have also used spotlight search on bridge to find the file. I have only been able to find the associated media cache file, but not the actual MP4 itself on my SD card, hard drive, or computer

[gary_sc]

Hi, @larsonm4531, It shouldn't make a difference if you were moving a file via Bridge or the Finder, but when you move a file from one drive to another, the original file remains on the original device, and a copy of that file is then seen at the new location. 

I'm going to guess that all you need to do is to Eject the SD card and then reinsert it. I think you'll see your MP4 file on the card. 

Please let me know how it goes

[larsonm4531]

Hi Gary,

Thank you for the suggestion. Unfortunately, I ejected the SD card and reinserted it and the MP4 still did not show up. I ran additional recovery software on the card and it could not find the file either. 

[gary_sc]

Hi, @larsonm4531, I just did a test and, wow, I just learned something about Bridge that concerns me. 

As I stated, NORMALLY, when you move a file from one drive to another, it makes a copy and leaves the original where it was. When you move a file from one folder to another folder on the same drive, it moves the entire file over from one place to the other, and that file is no longer in the original location. 

Because I essentially never use the "Move to" feature myself, I never thought about this that much. I just did an experiment and took a file on a camera card, and "Moved it to my Desktop." That file is no longer on the card and was on my Desktop.

What I'm saying is that when you "Move to" with Bridge, it will move it to where you want the file to go and REMOVE it from where it was — a different or the same drive.

I have no clue as to what happened to that file or how to regain access to it again. I will see if I can flag an Adobe person to look at this thread and see if they can help. 

But, most importantly, in the future, if you're not using Photo Downloader, use the Finder. At a minimum, it will function as I originally described.

I'm really sorry about this.

[Erik Bloodaxe]

This in no way solves your lost file problem but, in future, I would strongly recommend using the Photo Downloader from Bridge. This is generally foolproof and copies files rather than moving them leaving your camera cards as they were. It has lots of options such as choosing a destination folder, renaming files, adding metadata etc. It has long been my go to method for obtaining photos from my cameras.

One dubious option it has is to delete the original files as they are downloaded! DON'T do that - get them downloaded and backed up before you do anthything else with your camera cards.