P: Import deleted un-imported files in same folder

[FeedbackCommunityMember]

I tried to import photos into lightroom from an old harddrive into it's original folder on the same harddrive. I accidentally canceled it and now all the unimported photos are gone from the harddrive. Where did they go?

Full story: 
working on a macbook pro
connected an harddrive from a few years ago with old photos to macbook pro
opened lightroom>import
navigated to the folder I wanted, selected it, selected destination folder as the same folder as where the images were coming from
started the import, accidentally hit cancel
went back to original folder (through finder), and only the initial photos that started importing before I hit the cancel button are there. They're doubled, but all the other photos in that folder from that shoot are gone. 

Is there a way to find those? Where did they go? I've searched by image name, and nothing comes up for the missing files.

Thank you.

[JohanElzenga]

If you want to import images and keep them in the same folder, then select ‘Add’ at the top middle of the import dialog, not ‘Copy’. Lightroom will then just add the images to the catalog, and not move or copy them.

That said, I have no idea why using ‘Copy’ and then hitting ‘cancel’ would delete any images, especially not if you selected the same folder as destination (which duplicates the images, as you have noticed).

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Greetings Steph,

The team has reviewed and agreed that Import needs to be modified to prevent a cancellation from causing this issue. We've logged a bug in the system and will review the best way to change the process. Thanks for reporting.