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CoreTravelPhoto
Known Participant
May 21, 2017
Answered

28000 files missing

  • May 21, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 1240 views

Hi

So frustrated.  I have all my images on an external drive with a folder structure, by year and month (for example, 2002->Jan->all photos shot in January).  I have added key words, ratings, previews and done editing in LR (v5.7.1) for years and no problems.  BTW, my LR catalog is on my computer's internal drive (for speed).

Recently my internal HD crashed, I was able to save my LRCAT and LRPreview folders but now, when I open LR on new internal harddrive all the images are missing.  I've spent over 100 hours trying to figure out what to do, including somewhat futile calls to Adobe customer service (they only support CC users).

In LR, I can see the files have renamed (or I did it somehow) and have added a date to the name.

For example:  Lightroom filename:  "20130303-IMG_4097.jpg" is "missing".  My external drive folder is:  MyPhotos->2013->03 March->2013 03 03->IMG_4097.JPG".

Yes, I can go through the painstaking steps to reconnect but I don't want to do this 28,000 times (each time I get a notice that the filename is different). Any tips what happened and better yet best options to fix?  I really don't want to re-import (and lose all my edits, previews, ratings, keywords, etc).

As mentioned, I had no issues before the crash, the external drive with all the images was not impacted during the laptop crash, I am even able to connect and open the crashed harddrive (where I can select all the images and 'export as catalog').

      This topic has been closed for replies.
      Correct answer dj_paige

      Hi

      I found a backup (from Dec-2015) that matches my harddrive directory (eg:

      the catalog hierarchy matches the folder structure on my external harddrive

      and the file names match; so no missing files). So that's good news.

      There are some images missing, but I can go folder by folders, find the

      missing images and then import image by image or groups of images (or

      whatever you suggest).

      Also, how do you suggest restoring my "working" catalog with the backup?

      [image: Inline image 2]


      Copy (not move) the backup to a newly created empty folder (doesn't matter where). Double-click on the backup catalog file to open it. (Note: for anyone else reading this, if you have Lightroom 6 or Lightroom CC 2015, you have to unzip it before you can open it). When you open this catalog, files up until Dec 2015 ought to work properly since the file names in Lightroom match the file names in your operating system.

      Then, you can figure out what to do about the newer photos that aren't in this catalog. Open the current catalog. You can rename them in your operating system to match Lightroom, but this will have to be done one-by-one. Or you might want to just re-import them into the newly opened backup version, but this will cause you to lose your edits and user-supplied metadata. I guess you have to decide which method is the least painful to you.

      2 replies

      KR Seals
      KR Seals
      Braniac
      May 23, 2017

      "In LR, I can see the files have renamed (or I did it somehow) and have added a date to the name."

      Did the file names get changed in LR or by the operating system using windows explorer?

      Ken Seals - Nikon Z 9, Z 8, 14mm-800mm. Computer Win 11 Pro, I7-14700K, 64GB, RTX3070TI. Travel machine: 2021 MacBook Pro M1 MAX 64GB. All Adobe apps.
      D
      dj_paige
      Braniac
      May 21, 2017

      While I don't know what happened to cause the catalog to expect different names than those that exist on the hard disk, the easiest thing to do is to open a recent backup of your catalog file that was made just before the crash.

      C
      CoreTravelPhotoAuthor
      Known Participant
      May 22, 2017

      Hi.  I wish it was that easy, even the backup lrcats have different hierarchy and show "missing".  In my current laptop (with new hard drive) the external drive reads "F:" and in the prior laptop it may have been a different drive, even though the same external drive. 

      What is next way to solve this??

      C
      CoreTravelPhotoAuthor
      Known Participant
      May 23, 2017

      Hi.  I wish it was that easy, even the backup lrcats have different hierarchy and show "missing".  In my current laptop (with new hard drive) the external drive reads "F:" and in the prior laptop it may have been a different drive, even though the same external drive.

      This doesn't address the key issue. When you open the backup catalog, are the file names matching the file names on disk, or are they not matching, as you described earlier?


      The backup images are "missing" too.  

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