Can I export low res images when the source file is missing?

[Miriam Haugen]

Sadly, I had a hard drive fail with no backup. One of the things that has saved me is that I have been able to export using the smart previews from Lightroom. These "low resolution" images have given me good quality prints up to 11x14. I have one shoot, however, where the message that I get is "source files are offline or missing" rather than "Originals missing for some images. Smart previews will be used, if available. Do you want to continue."

Are those files gone for good? Could there be "smart previews" hiding somewhere that I can access and still get those images?

[dj_paige · Accepted solution]

If you had a hard disk fail, and no backups, then yes, the photos are gone for good.

If there are previews, you can recover them via: Preview-Cache Image Extraction — Extract preview images from a Lightroom catalog.

[Miriam Haugen]

I was hopeful but no cigar. I installed your plug in, Then I selected one of the problem images in LR, selected Library/plugin extras/extract preview images/Begin extraction and got the "No previews extracted" message. Very sad.

[Nicole26988752cas7]

This is happening to me now. 
my hard drive crashed, so I went to Lightroom since I already imported the images. At first I was seeing a "preview" of the image. It just said "file not found." Then I switched catalogues and now they're all grey out and gone. Did you find any solution for this? I contacted adobe yesterday and they were no help. Said me seeing the images could have been a "glitch"? Idk. 
I was really hoping to use scripts to export them even if they were low res and now they're not there. 
It shows me the amount of images in that folder but they're all greyed out. 
many help is appreciated!!

[dj_paige]

This is happening to me now. 
my hard drive crashed, so I went to Lightroom since I already imported the images. At first I was seeing a "preview" of the image. It just said "file not found." Then I switched catalogues and now they're all grey out and gone.

I'm not really sure I understand this. But ... you would be wise to start a new thread and explain everything from the beginning, leaving nothing out, providing lots of details and screen captures (using the "Insert Photos" icon; do not attach files).

[Rob_Cullen]

@Nicole26988752cas7  You "...switched catalogues...".

Can you switch 'back' to the catalog where you saw the previews in Library Grid View? (For Preview Extraction).

Do you have a Smart Previews folder associated with any Catalog?

(filename something like-{Lightroom Catalog-v12 Smart Previews.lrdata}.)  If so, you might recover some photos from the Smart Preview DNG files.

[Shotbyadoosey]

YOU LITERALLY JUST SAVED MY LIFE!

[sam359631399hs3]

This response is a few years late, but considering this is the top link when Googling, I figured it'd be valuable to respond for future visitors as well.

Adobe has an official script for LR classic which allows you to extract preview files: https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/extract-previews-for-lost-images-lightroom.html

Just follow the steps, it's fairely simple, and you should be able to get your preview files extracted within 5 minutes. It only exports the images you have selected, not the entire catalogue, so it's pretty much a perfect solution. The resultiong file is a .jpg