Catalogue present in the Desktop and Hard Drive was lost (Original source), new one available

[Luísa35524696d7uz]

Hello all,
I would very much appreciate your expertise on the issue below:
Situation: So, I have a Master Catalogue in my PC desktop (Windows 10) linked to an external hard drive, where the photos are and they have been organised by using the move/create folders directly via Lightroom (CC 6.5.1). Unfortunately the hard drive burned and chaos is installed... 

Since I still have the Master Catalogue on my desktop and the full structure I want to preserve,

Question: How can I link the master catalogue to a new drive in order to pool those scattered photos to this structure I want to preserve?

Then, would it be possible to keep on doing this pooling by using other sources, such as the recovery files of the burned drive?

Please tell me I didn't lose the last decade of work or that I need another decade to "locate new source" one photo at a time... Even harder because the name of the recovered files have changed...

Thank you for your time and help!

[Rob_Cullen]

You will need to restore the files from a backup with the exact same Lr Folder structure and Image filenames on a new drive.

Re-link Folders with information in this link- MISSING FILES & FOLDERS (Lightroom Queen) 

"Recovered" files from the "burned" drive with different filenames (caused by the recovery) will not re-link except by searching for one image at a time.

If you don't have backups of the original files then I am very sorry for you. You may have to write-off all your work in the current catalog and start from the beginning again with the restored files in an empty new catalog.

I might also suggest you investigate the methods to create JPG files from the Lr Previews cache by using a Plugin-

Extract JPGs from Previews Plugin

[Luísa35524696d7uz]

Hello,
Thank you Rob for your reply. I will read the MISSING FILES & FOLDERS (Lightroom Queen) link carefully to fully understand its content.
Picking up on you reply, what I understand is that either I have an exact copy of the files in the exact same structure (ie, a duplicate), or there is no hope in using the master catalogue I keep and link it to a 2nd drive that has the files unstructured - simply, the photos cannot be pooled and rearranged onto the master deck I keep, correct?

In the end I might not ever know how many photos I actually lost, since I cannot compare it considering the master catalogue as baseline.

What might be a mitigation action for a future ocasion? Should one keep the files unruled in a drive/file explorer and only create virtual collections within the LR - Is that it?
Trying to wrap my head arround this one... cannot believe I have lost all my work... 

The second link you shared Extract JPGs from Previews Plugin is a 404 page not found. Please share again if you think it might help.

I have the LR 6.5.1 version. Is the 13v easier to organise photos? Does it suggest folders based on AI, facial recognition, geographic location, metadata, etc to group unstructured/not organised photos?

Thank you once again

[Rob_Cullen]

The  link I gave for "Extract Previews...." I believe does cause problems for some web browsers. I can open the link with Firefox. Try another browser. Apparently Jeffrey Friedl has been having trouble with the difference between http and https and his web server.

http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/preview-extraction

"I have the LR 6.5.1 version."-  So is that the ancient perpetual version 6, or the new 'Cloud' version 6?

Post a screen-clip of the report from MENU: Help > System Info...

Lightroom-Classic v13 (only by subscription) is the latest upgrade for the Perpetual Version 6, and it looks and operates the same as the old perpetual v6. Photo organization is the same!  'Cloud' version 6 is something very different.

"I understand is that either I have an exact copy of the files in the exact same structure (ie, a duplicate)"

Basically yes, that is the requirement, and exact same filenames.  If you cannot restore exactly the folders and filenames as they were before, you have a mammoth task ahead if you want to relink (renamed) files and folders, if that is even possible in your situation.

This is every good reason for a backup app that will backup your image files to another physical hard-drive in a 'mirrored' folder structure.

"create virtual collections within the LR"- No. "Collections" have no purpose for restoring files or protecting your files. Collections are only (text) lists of selected photos in the Catalog (like a playlist in Spotify). Your files are NEVER 'IN' Lightroom. The Catalog is only a database link to the original files in your computer system.

BACKUP- a Lesson

CATALOGS- HOW THEY WORK