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Joey301
Known Participant
April 10, 2020
Question

deleted one photo, two were gone

  • April 10, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 884 views

I was trying to delete duplicate photos, I used display by capture time see possible duplicates. i found MANY duplicates, what very strange file names. So, there was one instance, I had two copies of the same photo. I deleted one in LR, and both of them were deleted. Why would deleting one photo cause the deletion of a second photo? Does it matter if one is a copy? How can i prevent that from happening?

 

Thanks

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3 replies

DdeGannes
Community Expert
DdeGannesCommunity Expert
Community Expert
April 15, 2020

Ok, so you import a particular image file into Lightroom this is an original file and this file is preserved in its original state, no edits alter the original file, all the work you do with that image file "The Original" is stored as data in the Lightroom Catalog file. You can add that image to, Collections which you sync to the Creative Cloud storage to share with your mobile devices using Lightroom Mobile, create Virtual copies, Smart Previews, share on Web and Publish services, However if you delete that Original file from the hdd disk all the other functions you have done with the file will be removed from the Lightroom Catalog file.

Regards, Denis: iMac 27” mid-2015, macOS 11.7.10 Big Sur; 2TB SSD, 24 GB Ram, GPU 2 GB; LrC 12.5,; Lr 6.5, PS 24.7,; ACR 15.5,; (also Laptop Win 11, ver 24H2, LrC 15.0.1, PS 27.0; ) Camera Oly OM-D E-M1.
    Rob_Cullen
    Community Expert
    Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    April 14, 2020

    Looking at your screen-clip of 5 images, you have-

    a JPG -  RainLily.JPG

    a JPG -  RainLilyinMemory.JPG   -and a Virtual Copy of this image.

    a PSD -  RainLilyinMemory.PSD  -and a Virtual Copy of this image.

     

    The JPGs and PSDs are original 'physical' files stored in a folder on your hard-drive.

    The Thumbnails with the corner turned up are Virtual Copies. They do not exist on your Hard-drive, only as previews in the Catalog.

    *If you delete an 'original' file from your Hard-drive then any Virtual Copy of that image will also disappear from the Catalog.  (You can delete a Virtual Copy and the original will remain in the Catalog.)

    For a video about Virtual Copies-

    https://youtu.be/oi5O-XmbuOw?list=PLmXfFxjdp3CGrMbqtNj6XQ5IkQUqiIfN7

    Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .
      J
      Joey301Author
      Known Participant
      April 19, 2020

      Thank you, this is very helpful. I may have deleted a lot of original files...grrr

      Rob_Cullen
      Community Expert
      Rob_CullenCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      April 11, 2020

      Please provide more details or screen-clips to show us the files you are deleting (before deleted!) And investigate the folders where these files are stored in your computer. (In Lr Right-click on the thumbnail and [Go to FOlder in Library] or [Show in Explorer/Finder].

      Depending how you Import photos and use Cloud sync, there are several possible answers.

      "Strange filenames" might suggest they are either Previews for Lightroom to show, or possibly files synced down for Lightroom-CC.

      You need to understand 'what' you are deleting!

      And do NOT use a 'Duplicate File Finder' that is NOT a plugin for Lightroom, or you WILL mess up your Lr catalogs!

      Regards. My System: Windows-11, Lightroom-Classic 15.1.1, Photoshop 27.3.1, ACR 18.1.1, Lightroom 9.0, Lr-iOS 10.4.0, Bridge 16.0.2 .
      J
      Joey301Author
      Known Participant
      April 14, 2020

      Thank you for responding. I did see one file today called a 'virtual copy', and  I don't know what that is. Here is sort of an example, but this is after I have removed some pictures for which there were dozens of copies, and some, as you said, were really wierd file names, like 56570994546, etc.  I have not used any 3rd party plug ins, instead, I am just letting LIghtroom display in different orders, like input date, or something like that., which i read about in these forums. What worries me is that sometimes, I will delete a picture (always using lightroom) and other photos also get deleted, including the one that I thought I was keeping.

       

       

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