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DJHawtin
Participant
May 6, 2021
Question

Disk drive cloning problems with Windows 10 PC

  • May 6, 2021
  • 1 reply
  • 957 views

I have just updated to latest version of Lightroom, imported from old catalogue all working fine. 

My photos are kept on an external drive which I clone.  Recently the main hard drive failed and I loaded the photos from a cloned drive, this is not a problem for the files imported from the old version of Lightroom, but I have folders I have created in the new version that are a problem.  Once the cloning is complete I can see folders and files using File Explorer.  When I open LRC the folders initially appear, but then a question mark comes up next to the folder and using File Explorer I find the folders and files have gone from the disk.  I have done this a few times to be able to have a clear idea of what is going on, it takes hours to clone my drive!!

I have now copied the folders and files back to the cloned drive and they now appear in LRC and work as they should.  Ongoing I can't realistically expect to keep track of files over several cloned drives.  Has anyone had this problem and more importantly found a fix.

This topic has been closed for replies.

1 reply

dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
May 6, 2021

This document explains the whole thing, and how to fix this (with screen captures): http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr2_find_folder/find-folder.htm

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DJHawtinAuthor
Participant
May 6, 2021

Thanks for your reply, some useful information.  It didn't quite answer the specific problem of cloned drives, I have read somewhere that cloning is difficult because of the way LR deals with drive letters and portability of files.  This particular issue is that some of the folders and files that were cloned are deleted soon after LR is launched. So, they appear in File Explorer but are deleted from the drive soon after LR starts. I'm not quite sure how to use LR in this way if I am not confident that the files will be kept safe.  Thanks  David

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DJHawtinAuthor
Participant
May 6, 2021

Lightroom Classic does not delete folders or photos by itself. If you are not performing any actions in Lightroom Classic other than opening it, then this is not a problem caused by Lightroom Classic, it can only be a problem caused by the cloning software (or the operating system or some background task running on your computer). So I will have to drop out of this conversation at this point as I can't answer questions about your cloning software.


I'm inclined to agree with you, but it is happening and I have no idea why, cloning takes place away from the PC so not related. If I find an answer I will post it. Thanks for considering this.  David

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