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ricka32571550
ricka32571550
Participant
July 26, 2018
Answered

external hard drive letter changed.

  • July 26, 2018
  • 4 replies
  • 7685 views

I keep my photos on an external 500 GB ssd.  It was getting full so I purchased a new identical Samsung t5 500 GB ssd.  When I connected the new drive it bumped the existing drive from drive E to Drive F.  Now Lightroom can't find my photos.  How do I rename the old drive back to drive E, or point lightroom to the renamed drive F?

    Correct answer cmgap

    Here's how to rename a drive letter in Windows 10.

    1. Ensure that the drive you're relettering isn't in use and that no files from that drive are open.
    2. Right-click on the Start button.
    3. Click Disk Management to open the Disk Management console.
    4. Right-click the volume that has the drive letter you want to change.
    5. Click Change Drive Letter And Paths.

    4 replies

    M
    mastix
    Inspiring
    January 27, 2022

    Unfortunately we are in 2022 and Lightroom is still not clever enough to point to the right HD if letter has changed and nothing else. Adobe sensei and bla bla bla and easy tasks that should make life easier on us are neglected.

      D Fosse
      Community Expert
      D FosseCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      January 27, 2022

      Letter and nothing else? The drive letter is fundamental to any navigation in Windows. Change the drive letter and you change everything. Expecting Lightroom to "understand" that is unrealistic to say the least.

       

      The whole problem is easily avoided by simply assigning the same drive letter as the old disk.

       

      You have more of a problem if you don't assign a drive letter at all. Then Windows will just pick the lowest free letter at any time, so it may change randomly. That's why you should assign a "high" letter in the second half of the alphabet, one that is normally not in use. That will stick.

      dj_paige
      dj_paige
      Legend
      January 27, 2022

      Well, you can claim what you want. It is a Lightroom weakness and I hope it improves in the feature, as lagging behind competition is never a good strategy for success.


      And I congratulate Adobe for programming it the way they did, this handles most people's use cases. It was a smart decision by Adobe, to not try to cover every possible use case such as yours, which would have added complexity to the software (making it more bloated) and slowing down the software development process and increasing the cost. Good job, Adobe!

       

      And if there was a way to "downvote" at that thread, I would do so. Adobe can't do everything everyone wants.

      cmgap
      Community Expert
      cmgapCommunity ExpertCorrect answer
      Community Expert
      July 26, 2018

      Here's how to rename a drive letter in Windows 10.

      1. Ensure that the drive you're relettering isn't in use and that no files from that drive are open.
      2. Right-click on the Start button.
      3. Click Disk Management to open the Disk Management console.
      4. Right-click the volume that has the drive letter you want to change.
      5. Click Change Drive Letter And Paths.
      JP Hess
      JP Hess
      Inspiring
      July 26, 2018

      Do a web search to get instructions on how to assign drive letters for your operating system. It's best to assign a drive letter in the lower half of the alphabet. By doing that, the operating system will not change it. After you have changed the drive letter. You can right-click on your folders and choose the option to update the folder location. This would be done in the Lightroom library module. If you have your folders arranged within a single master folder, you can update the location of the master folder and all of the subfolders will update automatically.

      Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders

      dj_paige
      dj_paige
      Legend
      July 26, 2018
      It's best to assign a drive letter in the lower half of the alphabet.

      Should that say upper half?

      AxelMatt
      Community Expert
      AxelMattCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      July 26, 2018

      dj_paige  schrieb

      It's best to assign a drive letter in the lower half of the alphabet.

      Should that say upper half?

      I think Jim is right, because, if you imagine a list from A to Z and A is at the top and Z at the bottom, then the drive letter of the external disk should be in the lower half.

      My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 25H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 8 - PureRAW 5 - Topaz Photo
      kglad
      Community Expert
      kgladCommunity Expert
      Community Expert
      July 26, 2018

      [moved from Adobe Creative Cloud to Lightroom Classic CC — The desktop-focused app]

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