Folders missing from Library

[countrycasita]

When I open lightroom I can only see folders from 2025. The older folders and photos are still there (ie visible on Explorer) and also there on the  backups, but I can't find a way to get Lightroom to display the folders on the pc's hard drive (D:).  Lightroom displays the folders of the  backup hard drive.  I have tried to produce a new catalogue but I am now afraid I may have done more harm than good as one of the backups is now only showing part of its content.  I tried to find all missing files and it produced a list of 80,000 or so but these were just in a single slab without folders so that's not super useful.  I don't know what to try next - any guidance please.  Windows 11 with latest updates on LR.

[F. McLion · Accepted solution]

Lightroom only shows folders from which photos have been imported - It is not like a file explorer.

If you start with a new catalog, all your work done will not be there anymore - usually not a good plan.

I'd stick with the original catalog and synchronize folders, which will import missing folders and photos.

[countrycasita]

Thanks so much -my pc is  now about 20 minutes into re-linking all the
images and it's got as far as 2011!  What a relief. Now I can turn my
attention to something vaguely productive.....

Paul

[removed personal information - Mod.]

[dj_paige]

When I open lightroom I can only see folders from 2025. The older folders and photos are still there (ie visible on Explorer) and also there on the backups,

What does this mean? "...also there on the backups"? Backups of the catalog? Backups of the photos? Something else?

Are you talking about Lightroom (Lr icon) or Lightroom Classic (LrC icon)?

[countrycasita]

Sorry if that's not clear....when I say that they are also visible on
the backups I simply mean that the backups are complete mirror copies of
the data on D:, and they include all the photos. Nothing has been
deleted - it's just not showing in Lightroom Classic.

Paul

[removed personal information - Mod.]

[dj_paige]

I simply mean that the backups are complete mirror copies of the data

Do you mean:
Backups of the catalog? Backups of the photos? Something else?

[countrycasita]

The backup program I use backs up all my data - documents, photos, music etc as copies onto other hard drives.  I have never backed up a catalogue - maybe I should!?

[dj_paige]

Yes, you should always make regular and automated backups of your catalog file. Not backups when you feel like it, not backups when you have the time, not backups when you remember, but automated backups. The Lightroom Classic built-in catalog backup features is one way to do this.

This backup program (what is its name?) should be making backups of your catalog file. Can you find a backup of your catalog file?

[countrycasita]

Sorry I missed this so didn't reply sooner.  The backup program is
called Bvckup 2 Pro (yes bvckup).  I only have it set to backup data,
but that should include the Lightroom catalogue. Unfortunately I have
got the lightroom stuff pretty confused by trying to create a new
catalogue before you helped me with the synchronise advice. I'd like to
delete all the half-baked attempts at creating a new catalogue but am
anxious about deleting something that I actually need! Thanks again for
your help.  Paul

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[F. McLion]

Please be aware that with a new catalog all the work done so far (developments, keywords ... all!) is gone, and you start from scratch.

[F. McLion]

... except you did coincidently turn on "save to xmp in parallel" some day, that would bring over most of it.

Check if you see xmp files next to the photos with the very same name.

[countrycasita]

Can’t see that so not sure I did that. Thanks for the idea- I will check
it out to see.

null

[countrycasita]

Thank you for that reminder- I had forgotten just how drastic it would be.
But the ‘synchronise’ option has worked well.

null

[dj_paige]

If you have multiple catalogs, you look at the contents of the catalog and see if it a catalog you need. How? Double-click on each catalog file to look at what is in it.

The backup program should make backups of every catalog you have.

[countrycasita]

Thank you for the suggestion - the problem was that although I had
managed to create several catalogues, none of them appeared to show the
full list of folders.  It was all a bit of a mess and my next job is to
(carefully) delete the ones I don't need.

Paul

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[dj_paige]

Does there exist a combination of 2 or more catalogs that has the full list of folders (perhaps with some overlap)?

Also, you don't have to delete the catalogs you don't need, you can move them to some archive and after 3 months if you feel everything is working properly, then delete these catalog.