Imported photos twice to catolog and has broken links

[EyeCake]

I have been using LrC for about 12 years and had about28000 photos stored on a NAS drive. Recently after several years of illness and Covid I bought a new mirrorless Olympus and and with high burst speeds associated with B~ird Photo graphs I had about 7000 images on several drives, laptop and SSds which had been entered in Catalog but not transferred to NAS, (Big mistake)

i didnt realise i had imported about 5000 over 14 days to NAS and moved them again to the NAS breaking the links  and now says it cannot find origanal file even though there are 2 copies in different places on the NAS

 Sever questions

i cannot see the file path of the preview in the library window.

Are the changes and edits stored in the dng file or in the catalog file?

if i delete the recent import can i restore links and edits easily.

i also use Topaz which is crashing lightroom when i try to open one of these images, spinning ball.

This is the first real problem in 12 years and i hope someone can help.

i had been using a laptop and a mac mini and had Catalog on a SSD and switched between 2 computers.

Appreciate any help

[dj_paige]

i cannot see the file path of the preview in the library window.

I was not aware that Lightroom Classic showed the path of the preview. Can you explain?

Are the changes and edits stored in the dng file or in the catalog file?

Edits and user-provided metadata are always stored in the catalog file. Optionally, you can write these to the DNG file, but Lightroom Classic does NOT use the information in the DNG file.

if i delete the recent import can i restore links and edits easily.

Incomplete question. Links to what? Why would you delete it if you still want it?

I can't answer Topaz questions.

[JohanElzenga]

You can't see the file path of the previews and it would not be very useful if you could. The previews are not your problem but the fact that Lightroom lost the connection to the originals. Here's how to fix that: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-photos-missing-fix/

[EyeCake]

Thank you for the reply and i will work through that great but long article.

What i meant about the file path was i cant see the file path to the original photo that the preview represents although i seem to to think i used to be able to but i cannot find a setting to display this. i realise it is my fault through bad housekeepng that photos ere spread over several drives and hard to backup.

the other important question was if i have 2 copies on the NAS how do i confirm which the preview and edits relate to so i can delete the other.

[JohanElzenga]

Thank you for the reply and i will work through that great but long article.

What i meant about the file path was i cant see the file path to the original photo that the preview represents although i seem to to think i used to be able to but i cannot find a setting to display this. i realise it is my fault through bad housekeepng that photos ere spread over several drives and hard to backup.

the other important question was if i have 2 copies on the NAS how do i confirm which the preview and edits relate to so i can delete the other.

By @EyeCake

If you want to see the file path, then select the thumbnail and choose 'Photo - Go to Folder in Library'. Lightroom will show you in which folder this photo is supposed to be.