Lightroom Catalog Completely Broken After Moving to New Drive – No Folder Tree, No “Missing” ? Mark

[Sunny_visionary0730]

Hi everyone,
I really need help here. I recently moved all my files from my external 5TB drive (E:) to a new 8TB internal SSD (C:) that I just installed to replace the original 1TB drive in my laptop.

At first, when I opened Adobe Lightroom, things seemed fine. Some folders showed the "?" icon, but I was able to repoint them to the new location on the C: drive, and they appeared to work normally.

But then I made a huge mistake: I moved the folders that contained all of my Lightroom catalog files (including the .lrcat files) to the C: drive as well. After that, everything disappeared. When I open any of my catalog files now:

• There’s no folder tree on the left panel.

• No thumbnails or previews.

• No “?” icons, so I can’t even repoint missing files.

• It’s like the catalog is completely empty, even though the .lrcat files still have size and aren’t corrupted (as far as I can tell).

I even tried copying the catalog folders back to the E: drive where they originally were, but the same issue persists.

I’ve scoured the internet and haven’t found anyone with this exact problem. I’m considering reinstalling Lightroom (13.3.1), but I doubt that would solve it.

Any ideas or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. This is years of work and organization at stake.

Thank you so much.

[Sameer K]

Hey, @Sunny_visionary0730. Welcome to the Lightroom Classic Community. I'll help you figure this out, and it might be simpler than you'd expect. 

The screenshot shows a catalog that is just empty and in reality, Lightroom may have lost track of the specific catalog you were working on.

First, move the catalog to where you want it to be and then to the C drive. Once you've moved the catalog, double-click on the .lrcat file directly to launch Lightroom instead of any other icon or launcher on your computer.

You can list all the catalogs on your computer using Windows search. Type in .lrcat and arrange the results by modified date to find the recent catalog you worked on and differentiate between your primary catalog. 

Let me know if this helps.

Sameer K

(Type '@' and type my name to mention me when you reply)

[Sunny_visionary0730]

Thank you Sameer.
I have an update: I actually was open the other .lrcat files from years ago now. 
However, the most recent one cannot be opened. I think it might be lost??
If you look at these .lrcat files, I think they were all generated this morning but they are just copies/updated catalogues of an empty one right? (the empty one is one that's only 1.6mb big and I should expect the real .lrcat files to be much larger)
The real one is much larger right?

The backfolder opened.. I am suspecting that there the real one got deleted. Now performing windows search.

[dj_paige]

But then I made a huge mistake: I moved the folders that contained all of my Lightroom catalog files (including the .lrcat files) to the C: drive as well. After that, everything disappeared. When I open any of my catalog files now:

• There’s no folder tree on the left panel.

• No thumbnails or previews.

• No “?” icons, so I can’t even repoint missing files.

• It’s like the catalog is completely empty, even though the .lrcat files still have size and aren’t corrupted (as far as I can tell).

Moving the folders that catalogs are stored in should not cause this to happen. 

How do you open catalogs after this move? Please be specific and detailed.

Show us a screen capture of the entire Library module screen that displays this problem. Please use the "Insert Photos" icon; do NOT attach files.

[Sunny_visionary0730]

Lightroom 6 is my most recent catalogue. I had 6 versions over 20 years or so.
I think what I happened was that I lost the edited catalogue Lightroom 6-v13 as you can see from the screenshot, all the files are 1.6-1.7mb, which is too small from catalogue files, I believe.
I am running disk drill, its 1% done but at first glance, I don't see a Lightroom 6 LRCAT file that is big enough.

To answer your question, I captured the library module..
Don't see insert photo but you can see on the left, its not recognizing that it is missing photos, which makes me think that I am on the wrong catalogue files and I have no idea where else it'd be. It should be in this catalogue 6 folder.

[Sunny_visionary0730]

I either open lightroom or goto the lightroom 6 folder and open the lrcat folder from there.
After I moved the folders, I think I just opened lightroom application from start without opening any specific .lrcat file and it worked until until I moved all the catalogue folders from e: to c:.

[Sunny_visionary0730]

This is what I'm thinking. As of now, the disk drill is not finding any large .lrcat files that is from the Lightroom 6 folder... I can wait until it finishes in 5 hours, its only at 2 percent scanning.

Then I will scan C: and E: (long story short, F is the 1TB originally in the laptop, C is the 8TB SSD) I cloned the original 1TB from F to C and filled the rest of F from E. The final state would be everything onto C but this Lightroom 6 catalogue failed during the time. I was able to open as of 7PM yesterday before I moved the catalogue. I moved the photos earlier in the day and everything was fine with catalogue Lightroom 6.

[dj_paige]

I just opened lightroom application from start without opening any specific .lrcat file

What happens if you try to open a specific LrC catalog from Windows Explorer C: drive by double clicking on it?

[Sunny_visionary0730]

simply opens 
Lightroom 5 catalogue opens fine with all folders, note all the files are 180mb.
Lightroom 6 also opens but no folders, files are 1.6mb.

I think maybe when I was moving folders, it got lost or replaced by another file with the same name?? don't think i would have been that clumsy but i don't have better explanations. that 1.6mb file makes no sense right? I have at least 1000 .cr raw files with 1/5 with heavy edits... its lost and i need to locate the .lrcat file right? looking through C: with windows explorer failed to locate those so I am gonna until disk drill finishes with F then go back to C and see if I trashed it and emptied the trash...

[dj_paige]

Clearly the catalogs on the C: drive, which are 1.6mb, are empty.

Use your Windows Explorer search feature to search all drives for all files whose name ends with *.LRCAT, and see if any of those are in the region of 180mb.

If that doesn't work, restore these catalog files from your backups.

[Sunny_visionary0730]

Thats only one available and its only comprressed zip at 50kb for a uncompressed file that is 1.6mb. That is not it then. So either I find some LRCAT that is 10s or 100s of MB big or I am SOL right? Keeping trying with disk drill, 8% and nothing that says lightroom 6 that is not 1.6mb so far.

[dj_paige]

I said ... search all disks for files with .LRCAT in the name, I don't think you did that, the zip file does not have .LRCAT in the name

[Sunny_visionary0730]

i finished that search that hasnt resulted in anything that is LR 6 * my 6th catalogue that is not 1.6mb. LR catalogue 1-5 are fine now. I just cant find where that one is.. I looked also in c:/... onedrive/pictures or c:/pictures and same same in e:/... onedrive/pictures or e:/pictures (the original laptop 1tb).

[Sunny_visionary0730]

Search is done. I dont see any new LRCAT file so my last resort is the disk drill if it can find anything otherwise i have to start over for these files
Is there anyway to reconstruct the changes from other files that are still in the folder?

[dj_paige]

Restore a recent backup of that catalog.

[Sunny_visionary0730]

Thats only one available in the screen shot above, and its only comprressed zip at 50kb for a uncompressed file that is 1.6mb. I opened it and there is nothing in there. That is not it then. Keeping trying with disk drill, 67% now and nothing that says lightroom 6 that is not 1.6mb so far.