Lightroom catalog missing 40,000 photos including previews

[kath59458384]

Hello! My Lightroom catalog is a hot mess, and I'm hoping someone can guide me through fixing it. 

I've used Lightroom for many years, and my catalog holds over 45,000 raw photo files. I used to switch between editing on two different Macs, so I used this Dropbox storage method successfully for years—https://medium.com/t-brian-jones-fine-art-photography/using-lightroom-cc-classic-with-dropbox-for-a-...

Now, my library is a disaster. I need to fix it and then transfer it all to my new MacBook Pro, which will be my only computer moving forward. If I must use an external hard drive rather than Dropbox for storage, so be it. 

In my Lightroom, I can access 7,615 synced photographs just fine. However, older photos (the bulk of my library) all appear gray with an exclamation point in the corner. When I click on the exclamation point, I receive the following warning: Lightroom has encountered problems reading this photo. You will not be able to make adjustments to the photo.

When I select a grayed-out photo and go to Photo > Show in Finder, my computer immediately brings me to the photo file on Dropbox, which is located on the cloud (not local to my computer).

If I try to build a smart preview for a grayed-out photo, the preview fails to build.

Current version - Adobe Lightroom Classic version 12.5.1

All photographs 49,705
Synced photographs 7,615
Missing photographs 1,641 (I'm not terribly concerned about these)

DNG validation results - 8663 invalid DNG files

I'm at a loss here and would greatly appreciate any help to get my library back in order. I need to access my old files for my work. I have many library back-ups, and I've tried going back even one year and still have the same issue. 

Thank you very much. 

[Shivani Somayajula]

Hey there, thanks for sharing the details, and we're sorry for the trouble. 

Before starting with any troubleshooting steps, first update Lightroom Classic to 13.5.1. To update Lightroom Classic to 13.5.1, click "Update" in the Creative Cloud desktop app next to Lightroom Classic. More detailed instructions for updating

When a catalog can't find a photo, Lightroom Classic displays an exclamation mark on the top corner, and the images are grayed out. Have you changed the location of the folder or rename it? 

Please follow the steps given here and let us know how it goes.

https://adobe.ly/4e2f7mo

Thanks, 

Shivani 

[kath59458384]

Hi, thank you. I just updated to 13.5.1 and the problem persists. I think I need to transfer the Dropbox files to a new external hard drive. 

[dj_paige]

However, older photos (the bulk of my library) all appear gray with an exclamation point in the corner. When I click on the exclamation point, I receive the following warning: Lightroom has encountered problems reading this photo. You will not be able to make adjustments to the photo.

This is a typical problem causing corrupted files, that happens to many people when they store images in a "cloud" folder, such as DropBox (but also OneDrive and others).

In essence, the only solution I know of is to restore the photos from your backups (which hopefully are not corrupted), and stop storing photos in a "cloud" folder.

This is not really a problem with your LrC catalog, most likely it is working properly. The problem is the photo files.

[JohanElzenga]

The photos are not necessarily corrupted, but if they are 'online only', which is the Dropbox default nowadays, then Lightroom Classic can't work with that and thinks they are corrupted. So check that the photos are locally available.

[kath59458384]

Hi dj and Johan, thanks so much for your help. The files appear to be fine on dropbox.com. I don't have enough space on my computer to store them locally. 

I'm going to buy a new external hard drive. How do I safely transfer all of my photos and library files over to a hard drive? 

I'd also like to back up the drive's content to the cloud somehow, in case the drive is ever damaged. I greatly appreciate any guidance you might be able to offer. Thank you!

[JohanElzenga]

To transfer them from Dropbox to an external drive, you will need to do that in batches if your internal drive is not large enough. Download a batch of photos, copy them to the external drive and then make the photos in the Dropbox folder 'online only' again. Repeat this with a next batch. After you have transferred all photos to the external drive, you can 'relink' Lightroom to that drive. Right-click on a top folder in the folder panel, then choose 'Update Folder Location'. Select the corresponding folder on the external drive.

Dropbox has a relatively unknown option to backup (folders on) an external drive, although I am not sure if all types of accounts have that option.