Lightroom changed the location of all of my files

[JustinWoo]

Hi!

So I use Lightroom on a desktop PC and keep all my photos on three separate external HDs. These HDs are V:\ W:\ and I:\. I kept very few files on I:\. For some reason, Lightroom changed the file locations of all of my photos to I:\, thus breaking the connection between all of these files. How did this happen? How can I switch it back? I tried Library -> Find All Missing Photos and it didn't fix the problem.

Please help!

[JohanElzenga]

'Find Missing Photos' only does that: find them. It does not fix the problem and is not supposed to fix the problem. To fix it: https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-photos-missing-fix/

[TheDigitalDog]

Further, LR can't move anything without user intervention. You might and if done without using LR, then LR doesn't know what you did behind it's back and now it's time for the Update Folder Location (or synchronize Folder) commands.

[GoldingD]

Lightroom loses photo location after connecting removable devices

[JustinWoo]

To be clear - while my external drives have been unplugged recently, their drive letters haven't changed, and I haven't moved any files around at all.

When I go to the missing files in Lightroom, and check the related filepath using "show in explorer", it says that photos that were *never* on I:\ are marked as being on I:\ in Lightroom's database. What's really weird is that the rest of the filepath is the same (all the other directories nested below the drive) but the drive letter is different.

Here's an even weirder situation: I break up my photos into collections, and each collection usually contains photos that are all in one folder. For some collections, it locates half the photos correctly (on their original drive) and half of them on I:\. It's SO weird.