Lightroom classic catalogue not seeing files on NAS.

[donnym10252008]

I have a windows 10 Pc connected to a Synology NAS via ethernet cable.

For a long time this worked great. I would plug the card from my camera into a card reader then import them to the NAS via Lightroom Classic.

Some time ago this stopped working properly. The files went onto the NAS and could be seen in the folder via windows. 

For a while I got round this by dragging the files straight to the NAS then synchronising the folder.

Now this doesn't work.

The import may take in a few pictures to the catalogue then appears to do nothing. They are on the NAS but do not appear in the catalogue.

Leaving this overnight makes no difference. 

How can I fix this so that the pictures are imported AND appear in the catalogue?

[GoldingD]

Fairly common issue. Some users store their catalog on a NAS, or a server share, or the cloud. Some just store the original photos on a NAS, server, or cloud. It works for some period of time. Then it fails big time.

Adobe does not support, nor recommend (in fact states to not do it) placing the catalog on a network share.

see:

https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-classic/kb/catalog-faq-lightroom.html

As for the photos, a bit of a debate on that, but not recommended. The link above does in fact state that you can, although appears to have a caveat of using smart previews. Eventually something goes wrong in between  the NAS and the computers OS and LrC thinks the images went missing.

[donnym10252008]

Thanks GoldingD.

I read the link and I think it is set as Adobe want it.

The pictures are on the NAS, the catalogue is on the C drive.

The weird part is that I also use an old laptop for photos.

It links to the same NAS, and the same photos via wifi.

It has its own catalogue in the Laptop.

This works fine, a little slow as it is not really powerful enough for photo editing and it is over wifi.

The weird bit is, i synch the folder on the laptop and the pictures appear.

I synch the folder on the PC, hard wired to the NAS, and it does not work properly.

There is something about how Lightroom on the PC is reading the NAS that it doesn't like.

The pictures import to the NAS, via lightroom no problem.

They just dont all show up in the catalogue. 

Frustrating. 

I have uninstalled LRC and reinstalled it 

Created a new catalogue.

Replaced the network card and cable on the PC, same result.

Annoyingly this worked fine for long enough, now it wont.

[Mike32232381ugye]

Thanks for the explanation. Now I understand why the Photo team uses Capture One despite how everyone in the company has a Creative Cloud account with access to Lightroom. They work directly off the server so it seems that Lightroom is useless to them. Considering how it's an Adobe product, I shouldn't be surprised that Lightroom has this limitation but I'm still disappointed. It's 2024 guys!

[dj_paige]

Some time ago this stopped working properly. The files went onto the NAS and could be seen in the folder via windows. For a while I got round this by dragging the files straight to the NAS then synchronising the folder. Now this doesn't work. The import may take in a few pictures to the catalogue then appears to do nothing. They are on the NAS but do not appear in the catalogue.

The most likely explanation is that the photos are already in the catalog, that's why Synchronize Folders doesn't help. If the photos are already in the catalog, it is a bad idea to import the photos or synchronize the folder again. You have most likely (accidentally) imported the photos into LrC using Move or Copy, and so now LrC thinks the photos are not on the NAS while you think they are on the NAS.

To figure out what to do next, you have to find the photos in the LrC Catalog. Please follow all four of these steps in order:

1. In the Lightroom Classic Library Module, on the left, under Catalog, click on All Photographs
2. Turn off all filters (Ctrl-L once or twice)
3. Turn off all stacking (Photo->Stacking->Expand All Stacks)
4. Search for at least one of these photos by file name using the Lightroom Classic Filter Bar

[donnym10252008]

Hi dj_paige. 

Thank you for your reply. I fillowed your advice and there are pictures on the NAS that do not appear in the catalogue. 

I can see the file names in the drive but they do not appear in the lightroom catalogue or folder.

The last time I was out with the camera I took 62 pictures which were imported to the NAS via Lightroom.

That folder in Lightroom shows as having 33 pictures in it  

As you said, synching folder does nothing to fix this. 

It opens up the import window then maybe gets a few pictures.

Impoting from the NAS gets the same result. Except tgat the pictures appear with the black exclamation mark "lightroom has encountered problems reading this photo"

I tried updating the folder location.

It shows "import new photos 29" on the pop up.

The task bar, top right stops just over 1/2 way.

Click synchronise on the pop up.

Import window opens.

I can hear the NAS drive, working and see the lights flashing  indicating it is doing something.

The new photos appear in the import window, greyed out. 29 of them.

Appears to be doing nothing. Small progress wheel spinning in the soure photo box left side.

Some pictures are showing up in place of the greyed out boxes.

Activity appears to have stopped. NAS still active. 48% memory usage on NAS. 27% on PC

Previews set to 1:1

Dont import suspected duplicates unchecked. 

Nothing appears to have changed in the last 10 minutes or so. 

Another few greyed out have changed to picture. 11 still to go....

9 came through 2 preview unavailable.

Click import.

Import box opens. 1041

Import file progress bar 

2 operations running. Import files and build 1:1 previews.

2 pictures show 1042.

Preview bar comples and dissappears

Import bar at just over 1/2 way. 1043.

Still two pictures, both with black exclamation mark on them. 

1050. No change. 

I have left this in this state overnight to see if it would finish. It does not.

Apologies for such aong post. Maybe theres a clue in there somewhere that points to what is wrong?

I hope so. 

The pc is plugged to a bt smart hub 2 then to the NAS there is a switch in the hub to a bridge. But the NAS and the PC are not connected through that.