Lightroom classic export moves pictures to deleted items

[simonm12308449]

This has happened twice to me recently, after years of no issues..

I have raw pictures imported in situ ( so not copied ) from a fixed hard drive.  ( In the past I copied from the source to a different drive). Lightroom classic on PC.

I edit them for several days, all good.

I then select all pictures and export to a different folder on the same drive as JPG.

The pictures are then no longer in the source folder, but instead appear in trash, and lightroom shows no pictures in the original folder.

The first time this happened I lost all my edits because I didn't have the option set to write edits to XMP files. I have seen a couple of posts in the past from people and the reply has been lightroom does not delete pictures on export, however I can assure you it's deleting them from the hard disk.

[dj_paige]

Sounds like you (accidentally) imported using MOVE instead of ADD. This would explain why the files are not in their original folders.

[simonm12308449]

But if that was the case, I wouldn't have been able to spend 2+ days editing the files in lightroom would I ?

kind regards

[dj_paige]

But if that was the case, I wouldn't have been able to spend 2+ days editing the files in lightroom would I ?

Yes you would be able to edit the photos, you imported them into LrC, and so you can now perform any action in LrC that you want on these photos.

[GoldingD]

Can you include in a reply a sccreenshot of your Export Screen?

[simonm12308449]

Here you go .. thanks

[GoldingD]

That D:/Temp

Is that the Temp file for your Windows OS?

That could be your problem. The Windows TEMP file can get deleted as a matter of normal file management maintenance.

If this is not the actual Windows Temp file, then it is still bad file practice to create a folder that has the same name as a Windows System Folder, or system Support folder such as Temp. Now if you want to have a folder for say testing, say putting things into temporarily, perhaps call it Temporary, not Temp.

• https://www.jetico.com/blog/what-are-tmp-files-how-should-i-delete-them

[simonm46405413]

Hi, reasonable point .. however I've had a folder called Temp that I use for ages without any issues.  It is on the D: drive so not the main Windows temp folder.

[GoldingD]

I have raw pictures imported in situ ( so not copied ) from a fixed hard drive. 

So from that I gather that you:

1. Copy the photos from your memory card (SD card, etc) to a folder in a hard drive
2. In LrC you select Import, and you choose the ADD option

Correct?

If that was the way you imported just previously, can you include in a reply a screenshot of your Import screen. It should come up the way you left it at the previous Import session.

image below just a sample to clarify what screen I am talking about.

[simonm12308449]

Hi, I've done something else since the original, so at the moment it's on "Copy".

regards

[dj_paige]

Try an experiment. Take some stupid photos like five pictures of the bottle of ketchup in your refrigerator. If things get screwed up on these five photos, no harm done. Put the photos in a new folder you created for this purpose, name it Ketchup. Import the photos using MOVE. Do your edits. Close LrC. Do some more edits. Close LrC. Go back into LrC and export as JPG. Check your Windows Explorer. The photos will not be in the folder named Ketchup, they will be in the folder where they were moved to, and your JPGs will be wherever you exported them to.

[simonm46405413]

HI I've done this, and it works as expected. However my issue is not that the pictures moved to somewhere else, and were still visible in lightroom, it's that they get completely deleted out of lightroom and the disk.

I've tried all variations using a handful of raw pics and all is fine after export. Whenever I've done these exports that have resulted in the deletion it's been for something like 400 pictures, so I've just left the PC to it, gone off done something else away from the computer, return and they've gone. Almost as if  I've selected all the pictures for the export, then at the end pressed delete ( which of course I didn't )

[GoldingD]

Two extra bits of info that might be important

1. Where do you keep your catalog. What hard drive, and what folder? Please use your Windows File Explorer, navigate to that hard drive, that folder, take a screenshot of that and place in your reply.

2. Where do you keep your photos. The ones you are importing. What hard drive. What folder. Might also be best to demonstrate that via Windows File Explorer.

[simonm46405413]

Hi 

The catalog is on the C: drive ( in pictures, and PC has onedrive backup enabled, so hence the one drive in the path name ). Once upon a time I kept photos on the C: drive, but space is tight, so I shifted to using the D: drive ( which is another SSD drive in a built in slot on the laptop, so NOT external drive ).  And this I think has something to do with it, as never ever had the issue when doing a copy of pictures into the automated date folders on the C: drive ).