Lost all 10,000 photos on lightroom.

[Ray H]

lightroom does not allow me to Develop photos. when I use locate 'function' even with the 'locate nearby photos' it does not select more than the photo I originally located. I can still see the thumbnails but cannot process the photos. It is a mess...don't know what I did. I did use the ' Save as a catalog" button at one point.

[TheDigitalDog]

First things first, LR can't lose 10K photo's (you can of course). 

Where do these image reside, on the boot disk, on an external drive? Have you looked for the photo's outside of LR? 

Do you have more than ONE catalog? 

IF you can locate them on a drive, in LR, try Update folder Location command (the top, root level first). If not, we can continue. 

[Ray H]

Thank you so much for your reply....my knowledge of LTRM is limited......will investigate this solution asap.

Regards Ray.

[Ray H]

Images are on an external SSD and an external SATA drive and on an internal drive....they are well backed up....and yes I realize I lost the photos...lol.

I am trying to find the most efficient way to have LTRM Classic recognize them again. I have them arranged as Scott Kelby suggests in a my Photos folder and categories under that with photos in folders in each relevant category.

Thanks Ray.

[TheDigitalDog]

Just plug in the drive and open your catalog, they should now all be seen. If not, again, you can 'relink' them inside LR (do everyhing like move, rename, delete; all Finder like operations IN Lightroom Classic). I mentioned the command earlier. 

As for how to arrange them, forget Kelby and use a system that works for you. I'd never try to tell you how to arrange your paperwork, you have a system that works for you. Same with a DAM. Or get a better resource on configuring DAMs (to give you ideas): Peter Krogh "The Dam Book". 

https://thedambook.com/the-dam-book/