Lost all my photos while dragging them in lightroom CC

As the saying goes, "The blind leading the blind," self included! The "new feature" added that allows dragging & dropping photos into the LR Classic 'All Synced Photographs' catalog folder apparently has some bugs. This technically has nothing to do with LR Desktop, Mobile, or Web apps concerning where the original files are located. The drag & drop to the 'All Synced Photographs' folder should make the photos available in all LR apps, but leave the original files at their current storage location. The drag & drop operation should behave identical to creating a collection and syncing it to the Cloud. Again, the only difference should be that those photos will appear inside LR Desktop, Mobile, and Web in the 'All Photos' selector and NOT in a named album.

Why the original files for the photos dragged & dropped into the 'All Synced Photographs' folder have "disappeared" from the hard drive storage location is still a mystery! The best hope for finding them now is to use Mac Finder or Windows File Explorer and search for a specific filename that is missing. Have you done that? Also check the recycle bin or trash bin.

They are in subfolders in each of the year date folders on your hard drive. Here's an example of one on my system. You can import ALL of the orignal files by selecting the top-level folder named 'Lightroom CC Originals' in the LR Classic Import module and selecting 'Add' as shown below. This will "add" them to your LR Classic catalog file and allow editing the files.

"I can see most of my photos (RAW files) in the Cloud version of LR (either on my IPhone or the LR CC on my computrer), but they are still missing on my HDD. I did the steps you mentionned but they are not transferred."

So you have 'Store a copy of all originals at the specified location' checked. What do you see at that folder location? Please post a screenshot. Here's what I see:

"Is the original file moved from the folder on your HDD to your Adobe Cloud Storage and available for being assigned to an Album in Lightroom Mobile?"

The original file is not moved or copied to Cloud storage. It simply uploads a 2560 px long edge smart preview to the Cloud, which is accessible via the LR ecosystem (Classic, Desktop, Mobile, Web). This is the same as creating and syncing a collection in LR Classic except the files that are dragged and dropped are not in a collection. That's why the reviewer at the link I provided said, "I’m not convinced it’s an improvement though." To find the files you'll need to search for them by date, filename or keyword. Also when you now remove photos from a synced collection in LR Classic you 'll see the below confusing popup. You have the option to remove the photo from the collection and keep it in 'All Synced Photographs, or remove it from both. If you want to share files that were dragged and dropped you'll have to move them into a collection or create a share link for each and every picture. I guess if you only have a few files synced in the Cloud it's not too hard to find drag & dropped photos, but it will get more difficult as you add more, and more files. Personally I wouldn't use it.

"Yes, actually, all my picture hace a back up, except the one taken in 2020. I though the creative cloud (I got 2TG) would be safe"

Please do not use the Creative Cloud as a backup! LR Classic only uploads lower resolution 2560 px long edge file copies. LR Desktop (i.e. Cloud version) uploads full-size images and can also be stored locally.

"Could you tell how to bring all the pictures back in ligthroom classic. After restoring them, there is a lots of pictures that I see in ligthroom on the web but they are still missing in LR classic."

It sounds like the missing image files were imported using LR Desktop Cloud version. To get them imported into LR you'll need to assign a location on your image file drive to store download an original copy of the files locally as shown below. You will then be able to import them into LRClassic as you would normally. I highly recommend that you do NOT use both LR Classic and Desktop in this manner as a part of your normal workflow. Some people do and have a workflow that they understand the limitations and use for specific purposes. I have very little experience using both LR Classic and Desktop Cloud version in this manner. I suggest seraching the LR Classic and Desktop (i.e. Lightroom) forums and perhaps the Web for more info.

Glad you found them. I suggest backing up your catalog and all of the image files and trying the same drag & drop again and see what happens. If it happens agan we'll need to investigate further.

"All Synced Photos entry in the Catalog section of the left hand side panel is NOT for Dragging and Dropping inages into to Sync them with the LR Web and Mobile system."

The ability to drag & drop image files into the 'All Synced Photographs' entry in the Catalog panel was added in LR 6.7.

http://www.computer-darkroom.com/blog/2016/09/20/lightroom-cc-2015-7-and-lightroom-6-7-are-now-available/

For staters I suggest checking the 'All Photos' and 'Deleted' folders at lightroom.adobe.com/. If in the Deleted folder you can undelete them. If not there I suggest searching all drives attached to your system for one of the missing image files using Windows File Explorer or Mac Finder.

Is there a way to recuperate picture by opening another catalog that show the pictures but It says "missing picture" or when using my IPad (stop syncing), I see all the pictures but can not save them anywhere?

Thanks

But you do have backups of all your photos and your catalog file, don't you?

I have no idea what happened.

But AFAIK the All Synced Photos entry in the Catalog section of the left hand side panel is NOT for Dragging and Dropping inages into to Sync them with the LR Web and Mobile system.

In LR Classic you have to place images you want to sync up with the Web and Mobile systems in a Collection (or Collections) and then SYNC that (Those) Collections.

So first what exact version of LR are you using?