Old Classic is losing editing on a file and sometimes the complete file that's been imported-Help!

[Waynoh]

Old Clasic Lightroom.

Initially it dropped all of my Pro files that had been imported for the last 10 years plus.

Then I imported the latest I was working on including a current wedding. All the photos were edited and final and when I sourced another file that I needed in my Backup files by double clicking and it opened up in lightroom and completely dumped all those recently edited photos. So I resourced the photos that I saved in File Manager and of course were back to RAW. The edited files vanished. I re imported and I did more editing on that file and now that has vanished again. Whats happening?? Where is the edit information stored?? 

Also something weird is the backup is now defaulted to the desktop only, no other options?? It also shows the desktop only in Drive: C when looking up the catalog folders. I store in Drive: S but backup normally on Drive: C. Could the little padlock in the top right  hand corner have anything to do with this and should it be locked or unlocked. I have a deadline to hand over the final editing of the wedding shots (350 photos), I don't wish to do all that editing again only to loose them besides I am contracted to store them. 

Is it possible to recover all of those edited photos by a simple process and how to avod this issue in the future?   

I am in desperate need of help.

Waynoh

[AxelMatt]

Please give us more informations including the following :

Adobe product and version number

Operating system and version number

The full text of any error message (s)

What you were doing when the problem occurred

Screenshots of the problem and/or error messages

>> Where is the edit information stored?? 

All editing informations that you've to your photos are stored in the Lightroom catalog. 

If you reimported a photo all edits are gone.

>>Also something weird is the backup is now defaulted to the desktop only, no other options??

Take a look here: How to back up catalogs in Lightroom Classic (adobe.com)

There you'll find informations about the backup settings and how to change the backup location.

It's unusual that you're often loose file. I recommend to check your hardware especially your hard drives.

It seems that they have a problem.

[Waynoh]

Firstly,

Thank you Axel for your reply.

Much appreciated.

Information:

Product: Lightroom 3

Operating System: Windows 7

There are zero error messages as such.

What was I doing at the time the problem occured? 

The initial problem occured when I noticed there was files in the top left hand corner being exported. And I didnt initiate this but perhaps I did it inadvertently. I stopped the export almost immediately. The next day to my dismay that all of  my catalogues had dissappeared except for one of the latest Files. Because I was pressured for time, I imported the Wedding photos and worked on them not knowing what had happened. I was going to do the work on the wedding photos then look at resolving the issue of losing the older catalogs. Consequently as prevously mentioned I went to find a particular photo in the backup file that I then lost the recent work that I did. I then re imported the wedding files and did some editing. Overnight I have now also lost that File which had been Imported. Stressing out!

I realise that I have to completely update my desktop with a new windows package and new drives and subscribe to the latest Adobe software.

But the most immediate requirement is to safely edit the wedding photos and be able to export them into a safe places for the customer.

Maybe I will have to keep the computer running and have a massive effort to complete all of the editing and export and backup. 

Any Ideas whats going on??

Regards Waynoh

[AxelMatt]

It seems that there's a problem with your hard drive. I don't think that stopping an export delete Lightroom's catalogs. If you really using Lightroom 3 you'll work with an ten year old program and Windows 7 is also outdated. You'll get no more updates bugfixes and security patches. Sorry, but I find it very reckless to work professionally with such a systembut  

Take a look in the Windows trash if there any deleted files. You should also take a look into the Windows log if there any entries which relate to the error.

Without any error messages it's very difficult to say where's the issue or wahat's the problem can be.

[Rob_Cullen]

Any Ideas whats going on??

I suggest you are using multiple Catalogs. "when I sourced another file"

If you edit photos imported to Catalog-A, and then change (source?) to Catalog-B, you will NOT see the photos you imported to Catalog-A!

Next- If you then Import the same photo files to Catalog-B, you will NOT see the edits you made in Catalog-A.

Lightroom-Classic is not a File Browser! it only shows photos that you Import to the Catalog, and multiple Catalogs do not share information about photos. The data in '-A' is not the same as data in '-B'.

For your edited wedding photos- you need to find the Catalog in which you made the edits, and 'open' that one in LrC.  Go MENU: File > Open Recent.

[Waynoh]

Thank you so much WobertC.

I followed your advice and after checking the Open recent files I found the fully edited wedding photos (all 310).

I was so elated to find them. 

The downside was when exporting, the only option available was to the desktop only. LR was not recognizing any other drives. So I must have a drive problem.

It was a handful exporting various files. Each time I exported a file to the desktop and then using File manager copied to a new Master file on a different drive.

As I secured the file I deleted the initial file off the desktop.

Once all the files were gathered I then downloaded the USB's for the clients.

All very harrowing. 

learnt a big lesson from this. I will be upgrading to the latest software and revamping my Desktop to have a reliable system before my next Job.

Thank you both WobertC and Axel Mat for your input.

You made my day!