Older images are being replaced by newly imported images.

[ArmikD]

So, I've been having this trouble for a bit, but I've noticed I've been digging through some older photos and noticed this issue today: I have images from older imports that I being replaced by newer photo imports.

For instance, I have a RAW photo from August 2022, in its own organized folder, overwritten by a new imported image from July 2023. I've noticed it happen in a few places already.

I've also noticed it happening the other way, where older images are replacing the image I had just imported. I always lock my SD cards when importing, so I tried it out in Capture One, as well, and the image imports correctly.

Attached is an example of a photo with RAW image (overwritten image) from August 2022 with a JPG next to it for comparison as to what it should be. I'm also attaching the evidence of it being a newer image from July 2023 with a different file name.

Not sure what's going on, but I don't like the idea of my RAW files being overwritten on import. This is only happening in Lightroom Classic. And it happens on both Mac and PC versions (I have and use both).

[moved from bugs to discussions according to community rules - Mod.]

[ArmikD]

To clarify, this is not my first time seeing this issue, I've just noticed it in more places after digging through some older photos today. Also, one of my imports today had an older image pop up in its place. Imported with the SD card locked—it imported into Capture One without issues.

[GoldingD]

Have you tried deleating the previews then having LrC recreate them?

[ArmikD]

@GoldingDI had initially ruled out the previews, since opening the image in Develop mode also showed the wrong image. However, I didn't want to rebuild my entire library preview, since I've done that before recently, but seem to still have the wrong previews. This time, I opened the containing folder of the file and opening the file up in an image viewer. It showed the correct file, and when I went back to Lighroom, the image preview and the Develop image had been updated.

Thank you for the suggestion, which led me to investigating the actual file further than just in Lightroom Classic.

This is still a bug that I think needs to be addressed, as I shouldn't have to keep rebuilding my previews on old or newly imported photos every time I import files. But for now, this works.

[F. McLion]

Do you rename the files when importing?

What have you set for "duplicates" in import?

What is the naming scheme you have set in the camera?

Does the camera produce the same filename in Aug. 2022 as it does now in Jul. 23?

[ArmikD]

No renaming of the files. All images are sequential and don't overlap. The file names are different. Files names are visible in the images I provided as examples. They're imported into different folders, as well, so there really shouldn't be any rewriting. The issue is resolved, but it's troublesome that it's even happening in the first place.

[F. McLion]

Importing into different folders does not solve issues coming from identical filename.

In the Lightroom catalog, every filename can be only once, no matter where the file is located folderwise.

I'm also interested in your solution.

Did the files show exclamation marks? What happened if you were right-clicking on a file and select show in folder?

I feel like we should find the root cause, otherwise you would stumble across it again. And it may be helpful for others as well.

[ArmikD]

There was no indication that anything was wrong with the image other than the fact that the image preview and the image in the Develop tab were clearly not in sequence with the other images. 

When opening the containing folder and previewing the image externally, the image had reverted to the correct one when returning to Lightroom without having to rebuild any previews. 

[DdeGannes]

Digital file naming used by Digital Cameras begin repeating over time and create duplicates over time. There are lots of articles on how to avoid this issue on the net, see the attached article which addresses this issue.

https://photographylife.com/avoiding-duplicate-file-names

[ArmikD]

Hi Denis,

Unfortunately, this is not the case with this issue. The file names are different and imported into their own folders. Turned out to be an issue of the preview getting corrupted when importing. I had previously only observed it as the newly imported file having a preview from an older image. However, this time was different in the sense that older photos had a preview of newer images. That is not normal behaviour and is a bit troublesome. The issue is resolved, but I hate that I had to find a solution for it in the first palce.

[DdeGannes]

@ArmikD , I see you have found a solution as indicated “The issue is resolved, but I hate that I had to find a solution for it in the first palce.”.

Could you share how you resolved your problem so if other users are subjected to the issue would benefit from your experience.

[ArmikD]

I had stated my solution in a previous comment, but to reiterate—I opened the containing folder and opened the file externally to see what the image was. Upon returning to Lightroom, the imag preview and full-sized image in the develop tab has reverted to the original.