Photos not visible after importing to a new desktop computer

[Russ001]

I keep all of my photos on an external hard drive.  I recently purchased a new desktop computer.  After loading my software programs, including Lightroom Classic, I performed an import from Lightroom of all the photos on the external drive.  It appeared to complete successfully.  However, although all of the folders are there, a large quantity of photos do not show up.  When I go to a specific folder and choose import, it shows all of the photos there but all greyed out - with no exclamation point implying it can't be found.  In the import mode, when I double click on it, the photo comes up with a note that says it is a suspect duplicate.  Looking directly at the hard drive via windows ( not thru Lightroom) , all of the photos are in the specified folder.  The only way that I can get the photos back individually is to go to the image via Microsoft, then do an "open with" Photoshop which it does OK.  It does not give Lightroom as an option under "open with" even when triggering for checking all apps.  From Photoshop, I can then save to Lightroom then import it successfully.  Any ideas on what happened and how to fix globally vs one at a time?

[JohanElzenga]

You should not import the photos again, because that will make you lose all edits and added metadata like keywords. Here's how to do it properly: 

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/

[Russ001]

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@JohanElzenga wrote:

You should not import the photos again, because that will make you lose all edits and added metadata like keywords. Here's how to do it properly: 

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/

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Ok, I understand now that I should not have done it by re-importing.  However, this is where I am at right now. How do I remedy this situation?  I have added many photos and edits since doing the original import ( large 5T + files are on the hard drive) - do these get lost?  Thanks!

[Jao vdL]

Just abandon the current effort. Copy the catalog from your old computer to your new one, including any images on the local hard drive and mirror their locations on the newcomputer. Connect the external to your new computer. Now simply open the catalog file by double clicking it. If you mirored everything from the old computer to the new, everything should now work correctly.