Please help! .xmp photo edits won't import/synch into Lightroom Classic!

[Amy53]

Hey everyone!

I've got a problem that's really stressing me out 😞 

I had to reset my PC due to a Windows Update failure, so of course, I had to reinstall Lightroom Classic and reimport all of my photos. Imagine my horror when about 30,000 photos imported without any of my edits...

First of all, my OS is Windows 10 and is on C: drive. My RAW photo storage folder is on E: drive, and this was unplugged during the reset for my own peace of mind; so there's 0 chance anything happened to the files, all of my data was safely stored in the exact same location albeit temporarily disconnected. 

I've been prowling the internet for 2 days trying to find a solution but I can't find anything that works.

I have already tried:

• Deleting and reimporting (three times)
• Synchronise folder > Scan for metadata changes
• Metadata > Read metadata from file
• Building smart previews (both standard and 1:1)
• Edit > Catalogue settings > Automatically write changes into XMP (after this one I closed LRC and backed up the catalogue, then switched out the newly generated .xmp files for copies of the ones with my edits on)

None of it is working! The xmps are right there, I just don't know why it's not figuring it out or using them.

If you could help I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks so much

Amy 🙂

[GoldingD]

Where was your catalog stored?

Was is your catalog now stored?

Where is your catalog backup?

[Amy53]

Wherever the default locations are! I've never seen an option to choose where it's stored?

[dj_paige · Accepted solution]

I had to reset my PC due to a Windows Update failure, so of course, I had to reinstall Lightroom Classic and reimport all of my photos.

Stop right there. You do NOT import your photos. This is a mistake.

The proper approach is to open the catalog file (maybe a recent backup) and use that.

[Amy53]

Oh no 😞 I don't think I have it. I'll try recover the file. Thank you.

[Rob_Cullen]

'Recovering' a catalog file that had been deleted is rarely or never successful.

Had you been storing the Catalog BACKUPS on the external drive with the photo files then you would recover the Catalog from there. (Extract the .catalog.LRCAT file from the ZIP file.)

If you do not have a Catalog (from a backup) available, then your only way forward is to accept the new catalog (to which you re-imported the photos) without any edits.

Lesson learnt- Always make Catalog backups on a different physical hard-drive (or two!)

CATALOGS- HOW THEY WORK

How to back up catalogs in Lightroom Classic

[Amy53]

Yeah I know that now, I thought the sidecar files carried the edits.

[Lumigraphics]

You can test the XMP files by looking at your RAWs in Bridge. If your develop edits are there, the XMP files are recognized.

[Rob_Cullen]

Re; XMPs-

IF they were created in the catalog before the "PC reset",  AND they were saved with the original files (either by manual save of metadata [Ctrl+S] or the preference to Auto-Save XMP)- THEN your new import of the original photos should have 'brought in' the images edited as they were when the XMPs were saved.

IF not (the option made to save metadata) and the XMPs were newly created from any new catalog, then NO- there are no edits in these 'new' XMPs.

[Amy53]

Yeah, I've given up. I ran a recovery on C: drive and it found just over 1tb of data in the Lightroom folder alone, but no catalogue file sadly. Oh well, I tried. Thanks anyway everyone.

[Lumigraphics]

The catalog file is usually stored elsewhere.