Problem with LR catalog upgrade from 10.4 to 11.1

[Infanta de Jesus]

After the upgrade my catalog is no longer organised the way it was. All the folders are now in alphabetical order. In addition it seems as though LR wants me to reimport (copy) all the images. Please advise

[JohanElzenga]

Please post a screenshot and explain what you mean with "it seems as though LR wants me to reimport (copy) all the images".

[Infanta de Jesus]

These screenshots show the situation. It seems LR can't locate the folders and I assumed that LR 'wants' me to re-import everything. But I realise now that the problem may not lie with the LR upgrade but an Mac OS upgrade to Monterey v12.1 that I made just before updating LR. That OS upgrade may have moved my folders to a different location. What do you think?

[dawnv80146853]

I'm having the same issue!! All my previous imports are gone

[kentdesign]

Please tell us what computer OS you are working on. and also , if possible, please post a screen shot of why you say, "seems as though LR wants me to reimport (copy) all the images."

[Infanta de Jesus]

Hi, I upgraded to Mac OS Monterey just before upgrading LR. These screenshots show what the situation is. I now think it could be the Mac OS that is messing things up, but I dont know how to fix this

[JohanElzenga]

There is no reason to go back to the previous MacOS version. What you need to do is 'reconnect' those folders, not reimport anything: 

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/lightroom-photos-missing-fix/

[Infanta de Jesus]

Thanks I'll give that a try. I didn't know about 'reconnecting'

[Infanta de Jesus]

Hi, the correct answer was to go and find the missing folders and to 'point' LR to them using 'find missing folder'. The problem was caused by upgrading my OS to Monterey. The upgrade moved the location of the files. Thanks everybody for your suggestions!

[kentdesign]

Can you describe what you did when you upgraded to 11.1? In otherwords, when you open a catalog using a new version, Lightroom tells you it needs to update the catalog to the new version and suggests a name change, such as Catalog 10.4-11.1.

You should have had LR update your catalog.

[Infanta de Jesus]

Hi, yes I did follow those instructions. But I now think things got scrambled because of an OS update (to Monterey v12.1) I did just before upgrading LR. The upgrade seems to have 'reorganised' the folder structure, i.e. things aren't where they used to be so LR is having this problem. Should I go back to the previous Mac OS?

[kentdesign]

I dont hink that  a MAc OS upgrade could "'reorganised' the folder structure."

Do you have a back up copy of 

1. your Lightroom catalog folder with all the individual files (such as catalog.lrcat, catalog.lrdata, catalog.previews.lrdata, sync.lrdata, helper.lrdata?)

2. and hopefully also a back up of the drive on which all your photo files are stored?

[kentdesign]

If you do have those backups, I suggest you make another copy of that back up LIghtroom folder and put it on another separate disc.

THen double clikc the first backup copy of the Lightroom folder using the new Lightroom version on your Monterrey computer.

LR should launch and tell you it needs to update the catalog, renaming it to something like v-10 to v-11.

See if that shows you your folders organized as you had them before upgrading both the OS and LR?