Lightroom edits disappeared after backing up to an external hard drive

[nreynolds8708]

I don't profess to know a lot about Lightroom so go easy on me.

Recently I backed up my images to my external hard drive because my computer was running out of disk space. Once the images were backed up to the hard drive I deleted them off my internal hard drive. Now I am trying to access some of my files on my  external hard drice that I had previously edited and all of the edits are gone. I left the files in the NEF format, I did not export them to tif or jpeg as I normally did. 

What did I do wrong? Did I need to export all the NEF files into a jpeg or tif format? What can I do to avoid this happening again? And can I get the edits back?

I am working with Lightroom Classic version 8.3.1

[nikunj.m]

Hi there,

NEF is a proprietary RAW format that can not be altered by Lightroom Classic hence the edits you perform on the images are stored in the catalog (on in XMP files if you have enabled the option to do so in Lightroom). 

If you save the images as tiff or JPEG through Lightroom Classic, a new file is created with the data of the RAW file and the edits you have done on the images.

If you still have the images in the catalog, you can link them to the new location on the hard drive using the steps in the link below and then save the files with the edits through Lightroom Classic.

https://helpx.adobe.com/in/lightroom-classic/help/locate-missing-photos.html

Regards

Nikunj

[nreynolds8708]

This is not my problem. I just did a test. I imported 4 images into Lightroom off of my camera. I did some basic edits to them. I then backed up the folder to my external hard drive. The external hard drive is linked to Lightroom to I can see what is on it in Lightroom. The edits I did in Lightroom are not showing up on the external hard drive. They are still showing up in Lightroom on my internal hard drive. I synchronized my external hard drive but still not edits.

The mystery is that all the edits I did prior to this year's folder are all still there on my external hard drive. The only edits missing are in my 2019 folder. What is happening? 

[Geoff the kiwi]

I think you better explain how you back up and post some screen shots of the Folders panel in Lightroom. Use the Blue Reply button on your original post for easy access to posting the screen shots.

[nreynolds8708]

Thank you. I did as you suggested.

[Just Shoot Me]

To go along with what is posted above.

All edits done in LR are stored in the Catalog file and no changes are made to the original files. 

How did you delete the files from your internal drive? Did you do it IN LR or did you do it with the File Manager for the OS you are using?

If you did it with the file manager then in LR all your images will show as Missing, will have an Exclamation mark on them.

And in the Folders section of the left hand side panel in the Library module all your folder will have a question mark on them.

If that is the case then follow the instructions to Find missing folders and files.

NOTE: DO NOT REIMPORT ANY IMAGES!!!!!!! use the method to Find Missing images and folders.

Find moved or missing files and folders Computer-Darkroom

Find Missing Photos—how do I fix it? | The Lightroom Queen

If you deleted the images in LR then all your edits are gone as once you remove an image from the LR catalog file (whether or not you Delete the image file from the Disk) any edits you have made also get removed.

Basically what you did wrong was not knowing how LR works and how to properly work with LR. I suggest you view some of the online tutorials for working with LR properly. 

Julieanne Kost. Principal Digital Imaging Evangelist, Adobe Systems, Inc. Adobe Photoshop and Lightr...

[nreynolds8708]

Thank you for your reply. What is a mystery to me is that there is no exclamation mark on the files. The files just don't have the edits applied to them anymore. I don't remember how I deleted the files exactly but what I have done in the past is back up my images to an external hard drive then go into the finder then my pictures folder. I then select my Lightroom folder and go into the folder where the images are and delete them. I have done it this way before and those files all have the edits on the backed up files. So what I did differently is a mystery to me. Unless the update is different. Either way I can't see the edits on all my pictures from this year but I can see them from years past. ??????

[nreynolds8708]

I wanted to give you some more information. I just did a test. I imported 4 images off of my camera into Lightroom. I did some basic edits then plunged in my external hard drive and backed them up to it. They backed up without the edits - All the edits were gone. (Note the original file is still on my internal hard drive, I did not delete anything) I think something is clicking with Lightroom.

[nreynolds8708]

This is the file with some basic edits done. These files are on my internal hard driveSame file with edits done in Lightroom now backed up on my external HD. The edits are gone.

[nikunj.m · Accepted solution]

In this case, these are 2 separate files for Lightroom since it is accessing them from 2 different locations. You may have added the edits to the images in the Macintosh HD and since the edits are saved in the catalog, it is not able to link the same edits to the images on the hard drive.

[nreynolds8708]

So in the Macintosh HD picture It looks like I have 4 Lightroom catalogs. But then I see 2 catalogs that are blank.folder I see 4 Lightroom Catalogs files. 3 are white with the words DATA in the file the other is black and says Lr CAT. Are these where the catalogs are located? Do I need to back these up to the Ext. HD?

[nreynolds8708]

My back up process - I go into my picture folder on my computer hard drive. (screenshot 1) In my picture folder is a Lightroom folder and in that folder, I have two Master Folders one for my personal work and my client's work. (screenshot 2) When I back up I plug in my external hard drive and open it up. I then open up the finder on my computer and drag the folder I am backing up to the external hard drive. (screenshot 3)

Screen shot computer HD Picture Folder

[KatharineDavies]

I'm having exactly this issue myself.  With recent wor the edits to RAW are not saved when I' jave moved them from working folder to archive.  Did you ever solve the reason for the change?  I feel I must have changed a setting by mistake?

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

You’ve posted to a very old thread. It is highly unlikely that the issue described in this thread, though not impossible, is the same issue which you are currently experiencing. Rather than resurrect an old thread that is seemingly similar, you are better posting to a new thread with fresh, complete information including system information, a complete description of the problem and step-by-step instructions for reproduction. 

In the unlikely event the issue is the same, we will merge you back into the appropriate location. 

Thank you!