Backup deleted photos to external SSD

[Markku_H]

I have 20 000 photos "collected" from different years to Deleted photos. Most of them are either duplicates of bad photos form differnt years and shooting sessions. I'd like to back them up to external SSD beforee Lightroom autodelete will remove them. Is there any way I can do this without adding them back to All Photos? I have not figured out how can I identify these if they are put back to my All Photos.

[Noel Orridge · Accepted solution]

Hi @Markku_H! Thank you for reaching out, and welcome to the community! Currently, there is no alternative method for restoring deleted photos without having them re-added to All Photos.

You can give this workflow a shot:

-Go to All Photos.

-Change the sort order (bottom) to "Modified Date" and select "Descending" order. Take note of the very first photo currently there.

-Go to the Deleted folder.

-Select ONE test photo that you don't mind losing or mixing.

-Right-click and choose Restore.

-Immediately go back to All Photos. Your most recently restored photo should now be the very first.

-Create an album (for example, recently restored) 

-Go back to Deleted and start restoring in batches. 

-Check your All Photos and move the restored ones to the newly created album.-

-Now you can export your photos from this album to your external SSD.

-Choose Original + Settings (this ensures you receive the raw file and any existing edits) or JPG if you only want simple backups.

Hope this helps! 

[Markku_H]

Great instructions, thank you! This worked fine and saved me a lot of time.