Catalog

[karlyw95713449]

I imported photos from my hard drive into lightroom. Created a catalog and started editing. Then because of some other things, my hard drive became full, so I moved the photos onto an external hard drive. Now lightroom is saying the files can not be found. So I moved them back onto my hard drive and it still can not find the files. How do I get it to find the Files again?

[JP Hess · Accepted solution]

You're probably aware that your images are not in the catalog, but in folders somewhere on a hard drive on your computer. This document might provide information that will help you in getting things organized again:

Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders

[barbaramohon]

I am having a similar problem - I cannot locate hundreds of photos after Lightroom said the catalog was nearly full.  This forum said that all of the catalog's are saved, and I should delete some of the earlier catalog's.  Doing this caused me to lose a few years of virtual photo's and edits.  I have been trying to reinstall catalog's for days - some came back but most not.  I am getting the runaround at Adobe since they no longer have support for this version.    Where can I find professional help?  

[JohanElzenga]

Lightroom never says that the catalog is almost full, because there is no limit to the number of photos. There are photographers who have a single catalog with a few million images! My own catalog has 'only' about 200,000 images.

If you deleted earlier catalogs that contained information not in your current catalog, and you do not have backups, then I'm afraid there is nothing anybody here can do to help you retrieve that. If you do have backup copies, then we can help you merge these old catalogs with your current catalog.

[barbaramohon]

My Lightroom did say the catalog was nearly full . . . I don't get it. I do have backups in Time Machine and External Drive. Apple could not help me locate them. I have been trying to import 3 or 4 found Catalog's with the .ircat tag via "Import from another catalog". However there are still hundreds of images missing. Would it be best to re-upload photos from my external drive where I save the originals?

[barbaramohon]

What is the best way to keep in touch with you here?

[barbaramohon]

Also, it was here in the Forum that I read (somewhere) that Catalog's can be streamlined by deleting older saved catalog's. That is what started the mess. My catalog says it has 40,726 now. Up from 24,000 prior to the problem.

[barbaramohon]

Would love toes if you can help me to merge old catalogs. 🙂

[barbaramohon]

I mean, I would love "it" if you could help me to merge old catalog's. They were not deleted, they are roaming my computer somewhere.

[barbaramohon]

My Backups folder shows a variety of backups. It looks like the last was 11- 19-2017 and the none from 10-12 2019. Most of the dates are from 2012. Then at the bottom Lightroom 3 Catalog.Ircat (2012) and Lightroom 4 Catalog. Ircat (Oct 11 2019)

[barbaramohon]

I had it set to backup every time I closed Lightroom.

[JohanElzenga]

No, Lightroom did not tell you the catalog was 'full'. That is simply not possible. Lightroom asks you to make a backup copy of the catalog on quit. That has nothing to do with the current catalog being 'full', it is just a precaution for if you get a problem with your existing catalog. Like any other backup system (such as Apple Time Machine) is. Making a catalog backup should not let you lose any images, and so deleting old catalog backups from time to time doesn't either. That is probably what you read in these forums. The only way you could lose images this way is if you deleted the wrong (most recent) catalog and continued with an older backup copy.

The question is what you mean exactly with losing images. Are they gone from Lightroom completely? Are they still shown in Lightroom, but does Lightroom say they are 'missing'? You say you now have 40,726 images in the catalog. How many should that be? And what kind of images do you think you have lost? Older ones? The latest ones?