Lightroom CC Classic - Phantom Duplicates

[Aaron Roberts]

The same image with the same file name appears twice in the catalog. Uploading or exporting images will create a duplicate (with appended -1) but only one file exits on the drive. Removing any of the two images will delete the actual file on the hard drive and both will show as "missing" in the catalog.

I found the only way to remove the duplicate was to remove the entire folder from the catalog. Remove the "image" from the catalog, and then re-import the folder from scratch, any idea why this happened? It seems that I actually ended up deleting a LOT of photos which I considered duplicates and lost them forever without even realising.

Video below shows the situation.

[JohanElzenga]

'The video is unavailable'

[Aaron Roberts]

Fixed.

[JohanElzenga]

Looks like you have some serious problems with the integrity of your catalog. There are two entries in the database for one and the same image. You also posted other problems with moving images and a smart collection, which confirms that there must be something wrong with the catalog. How long has this been going on? Do you have a backup from before that moment?

[Just Shoot Me]

Actually one is a VC, see my above post, as one of them has a Crop. They are not the same.

[Aaron Roberts]

Hi thanks for the response, however, that's not the case. Removing a virtual copy should not delete the original file on the disk. The fact one is cropped is because actually, that's the one I worked on and then I nearly worked on the second one when I realised it had the exact same name.

When I then marked that "duplicate" as rejected, it remained rejected but the edited version was fine. When I then deleted the rejected photos, it deleted the original too and the actual file.

Luckily, I hadn't emptied my trash, so I was able to reverse this, but only then was I able to see that a number of my photos were showing duplicates.

I literally never use the "virtual copy" option, but if I do, it will add a clear indicator (e.g. copy in the name).

[JohanElzenga]

https://forums.adobe.com/people/Just+Shoot+Me  wrote

Actually one is a VC, see my above post, as one of them has a Crop. They are not the same.

I don't think they are VC's. His images show badges, so they should also show the curled corner if these were virtual copies.

[Aaron Roberts]

Well annoyingly, this has been happening since LR decided to move to the cloud and I didn't. When it was rebranded "LR CC Classic" I performed the update and then all hell broke loose.

The backups were useless due to the fact LR was upgraded and this is just one issue. I've also had times where LR will import the images, it will physically copy the images to the disk from the card, then "complete". No images in LR.. so of course, I re-import them.. and all of a sudden I have duplicates in the HDD folder.

All my images are converted to DNG upon import and discard NEF files on completion, so I know this is happening due to the fact that when I import and it seems they didn't show up, I end up finding the NEF files on the HDD but not in LR, which should have deleted them upon conversion.

This catalog must be 5 years old already, if not even older.. but I've EXTREMELY careful with my organisation nowadays.. sadly, not so much in the past as I was "finding my way" and setting up keywords etc etc.. the biggest issue for me is that these are all linked to publishing services, so removing them and starting over would be a real pain.

[Just Shoot Me]

One of them is a Virtual Copy and your View setting are set to not show the folded up bottom left hand corner for a VC.

In the Grid View options make sure "Thumbnail Badges" is checked and on the Interface tab of the LR Preferences in the Filmstrip section make sure "Show Badges" is checked.