Lightroom thinks some photos are missing when they aren't

I just moved Lightroom to a new computer. I did all the things I was supposed to, I think. On the new computer, the drive letter for my photos was different, but the file structure was the same. So, when my LR catalog couldn't find the photos, I directed it to the new drive letter, and voila: it found all but about 60 of my images.

The 60 (which include some that matter) are physically present on the new drive, but they are listed as missing when I sync, and it asks whether I want them deleted from the catalog. If I ask to see them, they show up without the question mark that indicates missing photos. If I look in the library at the old drive letter, it shows a count of 60+ missing, with a question mark. If I click on those, blank thumbnails show up.

I thought I might just tell Lightroom the new drive letter again for those 60+. When I do that, it asks if I want to merge with the files at the new location. I tried that, and it has no effect: the images are still listed as missing.

I have only tested one of these "missing" images, but it appears that LR actually works on the full size image that is supposedly not there--I was able to export a 90MB TIFF, which is the right size for that particular camera body.

Anyone know how to fix this? I don't want to build a new catalog even though I use sidecar files because you lose some information that way. I am only concerned that if i don't fix it, I will accidentally delete one of these images at some point. Since they are scattered among thousands, it would not be easy to copy them, delete them, and then reimport them

Thanks for any suggestions.

I usually just right click the folder that has that annoying ? and choose update location.

Reimport the drive/folder that has the files.

MCAsan wrote in post #16645157
Reimport the drive/folder that has the files.

Will this overwrite settings for other photos in those directories?

I would not normally recommend re-importing the files as this usually results in loosing the existing edits. When you go to the images in the library under the old drive letter it seems to be doing the "correct" thing with the ?. If you click on the ? what happens, does it throw up the find file option? If it does then I would just go through the procedure to "find" the image file again. It looks as if LR managed to fail to find those particular files for some reason. My system is not that well specced, and at times when the workload gets a bit high LR will sometimes fail to import or move some but not all files about.

Alan

BigAl007 wrote in post #16648037
I would not normally recommend re-importing the files as this usually results in loosing the existing edits. When you go to the images in the library under the old drive letter it seems to be doing the "correct" thing with the ?.

Alan

Thanks. That's what I was concerned about. The weird thing is that some of the images have no question marks-- thumbnails and full images are actually there, so I am ok unless I accidentally let LR remove them. The other have no thumbnail and an exclamation point, but clicking doesn't bring up the right dialog. Turns out that this has nothing to do with a new computer; the database and my backups had this corruption for some time.

All I can come up with is to move the images, sync and remove, move the images back, and then sync and import. Would be a piece of cake except that they are scattered all over the place.

You mentiond the fact that you use xmp files. That may help you. Find one of these files and have a look at the xmp in a text editor such as notepad (just look on no account save the file in the text editor) if the file seems undamaged then you should be in luck. Having made a new backup just in case this dosen't work, delete the images from the catalogue, ensuring that niether the actual image file or the xmp file are deleted. When you import the images again LR should see the xmp file and import the settings from it automaticcally. This should not be difficult, as you can start in the root folder and have LR check all sub folders. Also tell LR to not show existing images. It may take a while populating the import screen but at least it's not manualally picking them. This should just leave you with your 60 or so duff images, as long as you do not also have a lot of other images not in LR.

I did just consider having you run the get data from xmp for those images, it might or might not work, but you would again want to make sure you have a fresh backup first.

Alan

Alan,

Thanks. Yes, I use sidecar files, so I would at least preserve edits, although I think I would lose history states, and I'm not sure about virtual copies. So what you are suggesting sounds like the best thing to do. It's a nuisance only because I have to locate and move the files individually. For example, I have one directory that includes most of my flower macros. It has dozens of folders named with dates, and the missing files are scattered among them. So I have to find each file name in a file manager to figure out the subdirectory (I can't find a way to get LR to show the paths of individual thumbnails), and then move and later replace each of them individually. It's simple enough, but it will be time-consuming. Some evening next week I am going to try this with just one file of each type (with a thumbnail & without) and see whether it works.

thanks for the suggestions.

Dan

What does doing this do for you.?

1. Open library module.
2. Open the Folders panel (left hand side) If not visible, right click on one of the other panels and choose to display the folder panel.
3. Click on the top most directory where you think your images are.
4. Right mouse click and select "Synchronise Folder"

Report back after trying that (and other folders as required).


Next, click the question mark to locate the file. Find the file in explorer. Make sure theat the check box "Find nearby images" is checked.