Missing Files in Lightroom 2

Hi,

I am using Lightroom 2.0. some of my older files (2006?) are showing as missing in LR Library. In the folder tree all looks fine and I have correct count for number of images in each folder but when looking inside, it shows that I have missing files. Some of them have thumbnail previews while others show only a gray box.

I have confirmed that all of the files are located in correct locations with correct file names. I have tried to correct the location on individual images but it states that images is already imported and I cannot have two images with same file behind them. I am getting this even though I am trying to correct the same image.

I also removed some of these images and reimported them but I still get the same thing even though import goes fine.

Any ideas what could be going on here?

Thanks

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There will be a question mark in the corner of the thumbnails. Click on one and point it back in the right location and see how you go.

Victoria Bampton wrote in post #7250916
There will be a question mark in the corner of the thumbnails. Click on one and point it back in the right location and see how you go.

Hi Victoria,

I have tried it and it did not work. It thinks I am trying to point it to file that is already linked to another image in the catalog even though it is the same image; on the disk and in the catalog.

Thanks.

The easiest thing to do for a lot of them is re-import them without deleting anything.
When you launch "import fom disk" you will get a dialog, be sure to click the lower right button that says "import all photos in selected folder".
At some point you should get a message about not importing suspected duplicates, usually you don't want to.

This should re-link all the off-line images.

chauncey wrote in post #7251286
The easiest thing to do for a lot of them is re-import them without deleting anything.
When you launch "import fom disk" you will get a dialog, be sure to click the lower right button that says "import all photos in selected folder".
At some point you should get a message about not importing suspected duplicates, usually you don't want to.

This should re-link all the off-line images.

Thank you Chauncey. I tried that as well but since there are no additional/new images, it shows all existing images as suspected duplicates and does not touch anything. My images still show as missing.

Here is what I get when I try to re-link them (screenshot). Also, I just reimported my whole catalog into a new blank catalog file just to find that missing links show as missing in the new file as well.

Is there is utility you can run to fix database issues for lightroom?

Thanks.

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If I click on "Show in Library" button, it take me back to the image which shows that file is offline or missing.

I think I have found a workaround to my issue. It is not a workaround I like much but it is still a workaround. rename your files on your drive to whatever you want ( I numbered them sequentially as Windows will do that easily for a big bunch.

then you sync the folders in LR. it tell you that xxx files are missing, you remove them. then it find xxx new files in the folder. You import them and then rename them using your old scheme within LR. Now you will have fully functional images.

Main problem with this approach is that if you have made modifications to your images in LR and/or created virtual copies, they will all be gone and you are back to freshly imported images with no changes.

I could use this approach as I only had issues with images from 2006 and I had never made any changes to these images in LR.

Yeah, that would work. Or just remove them from Lightroom's catalog and reimport, without bothering the rename should work too.

Alternatively, I'd try something else. They're all in the same folder? I'd rename the folder in Explorer, then when you reopen LR, that folder should be marked as missing. Right click on the folder > find missing folder and hopefully it should relink.

With regard to that dialog, I'd go to All Photographs view and do a text search for that image too... or a Metadata search for the image (i.e. based on capture time) if if could have been imported with another name.

Thanks Victoria. I tried removing the folder from LR and reimporting it but for some reason it would not forget that it had those file missing. The only way around was to rename the file and have LR figure out that they are realy missing. I do wish I would have tried renaming the folder and see if that would work but it is too late now

<rambling>

This does scare me a bit though. With typical editing (in photoshop) you simply either create a PSD or a second edited copy of each image. You can back that up and you are good to go. With LR this does not seem to be the case and perhaps you can lose a lot of hard work by simply have some corrupt data. I am not sure if this gives me any warm feelings. I hope they come out with some decent tools to repair these files. Also, I hope they let you specify where to keep your previews without having to hack your way through.

</rambling>

Victoria Bampton wrote in post #7253389
Yeah, that would work. Or just remove them from Lightroom's catalog and reimport, without bothering the rename should work too.

Alternatively, I'd try something else. They're all in the same folder? I'd rename the folder in Explorer, then when you reopen LR, that folder should be marked as missing. Right click on the folder > find missing folder and hopefully it should relink.

With regard to that dialog, I'd go to All Photographs view and do a text search for that image too... or a Metadata search for the image (i.e. based on capture time) if if could have been imported with another name.

Proper catalog corruption is pretty rare these days, and usually due to hardware issues, believe it or not! It does sound like it got a little confused somewhere along the lines, although it was probably repairable. Just make sure you back up your catalog regularly and you'll be fine Baddil.

Oh, one other thought. You said you're using 2.0 still? There were some weird ghost folder bugs in 2.0. Update to the 2.3 RC from http://labs.adobe.com and you'll be much better off.

Victoria Bampton wrote in post #7254925
Oh, one other thought. You said you're using 2.0 still? There were some weird ghost folder bugs in 2.0. Update to the 2.3 RC from http://labs.adobe.com and you'll be much better off.

Thanks. I had upgraded to 2.3 but that is when I came accross corruption so I thought may be it was the RC update. I reverted back to 2.0 and then up to 2.2. That is where I am right now

Victoria Bampton wrote in post #7254925
Oh, one other thought. You said you're using 2.0 still? There were some weird ghost folder bugs in 2.0. Update to the 2.3 RC from http://labs.adobe.com and you'll be much better off.

Victoria,

How is 2.3 going? When would you guess it will be official?

I wouldn't think it'll be too long jvmanolis, but they don't usually announce in advance, so it could be a good few weeks yet. Almost 100% positive feedback on 2.3 - the forums have been remarkably quiet! You're pretty safe to install.