Synchronizing Folder Duplicates Entire Drive in Catalog

[dSly]

I am now on LR 4 and was hoping they would have fixed that problem from 3.6. I had pictures that I had moved around the hard disk and wanted to see them in LR. Synchronize folder should be a good way to have them show up but after issuing the command, LR is now duplicating an entire drive containing 16,000 pictures.

This is really silly. I know I should've imported from LR but sometimes I use other software on my computer and end up storing files in my picture folder (where they should be). Why is LR doing that? This is driving me crazy!!!

Help! Does someone has a fix for that?

[clee01l]

I don't think you are getting duplicates. LR does not store photos in the catalog. It references photos on the HD. Now id can copy new images from a camera card to a location on the Hard Drive and reference that location. It can move images from one location on one HD to another where is can reference the moved images. Or more likely it is just inventorying the images in place and referencing those.
If you sync a folder, you are in reality Importing all the photos in that folder and sub folders into the LR catalog. If you check the chek boz labeled "Show Import Dialog before importing" you have complete control over whether the images are Copied (to a new location), Moved (to an new Location) or Added (in place).

BTW, the problem that needs fixing is not LR 3.6 or 4.0 but the understanding of the LR user.

[Victoria Bampton]

One other question dSly. Are these photos that you'd already imported into Lightroom and made adjustments too, before then moving them using other software (i.e. Explorer)?

If so, the solution might be slightly different.

[dSly]

I don't think you are getting duplicates. LR does not store photos in the catalog. It references photos on the HD. Now id can copy new images from a camera card to a location on the Hard Drive and reference that location. It can move images from one location on one HD to another where is can reference the moved images. Or more likely it is just inventorying the images in place and referencing those.

Yes, of course. I did not mean that pictures were duplicated. The entire drive with the 16,000 pictures is getting duplicated in the catalog though. I get duplicated entries for all those pictures in the catalog when I wanted to re-synchronize a single folder.

If you sync a folder, you are in reality Importing all the photos in that folder and sub folders into the LR catalog. If you check the chek boz labeled "Show Import Dialog before importing" you have complete control over whether the images are Copied (to a new location), Moved (to an new Location) or Added (in place).

Synchronize is actually like "import"? That would really be silly, wouldn't it?

BTW, the problem that needs fixing is not LR 3.6 or 4.0 but the understanding of the LR user.

I know you are a LR Guru and I really appreciate your advice but I cannot agree to that. Software should be helping us do things; we should not have to "bend over backwards" to figure out anomalies of the software. Shouldn't synchronize folder be the logical command to ensure LR has all the files from a given folder that is already listed in LR?

[dSly]

One other question dSly. Are these photos that you'd already imported into Lightroom and made adjustments too, before then moving them using other software (i.e. Explorer)?

If so, the solution might be slightly different.

Actually, I moved photos that I had scanned into a folder that is already listed in LR. I thought I could safely use "synchronize folder" to have those pictures show up in LR. It did work BTW but LR continued with the synchronization process for the entire hard drive duplicating entries in the catalog...

[clee01l]

Synchronize is actually like "import"? That would really be silly, wouldn't it?

Actually not, you can see this for yourself when you click the {Synchronize Folder...} menu item in the context menu. The Synchronize Folder dialog also shows you exactly how many new images will be added that are found in the selected folder and its sub-folders. LR tells you in advance what's going to happen and if you choose to uncheck the Show Import dialog check box, you only give up some control over what the defaults are going to do.

You had all the information in front of you when you clicked the {Synchronize} button in the Synchronize Dialog. If you got 16000 new images added to your catalog. it is probably because you selected the wrong folder to synchronize. When the dialog told you this before you clicked the synchronize button you had an option to click the {Cancel} button.

The synchronize function seems to me to be quite straight forward. All the information you need to know to understand what will happen with the synchronize operation is available on the Synchronize Folder dialog or the modified Import dialog that the follows. If you read but not understand the information LR is providing, then you should not proceed blindly but seek help and understanding from the more than ample help available at Adobe or from forums such as this where knowledgable people are delighted to help.

[Victoria Bampton]

To put it a different way, there are some misconceptions when it comes to Synchronize. A lot of people think that Sychronize will 'find' any photos that have been moved or renamed outside of Lightroom. What it actually does it removes any photos it can't find on the hard drive, and imports any photos that are not currently in the catalog at their current locations. In reality, that means that any data stored in the catalog gets deleted for photos that were moved or renamed elsewhere.

There's one bit I'm not entirely clear on, that I'm sure you can help with. Can we see a screenshot of your folders panel? I have a feeling it's something like the drive letter having changed, although I've seen other weirdness around captilization of folders too.

[clee01l]

... What it actually does it removes any photos it can't find on the hard drive,... In reality, that means that any data stored in the catalog gets deleted for photos that were moved or renamed elsewhere...

And it should be noted that this too is controlled on the Synchronize Dialog. Only when there are missing images, the checkbox labeled "Remove missing photos from catalog" becomes active. As you can see from my earlier screen shot, in my example there are no missing photos so this checkbox is disabled. Also even though this checkbox is disabled, the default state is "checked". So care should be taken when this dialog appears and one should not cavalierly 'blip' through the screen without being prepared for some unexpected surprises.

[dSly]

Victoria, thanks for trying to help. Cletus, you've helped me out before and you were very patient; I don't know what is warranting me the condescending tone this time.

Let's start from the beginning, this is where I have my pictures, on the C drive for the current stuff and on a network drive (DLink) for the rest:



I moved pictures from my cell phone to the Temp - Divers folder outside of LR for demonstration purposes. I have now clicked on the synchronize folder button (and yes Cletus, I did click on the right folder as you can see on the screen dump):



I did not check or un-check anything in the synchronize dialog box as I want to import into my catalog the pictures that I have moved into the Temp - Divers folder. I just hit synchronize and this is what I got:



See above, Volume_1 (N), a new drive with 15 photos. It is a virtual copy of my network drive. A bit later, the process is further ahead:



It has now duplicated 349 photos. As far as I can see, the synchronize command has a major bug. It is still working as I type this since it has not yet done all 15,000 photos.

Interestingly, LR did not duplicate anything from the folder I actually wanted to synchronize (Temp - Divers). That one looks fine; everything on C: drive is OK and not duplicated in the catalog. Why did LR synchronize the network drive at all? (which would be one thing) Why did it duplicate the entire network drive?

I was hoping this would have been fixed from 3.6 to 4. I guess not, it means those with a network drive cannot use the synchronize command.

[Victoria Bampton]

Hi dSly, sorry for the delay replying, been tied up with some family stuff over the weekend. I need a brain to read properly, but I've flagged your email to look at tomorrow. Remind me if I miss it!

[clee01l]

... Cletus, you've helped me out before and you were very patient; I don't know what is warranting me the condescending tone this time.

You probably caught me on a bad day. Sorry if my tone came across as condescending. If it sounded that way to you, I apologize.
In almost every case the problem is not with LR but with the users understanding of the LR process. And that is what I was trying to say. What I wanted you to do is slow down, read and process the information in the dialog.

Let's start from the beginning, this is where I have my pictures, on the C drive for the current stuff and on a network drive (DLink) for the rest:...
I moved pictures from my cell phone to the Temp - Divers folder outside of LR for demonstration purposes. I have now clicked on the synchronize folder button (and yes Cletus, I did click on the right folder as you can see on the screen dump):



I was hoping this would have been fixed from 3.6 to 4. I guess not, it means those with a network drive cannot use the synchronize command.

Yes, let's start over.
First to Verify: Drive "N:\" (\\192.168.1.21) and the UNC drive labeled "\\DLINK=498061" are indeed different physical drives, right?

In looking at your Sync Folder dialog, by leaving the checkbox labeled "Show Import dialog before Import" unchecked, you are letting the import settings default to adding the images in place for "Temp-Divers". LR says it is going to import 46 new files from this folder. And that no files in the catalog are missing. Without seeing the import dialog, you and I can only assume this is going to act on 46 uncataloged images. If there is a bug, the hidden Import Dialog should show that LR is going to act on more that 46 files in your local drive and also somehow include the contents of Drive N:\.

I've synced Windows folders on network drives and on local drives with network drives attached LR has always acted upon exactly the number of files shown in the dialog. Once difference that I see is you have checked the checkbox labeled "Scan for Metadata Updates" I do not know if this makes a difference. the other difference when I sync is that I always diaplay the Import Dialog, so that I will know if I really want to import all of the (in your case) 46 files that LR found.

[dSly]

You probably caught me on a bad day. Sorry if my tone came across as condescending. If it sounded that way to you, I apologize.
In almost every case the problem is not with LR but with the users understanding of the LR process. And that is what I was trying to say. What I wanted you to do is slow down, read and process the information in the dialog.
Yes, let's start over.

Yes, thanks. I thought it was "out of character" from the little I know of you...

First to Verify: Drive "N:\" (\\192.168.1.21) and the UNC drive labeled "\\DLINK=498061" are indeed different physical drives, right?

No, it is actually the one single network drive that I have. It seems that LR sees it as two drives under two different names. While I was still on LR 3.6, I actually removed the mapping of the network drive as "N" just in case that would have alleviated the problem. It did not.

In looking at your Sync Folder dialog, by leaving the checkbox labeled "Show Import dialog before Import" unchecked, you are letting the import settings default to adding the images in place for "Temp-Divers". LR says it is going to import 46 new files from this folder. And that no files in the catalog are missing. Without seeing the import dialog, you and I can only assume this is going to act on 46 uncataloged images. If there is a bug, the hidden Import Dialog should show that LR is going to act on more that 46 files in your local drive and also somehow include the contents of Drive N:\.

Exactly, LR says 46 and it is going to update thousands of pictures on a drive for which I did not ask the sync.

I've synced Windows folders on network drives and on local drives with network drives attached LR has always acted upon exactly the number of files shown in the dialog. Once difference that I see is you have checked the checkbox labeled "Scan for Metadata Updates" I do not know if this makes a difference. the other difference when I sync is that I always diaplay the Import Dialog, so that I will know if I really want to import all of the (in your case) 46 files that LR found.

You probably have noticed that "Scan for Metadata Updates" was greyed out; I did not check it... I have no clue why it is doing that; that's why I think it is a bug.

[clee01l]

I think the "Sync Folder"option may be unrelated to the problem and that may be confusing us. I think the real problem is Windows tricking LR into thinking the the one drive is referenced as two unique entities. I believe one of the other Gurus has dealt with this problem before and I'll need to review the earlier issue to see if there was a cause and a solution.

Do you have a backup catalog taken just before the attempt to Sync the Temp-Divers folder? I'd like you to work with a copy of that back-up to Walk through this procedure in a methodical and logical way to try to isolate the various factors that affect the outcome.

[clee01l]

Here is a link to a post by Beat Gossweiler in our Tips and Tricks section
http://www.lightroomforums.net/showt...k+Drive+mapped

It does not address how this issue occurs other than at import, but it doe discuss methods for fixing the problem.

[Victoria Bampton]

I finally managed to read this with a brain, and I think Clee is spot-on with his assessment. If the sync hasn't finished importing the whole drive, I'd stop it as you'll only have to delete them again.

[dSly]

Here is a link to a post by Beat Gossweiler in our Tips and Tricks section
http://www.lightroomforums.net/showt...k+Drive+mapped

It does not address how this issue occurs other than at import, but it doe discuss methods for fixing the problem.

I finally managed to read this with a brain, and I think Clee is spot-on with his assessment. If the sync hasn't finished importing the whole drive, I'd stop it as you'll only have to delete them again.

Clee/Victoria, it seems that this is pretty much what is happening to me. I am glad to see that Adobe is aware of the issue; is it going to be fixed in LR 4.1? I will try the workaround this week-end. Your assistance is appreciated and thanks for the direct link Clee.

[Victoria Bampton]

It's a long-standing issue, so I'm not sure it'll end up in a 4.x release.

[dSly]

This problem is still giving me headaches. Pretty much every time I use the Synch function for a specific folder, LR grabs everything it can find on my computer and on my network and it takes me a lot of time to get rid of it all.

Is this going to be fixed in version 5 ??

[Victoria Bampton]

What's the full path to the Temp-Divers folder? This isn't standard behavior, which is why we're all so puzzled. It's almost like there's a symbolic link or junction point in there somewhere, which LR's following.

[dSly]

See below Victoria. There is not much to say about that path...