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Problems after a hard drive crash

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Archer55

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Joined
Feb 16, 2012
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Good Evening All,

I'm a first time poster, and I'm hoping that with your help, I can get my LR working again.
After a hard drive crash, the repair guys were able to recover my files. However, they changed the name of the folder where all of my pictures are stored. My photos are actually stored at C/Users/Bill/My Pictures. But Lightroom is looking in the renamed folder C/Users/Owner/My Pictures. I can tell LR to import from C/Users/Bill/My Pictures but when I do that, none of my edits are applied to the photos.

Is there an easier way to straighten this out, or should I Delete LR and start all over again?
Thanks for the help!!!

Bill
 
Bill, Welcome to the Forum. Yes, there is an easier way. If you open your LR catalog, the Folder panel is showing folder icons with (?) on top of them. The top Level (Parent) folder showing in the folder panel might be "My Pictures". If it is, right click on it and choose {find Missing Folder} In the dialog box that opens navigate to "C:/Users/Bill/My Pictures" and choose that. Lightroom will then proceed to update all of the subfolders too. If your top level (Parent) folder is not "My Pictures" you can choose whichever folder is the Parent and follow the same procedure. If you have more than one toplevel folder, you can repeat the process. If you are unclear with any of this, reply to this thread with another post and a screenshot of your LR folder panel. and we can take it from there.
 
Cletus,

I can't thank you enough for the help!!! This has been driving me crazy!
I'm attaching screenshots from the LR Folder panel and the folder on my hard drive.
LR 2.JPG
LR.JPG

I'm afraid I've made a serious mess of this..... I have upwards of 9000 photos in my C/Users/Bill/My Pictures folder and I can't figure out how to get LR to see them. Can you make heads or tails of this mess?

Bill
 
Bill, in the screenshot of the folder panel I only see (?)s on three folders. Is that correct?

Begin by clocking on the (+) that is on the right side of the Folder header line. Make sure {Show folders in Subfolders} is checked. This should give you an image count that sums up the cataloged contents of all the sub folders.

If you right click on any one of these top level folders that show the (?), you should get a context menu with choices {Find Missing Folder...} and {Add Parent Folder}? If you choose {Add Parent Folder} then folders named "2011-10-20" through "2011-11-01" should show under the same parent folder which also may be showing as missing. If you choose {Find Missing Folder...} on either the parent that you might have added or one of the folders named "2011-10-20" through "2011-11-01", A standard windows dialog will show up. You can navigate the folder tree in this standard dialog until you find the folder that you are looking for under C:/Users/Bill/My Pictures".
 
Cletus, "Add Parent Folder" isn't an option for a missing folder....the only two options are "Find Missing Folder" or "Remove". So in this case Bill will need to do the "Find Missing Folder" routine on all three missing folders.

But I can't help noticing that this catalog only has 384 photos.....is that right? What about the other 9000? After the hard drive crash, was the catalog recovered as well as the original image files?
 
Good Morning,

Please excuse my absense but work has been a bear lately! I really appreciate all the help you are giving me!
Here is what I don't understand: I have thousands of photos and I know where they are, but I can't get LR to show them! The next screenshot is a shot from the import page and it shows my pictures in the Users/Bill/My Pictures. How do I get Lightroom to use that as my default import folder and will I make my problem worse if I just import the whole folder again? If you look at my previous screenshot LR is importing from C/Users/owner, not C/Users/Bill. I hope I'm not confusing you even more!!
File -- Import.JPG

Thanks again for the help!!
Bill
 
Can you just clarify something for me.....prior to your hard drive crash were the 9000 photos in your Lightroom catalog? If there were, then there's a significant problem in that the catalog that you are using only has 384 images in it, which begs the question: where's the correct catalog?

Or are you simply trying to import the 9000 images for the first time?
 
Firstly, I think we missed an important part of your initial question. If you we able to properly restore your HD, you don't need to import the existing stuff into a new catalog. You just need to open your existing catalog. Do you have that? All of this time I have assumed that you were working from your restored catalog

If you are able to open the existing catalog, then you may find the folder panel pointing to "C:/Users/Owner/My Pictures". Based upon that mis assumption, I have been giving directions you help you point your catalog references to the new location "C:/Users/Bill/My Pictures". So, everything said before predicates on you have the catalog you had before the crash. If you do, we are in better shape and can work along the lines I outlines abobe to get toye old catalog point to the new location of the original photos stored when you original imported them into LR.

If you don't have this catalog, then I need more information about what is on your HD and how the HD has structured the folders containing your recovered photos.
 
Good Morning,

I Think I may have some important new information for you. It appears that I somehow have multiple catalogs number one and all of my photos are stored in 2 duplicate files with different names. I'm hoping the screenshots will help explain.
LR Capture.JPG

One of the folders is Users/Bill/My Pictures and one is Users/Owner/My Pictures.
I think this has added to the confusion.

As far as the multiple catalogs, I believe I have the proper catalog selected now but LR can't see where the photos are. Here is a screenshot.

LR Capture 2.JPG

Does this mean that I can right click on the "Pictures" folder and tell LR to find the missing folders?

Bill
 
...
Does this mean that I can right click on the "Pictures" folder and tell LR to find the missing folders?

Bill
Yes, that is exactly how you would resolve this. But first, right click on any one of the missing images in "Pictures" or one of its subfolders. In the popup context menu choose {Find in Explorer}. The dialog box will tell you where LR thinks the image should be. And this should be enough clue to help you find the proper path to the correct image location.

If you have any doubt as to which catalog you have opened, look on the {General} tab of {Catalog Preferences}>
 
Cletus,

You are 'Da Man!!!
My pictures are back where they belong, in the proper catalog and life is good!!
All except for one thing: When I try to import new files, LR wants to put them into the C/Users/OWNER folder instead of C/Users/BILL folder. And when I try to change the "To" folder in Import, it keeps reverting back to the old folder.
Am I going to have to delete the C/Users/Owner folder?

Bill
 
It should not revert back each time, it should remember the position of the last import. (you have completed an import haven't you?) You can 'remember' different import settings by creating an import preset. You can create this by choosing {Save Current Setting as a New Preset} in the bottom center of the import dialog.
LRScreen9.jpg
 
Problems with HD crash

Hi Clee,

I finally thought I had all of my problems figured out and I was back to normal. Boy was I wrong!!!
I am now having problems importing from a CF card. Here is the error from a screenshot:



import.JPG


Here is what the Import page looks like:

mast.JPG

What am I doing wrong now?

Bill
 
There are several possibilities. Based upon whai I see in your screen shot.

You are importing directly from the camera attached to the computer. Here are the possibilities that could be causing the problem:
  1. The card is bad/going bad.
    1. Try importing the card contents to the HD and see if LR can read these from the HD.
    2. Try again with a different card and see if the problem remains.
  2. The USB Cable to the camera is bad. Try with a different cable. (Remember the USB cable that ships with your camera was supplied by the lowest bidder.)
  3. The camera battery is weak, Try these
    1. Make sure that you have a fully charged battery.
    2. Insert the card in a Card reader and try importing from a card reader if not built in then one directly connected via USB port (not through a hub) If using a USB connected card reader, don'e use the cable that is used for the camera (see #2)
LR is very good about detecting H/W problems. You most likely have a hard ware problem.
 
Or you are copying the images to a location for which you have no write permission. Sometimes that message means that the files cannot be written.

Hal
 
Hi Clee,

I finally got a a day off so I am trying to dig deeper and solve this problem!!!
1. The card works in my laptop computer, so that's not it.
2. I don't download from my camera, I use a card reader. I tried two different kinds. Neither one solves the problem.

Here is what I did find. I created a new catalog and I was able to import from that very same card, no problem!! Is my original catalog corrupted somehow? Is there a way to fix a corrupted catalog?

Bill
 
Based upon the reference in Post #13, I assumed F:\Nikon D300) is a camera not a card reader. If you have tried different cables and different card readers, on the main conputer, then I guess a corrupt catalog is a possibility.
In catalog preferences, Set the backup schedule to "When Lightroom Next Exits" then close LR making sure the check boxes labeled "Test the integrity..." and "Optimize the Catalog..." are checked. If you are unable to import after the catalog integrity has been tested and the catalog is optimised, then your next choice is a recent backup catalog. The third thing to try would be to open the New catalog (that has import working) and import the old catalog into it
 
Hi Clee,

I am about out of ideas as far as this problem is concerned. I think I will just start a new catalog from my back-up. I just want to make sure I have that process right. The way I understand it, I make a new catalog and then import my back-up catalog as 'File--- Import from Catalog' Is this correct?

By the way, thank you for all of your help. I would be lost without this forum!

Bill
 
Wait a minute. Based upon your response #11, I thought the missing files issue was satisfactorily resolved. The Next issue (#13) seems unrelated and points to a corrupt CF card or a hardware issue related to the hardware in your import chain of custody.

Did you resolve that and did you follow the testing of possibilities I outlined in post #14?

Why are you wanting to start a new catalog from a backup?
 
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