Arrgghhh!!!! Lightroom help please!

[Myra]

I am beside myself. All of a sudden, for no apparent reason, all my connections to my photos are broken and they can't be restored. I have no idea why. Usually when this happens, I right click on the folder, locate it on my server, and all is well again. Sometimes, resynchronizing repairs the database somehow. This time, when I did those steps, it broke all connections and I can't reconnect. Most of my folders within 2010 have disappeared as well.

I have a recent backup of my database. It's just a few days old, but I don't know what to do with it or if restoring it will even fix the problem. I suspect this would be simple if my photos were stored locally, but they're all on a server / external drive.

Anyone have this before? Help would be appreciated!

I've attached a screenshot so you can see.

[Jen D]

Gosh Myra I don't know. The only time I had that happen was when I unplugged my EHD and plugged in into a new port... it reassigned it to a new drive and all my stuff was in limbo somewhere. Even when I plugged it back in the correct one didn't matter. My computer friend helped me reassign the drive back to the old one. Worked like a charm but I am not sure if that will help.

I hope somebody knows something Did you try the lightroom forums... that is what helped me discover it reassigned the drive.

Best of luck! I am sure there is a way!

[HeatherPrins]

Are you able to see the Lightroom folders where the photos are on the connected hard drive through the Finder?

[Myra]

Everything is safely in place through Finder Heather. I just can't connect it in LR.

[katrinak]

That is strange Myra. I only get that when my EHD is turned off.

Have you shut everything down and turned your computer on, then external, and then opened Lightroom?

What happens when you right click and choose Find Missing Folder?

[anxela]

Whatever you do, before you try to go back to your previous database, back up the current one in a different location so that you have them both.

I haven't had this problem before, things have always been ok when I've done the steps you did (right-click - choose find missing folder).

I do think Jen is onto something - it might be that it's reassigned to a new drive and that this is the reason of your trouble.

[anxela]

Have you tried going back with Time Machine?

[mugsbigsis]

This happened to me Myra and I feel your frustration. The problem is that somehow everything was renamed so LR doesn't recognize it. In my case the date at the beginning of the name was duplicated. I still don't have it all restored, but since I have an EHD for just my photos I know that most of them are still there. (I'm afraid I still can't find some of them.) I'm afraid I don't have a solution for you as mine are also still in limbo. But, I thought I'd tell you that I know part of the problem is that they have been renamed.

[katrinak]

Myra, are you seeing a green box next to the drive in LR?

[KerryMac]

This happens to me all the time! It's so frustrating. Most recently, LR lost a folder that I had worked on that was on my computer's hard drive, not an EHD.
I'd love to know how to avoid it!
I hope everything gets back to normal for you soon, Myra. I bet someone here will have a solution.

[Myra]

Yes Katrina, there is a green box next to the drive. I've looked more closely, and I know the problem is that somehow my drive has been renamed. The volume says Myra-1 instead of Myra. So now I have two volumes that look like this.

Do I dare delete the -1 and rename it back? ETA: When I try to locate the missing folder, it says the folder already exists in LR. And I'm not set up in time machine on my laptop, which I use as my primary computer.

[HeatherPrins]

here is what I would try:

Rename the Hard Drive to the original name then restore a previous backup LR catalog before this issue started, like this:

Restore a backup catalog
Choose File > Open Catalog.
Navigate to the location of your backed up catalog file.
Select the backed up .lrcat file and click Open.
(Optional) Copy the backed up catalog to the location of the original catalog to replace it.

[katrinak]

I'm trying to recreate it on my computer but not having luck losing the connection, it keeps updating the Volume name no matter where I change it! So I did some sleuthing.

Before you delete anything, try this.

Exit LR
Change the volume name
Restart LR
When asked point to catalog on the volume (now with its new volume name)
Let LR boot and my understanding is that all should be okay.

[katrinak]

Originally Posted by KerryMac

This happens to me all the time! It's so frustrating. Most recently, LR lost a folder that I had worked on that was on my computer's hard drive, not an EHD.
I'd love to know how to avoid it!
I hope everything gets back to normal for you soon, Myra. I bet someone here will have a solution.

Kerry is it just randomly losing them? I've got 35,000 photos in my working catalogue with lots of different folders and haven't had it happen.

The most common way to lose folders is when they are renamed outside of LR. Just wondering what the issue is too...before I have it too

[KerryMac]

Katrina, most recently I created a collection for some wedding photos. I worked on them all day then shut LR down for the night. When I opened LR the next day, the collection folder was there, but the photos weren't in it.
They still appeared in the catalog, but not in the collection. So instead of going right to that particular wedding, I had to go through all of the photos in LR's catalog.
Other times, when I'm working on photos that are stored on an EHD, I'll close out of LR and the next time I open it (EHD still connected) LR says the photos are missing.
I know I need to spend more time learning how to organize the program, but I haven't!

[digigrandma]

I think LR is easy to use for viewing the photos in the Library and for editing the photos, but, I sure haven't figured out the storage. So far, I've been able to find photos that I moved to my EHD when LR says they are missing.

I hope you find the solution, Myra.

[anxela]

Originally Posted by KerryMac

Katrina, most recently I created a collection for some wedding photos. I worked on them all day then shut LR down for the night. When I opened LR the next day, the collection folder was there, but the photos weren't in it.
They still appeared in the catalog, but not in the collection. So instead of going right to that particular wedding, I had to go through all of the photos in LR's catalog.
Other times, when I'm working on photos that are stored on an EHD, I'll close out of LR and the next time I open it (EHD still connected) LR says the photos are missing.
I know I need to spend more time learning how to organize the program, but I haven't!

What version of Lightroom are you on?

[Amson]

This happenned to me when I had to reinstall lightroom due to hard drive failure. I have 2 hard drives and the lightroom databases and program files were both on my data drive which was OK. I can't remember what I did but it took hours of playing around to get my 3 catalogues to be recognized. I know I moved them all out then back in one by one with a lot of renaming and reattaching. Sorry wish I had written down all the steps. Just know it took a full day and I was so frustrated....

[readstoomuch]

AArrgghhh!!!! I am reading this just when I am getting up the nerve to order Lightroom too.



So sorry that you are having these frustrations, Myra and Kerry.

[anxela]

Have you contacted Adobe support? Or browsed the forum there?

[Jen D]

Myra that is really sounding much like what happened to me. It was a simple fix on my PC but I have no idea how to do that on an apple (remember we are at war I am sure it is just as simple.

[KerryMac]

Anxela, I'm using LR 3.

[Myra]

Ok, work has been crazy, getting home late, so I haven't been able to try Katrina's fix yet. But I will say, that if you look at the picture I posted, the top half are pathed correctly. On a lurch, I retried connecting some of the years on the bottom half that weren't pathed correctly. It worked. I can't explain it. It didn't before. Does that make sense?

June and July are still messed up, so I'm going to try Katrina's fix for those and let you know.

[anxela]

Originally Posted by KerryMac

Anxela, I'm using LR 3.

Have you tried optimizing your database? I read on some forum that it's a good idea to do that in case of problems... Make sure you have a backup of your database before you do that.

[anxela]

...And, Scott Kelby says that a wedding photographer he knows, makes a new Catalog for each wedding he shoots. And that LR works much faster because of this, because it operates on fewer pictures. Maybe it's a good idea to try that. How many photos do you have in your database?

[anxela]

Oh, and sychronizing the volume in Lightroom might be a good idea too. Again: Back up your database before you start.

I'm having a look at this thread. http://luminous-landscape.com/forum/...howtopic=41619 While it might not be exactly your issue, maintenance is always a good idea.

It also talks about doing a Disk Repair (for Mac users).

[katrinak]

Smaller catalogs definitely improve performance.

For those reading this thread know that it is imperative that you only move your photos through light room if you want to maintain the integrity of your folders.

Lightroom creates a path to your pictures, so you typically don't lose photos through LR just the psthbto their location.

Kerry, do you keyword by client? That would provide a fast way to find all the photos you are looking for. The search function works well in LR.

[Myra]

This is so bizarre. It's clear that my drive was mysteriously renamed. The photos that are "correct" in LR are pathed to the newly named drive. Anything new that I've added in the last couple days has gone to the "old" drive name. So do I drag my new photos into the newly renamed drive "Myra-1" or change the drive name with Katrina's directions?

This is so frustrating.

[crlin]

Is this only if you use lightroom as an organizer? I was thinking of getting it just to fix photos but not for organizing them. Can it be used that way like PSE can? I don't want to get it if they all have to go through it because I have to keep changing EHDs when they fail!

[katrinak]

Originally Posted by Myra

This is so bizarre. It's clear that my drive was mysteriously renamed. The photos that are "correct" in LR are pathed to the newly named drive. Anything new that I've added in the last couple days has gone to the "old" drive name. So do I drag my new photos into the newly renamed drive "Myra-1" or change the drive name with Katrina's directions?

This is so frustrating.

I think I'd go with the direction where most of your photos are located. This is so strange, I wish I could redo it on my end. I've tried everything to mess mine up and can't recreate it.