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mdijb

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LR hard drive disaster
« on: March 12, 2017, 04:44:37 pm »

I had a large amount of photos on an internal drive that died.  Initailly, the catalogue showed the drive and catalog on it with '?" next to everything.

I inserted a new internal drive , but now the catalog is not showing anything from the old drive.  I thought the catalog would show up even without any photos included.

I was hoping to just move the catalogue to the new drive, move the photos from a backup drive and then redirect LR to the photos in the new location on the new drive.

It appears I cannot do this.  How can I accomplish this?  Does this mean I will have to import all photos into LR again?  I did open a backup catalog, but that does not show the old folders either. 

HELP

MDIJB
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krseals

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Re: LR hard drive disaster
« Reply #1 on: March 12, 2017, 09:50:41 pm »

One step at a time:

Copy the photos file backups to the new drive

Be sure the new drive is identified in windows or Mac exactly like the old failed drive.

Start up LR and it should see the new drive as being the same as the old drive with all the photos connected.

I would not move the Catalog and Previews to the drive with the photos. When that drive fails in the future, you will loose it all.

You could choose to let the LR catalog backup function back up to the photo drive so when that drive gets backed up, you will have additional catalog backups.
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Mark D Segal

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Re: LR hard drive disaster
« Reply #2 on: March 12, 2017, 10:06:51 pm »

I had a large amount of photos on an internal drive that died.  Initailly, the catalogue showed the drive and catalog on it with '?" next to everything.

I inserted a new internal drive , but now the catalog is not showing anything from the old drive.  I thought the catalog would show up even without any photos included.

I was hoping to just move the catalogue to the new drive, move the photos from a backup drive and then redirect LR to the photos in the new location on the new drive.

It appears I cannot do this.  How can I accomplish this?  Does this mean I will have to import all photos into LR again?  I did open a backup catalog, but that does not show the old folders either. 

HELP

MDIJB

Go to Victoria Bampton's Website and buy a download of her ADOBE PHOTOSHOP LIGHTROOM CC/6 - THE MISSING FAQ. You will find lots of material there on a number of scenarios and solutions for fixing this and similar problems, in particular pages 61 to 67 and from page 525. It's also a great resource for much else.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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mdijb

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Re: LR hard drive disaster
« Reply #3 on: March 13, 2017, 01:26:44 pm »

I followed instructions above.  Some of the images appear OK  but many other are not seen.  The library indicates the images are in the Library, but do not show up. THe indicator appears that image not found.  I try to locate image but have to do one at a time to see all the images in the folder.  I tried to "update folder location"  without affect.

The only thing that seems to work is reimporting .

MDIJB
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Mark D Segal

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Re: LR hard drive disaster
« Reply #4 on: March 13, 2017, 02:18:32 pm »

Perhaps you could save time and reduce frustration by implementing the suggestion I made to read the professional advice in detail. Some kinds of advice would apply to your situation, others not, so best to learn from a qualified resource more about both your problem and the bespoke solution for it.
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Mark D Segal (formerly MarkDS)
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mdijb

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Re: LR hard drive disaster
« Reply #5 on: March 13, 2017, 04:08:37 pm »

After some more work today, I think I discovered the reason why some images are seen OK and others not.  For a period I was importimg the images into LR and converting them to DNG files.  The backed up originals are the native camera files--CR2 or ARW from my cannon or sony cameras.  So, when copying to the new drive, LR can't find them because the file extensions are different--cannot convert DNG back to the original format. Reimporting solves the problem, but means a lot more work.

MDIJB
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Jeremy Roussak

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Re: LR hard drive disaster
« Reply #6 on: March 14, 2017, 04:38:32 am »

After some more work today, I think I discovered the reason why some images are seen OK and others not.  For a period I was importimg the images into LR and converting them to DNG files.  The backed up originals are the native camera files--CR2 or ARW from my cannon or sony cameras.  So, when copying to the new drive, LR can't find them because the file extensions are different--cannot convert DNG back to the original format. Reimporting solves the problem, but means a lot more work.

I did the same, for a while. Couldn't you convert the backups to DNG, so LR can find them? Adobe have a standalone converter.

Jeremy
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mdijb

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Re: LR hard drive disaster
« Reply #7 on: March 14, 2017, 08:04:10 pm »

I could do that but decided to keep the original format in the future.  The file inside LR needs to be the exact same as the backup or it will not be seen by LR if needed.  Less work to just use the original format.

MDIJB
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john beardsworth

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Re: LR hard drive disaster
« Reply #8 on: March 15, 2017, 08:28:07 am »

I could do that but decided to keep the original format in the future.

Then for each missing DNG, click the missing image icon and point to the corresponding raw file. Lr will ask you if you want to link to a file with a different name - accept this, and move on to the next image....

If that is too much, you could always import the backup raw files and use my Syncomatic plugin to copy all metadata and adjustments between the DNGs and raw files with matching names (eg 123.dng copies to 123.cr2 etc). But that involves learning a couple of new tricks and Jeremy's suggestion is the way I would also recommend.

John
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mdijb

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Re: LR hard drive disaster
« Reply #9 on: March 15, 2017, 07:09:27 pm »

Yes, John--that works.  But, it works on only one image at a a time--not suitable for a major restore.  Wish there was batch method for this.

MDIJB
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Hoggy

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Re: LR hard drive disaster
« Reply #10 on: March 15, 2017, 10:58:57 pm »

I don't think John's Syncomatic route would be one-by-one, but I could be wrong.  Although it wouldn't be free..  Unless it wouldn't be too slow to do 10 at a time with the unregistered version.

Assuming the names would be the same with the exception of the file extension:
One roundabout [PITA] way would be to use the dng converter on copies to convert said images to DNG, then make sure those DNG's are reconnected in LR.  Then you could use the late Rob Cole's xEmP plugin.  Then select those DNG's and use his plugin to write out the XMP's.  Remove (not delete) those files in LR and then copy over the original proprietary raw versions..  And then reimport with them being along-side the XMP's you just wrote out with the plugin.

Obviously make sure everything is backed up properly before trying all this.  But I'm thinking it should work.

I tried attaching the plugin, but it's about 5.1MB as a 7zip file, which turned out to be too large to attach.  However, if the above would be something you might be interested in, let me know and I should be able to put it on a public Google Drive for download.

OR...  Just live with those particular files being DNG and be done with the matter.  :)   Sticking to proprietary going forward.
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john beardsworth

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Re: LR hard drive disaster
« Reply #11 on: March 16, 2017, 03:50:20 am »

Yes, John--that works.  But, it works on only one image at a a time--not suitable for a major restore.  Wish there was batch method for this.

And that's why I emphasized "each". There's a good reason why, too.  The batch method (the find nearby files checkbox) is reserved for when you need to tell Lightroom that missing items refer to files with the same names but in a different location. But there isn't one for the rare occasions when people decide an item in Lightroom should refer to a different file. I can't imagine the chaos from not forcing them to say yes, I really mean to do this.

That's why I suggested my plugin, which could handle hundreds or thousands of images, and why I endorsed Jeremy's recommendation.
« Last Edit: March 16, 2017, 04:01:20 am by john beardsworth »
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Jeremy Roussak

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Re: LR hard drive disaster
« Reply #12 on: March 16, 2017, 04:35:47 am »

I could do that but decided to keep the original format in the future.  The file inside LR needs to be the exact same as the backup or it will not be seen by LR if needed.  Less work to just use the original format.

MDIJB

Given this thread, the conclusion of your last sentence would not appear to be borne out by the facts. You seem to be making life difficult for yourself by doing two things at the same time: restoring from a backup (easy) and retrospectively changing your storage format (trickier, or at least more time-consuming).

I too converted to DNG on import for a while. I then concluded that was pointless, so I stopped. I didn't bother to change the imported DNGs back to CR2s, though: that would have been another waste of time.

The main issue for which you started this thread is fully addressed by my proposed solution. It's hard to avoid the suspicion that you time would be better spent taking photographs - or indeed doing anything useful - than trying to "fix" what is really a non-problem.

Jeremy
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mdijb

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Re: LR hard drive disaster
« Reply #13 on: March 17, 2017, 11:54:20 pm »

This illustrates my frustration with the restore process.  I have attached the screen shots I was presented with.  The image is not recognized.


How can i get this image into LR which is in the right location?

The image is in the folder in the right location but will not appear in the LR library
« Last Edit: March 18, 2017, 12:02:30 am by mdijb »
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john beardsworth

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Re: LR hard drive disaster
« Reply #14 on: March 18, 2017, 04:25:27 am »

When you get this message, it means what it says - you're pointing the missing file at the folder path of a photo that is already in the catalogue. So this "The image is in the folder in the right location but will not appear in the LR library" is wrong - the actual image is indeed in the catalogue, and it will appear if you look for it.

What you have here in your catalogue is both a missing file, and a "not-missing file" - two items representing the same picture.

[Incidentally, this problem occurs most often when people move files around in Explorer/Finder and then try to fix the resulting missing file problems by re-importing or using folder synchronise. In general, once files are recorded in Lightroom, use Lightroom to move them to other folders, and don't be tempted to resort to Synchronise or re-importing to fix problems.]

Keep the missing file selected, go to All Photos and sort it in filename order. The missing file should now be sitting next to the file to which you were pointing, the "not-missing file". Do common sense checks. Which is the one you want to keep in the catalogue? Ask if the not-missing file has all the metadata and adjustments that you expect. Can you simply delete the missing file from the catalogue? Or will you need to sync metadata and adjustments from the missing file to the not-missing one? Would it be easier to remove the not-missing one and then go back to resolving the missing file as normal. 

Maybe also direct your frustration at your backup procedures....
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