Catalog issues

[Kirk Gittings]

I have two catalogs saved on different exterior drives. One is huge for my commercial photography and the other is moderate for my art photography. Sometimes, as now, I have allot going on in both arenas so I am switching back and forth every couple of days. For the second time in a couple of months when I switch back to the art drive and catalog, LR3 cannot find any of the images. I am faithful about backing up and testing the integrity of the catalog. Any idea why this is happening?

[MBehrens]

If the external drive connected with a different drive letter assigned, LR would not know where the images are since a different path is stored in the LR database. Just a thought.

[jaapb]

For the second time in a couple of months when I switch back to the art drive and catalog, LR3 cannot find any of the images.

Kirk,

What did you do, or what happened the first time when you encountered this?

Jaap

[Kirk Gittings]

Thanks guys. I couldn't figure out how to get it to read the catalog so I erased it and re-imported the files, creating a new catalog.

[wolfnowl]

If the external drive connected with a different drive letter assigned, LR would not know where the images are since a different path is stored in the LR database. Just a thought.

That was my thought too.  Drive mapping is very important here.

Mike.

[Kirk Gittings]

Thanks. Sounds possible but how do I avoid it or when it happens get LR to read the existing catalog?

[john beardsworth]

Simply by right clicking the top level folder and choosing Find Missing Folder.

Reimporting is rarely the best solution as it takes time and, even if you've been saving metadata to xmp, you lose some of your Lightroom work (collections, stacks, virtual copies, flags, history steps).