Another LR issue AGAIN!

[KeithR]

Not again! And I'm sure that this has been addressed a number of times. So I'm sorry for the repeat.
Yesterday (26OCT25) I opened LR only to be met with a window asking me to make a choice in opening LR. Thinking that this was just another update to LR, evidently, I chose the wrong one. Now I have no library of my images in their usual places on the left-hand side of LR. In the Library module, there is the usual Import/Export keys on the bottom but no list of my images. If I click on Import, I can see the list of drives on my computer. Under the G drive (where I store images in a folder that I have labeled "Let's Imagine") all of the subfolders are listed (and within those are the corresponding images).
On the right-hand side is where one imports images into specific folders, is the same list of each individual folders with the top folder "Let's Imagine". Clicking on that opens all the rest that is listed on the left-hand side. Do I have to import each separate folder or just click on the "Let's Image" folder to Import (on the LH side) and select "Let's Image" on the RH side. If doing so, will all the included folders move as well, along with all the edits that have been made to every image?
Conversely, If I were to click on the G drive (which is labeled as LR & Images (G;) on the LH in LR) and Import to the same listed drive that is on the RH side, would all the folders and files be moved there? Or do I have to go one by one?

[PeterAit]

Not again! And I'm sure that this has been addressed a number of times. So I'm sorry for the repeat.
Yesterday (26OCT25) I opened LR only to be met with a window asking me to make a choice in opening LR. Thinking that this was just another update to LR, evidently, I chose the wrong one. Now I have no library of my images in their usual places on the left-hand side of LR. In the Library module, there is the usual Import/Export keys on the bottom but no list of my images. If I click on Import, I can see the list of drives on my computer. Under the G drive (where I store images in a folder that I have labeled "Let's Imagine") all of the subfolders are listed (and within those are the corresponding images).
On the right-hand side is where one imports images into specific folders, is the same list of each individual folders with the top folder "Let's Imagine". Clicking on that opens all the rest that is listed on the left-hand side. Do I have to import each separate folder or just click on the "Let's Image" folder to Import (on the LH side) and select "Let's Image" on the RH side. If doing so, will all the included folders move as well, along with all the edits that have been made to every image?
Conversely, If I were to click on the G drive (which is labeled as LR & Images (G;) on the LH in LR) and Import to the same listed drive that is on the RH side, would all the folders and files be moved there? Or do I have to go one by one?

First thing I would do is verify, outside of LR, that all the image folders and files are actually present on your disk where they should be. If not, then the problem is outside of LR.

Assuming the files are all where they should be, back them all up just in case.

Next I'd open LR and verify that the right catalog is open.

If so, then try opening the most recent catalog backup, the one LR makes automatically.

Good luck!

[KeithR]

I opened the most recent backup from the previous day (Saturday 25OCT25) and everything was there. I then opened LR and everything was back to where it was before! Thank you!

[Chris Kern]

I opened the most recent backup from the previous day (Saturday 25OCT25) and everything was there. I then opened LR and everything was back to where it was before! Thank you!

Those Lightroom back-ups are useless ... until you need one of them.  I back up the LR database every time i exit the application, subsequently back up the back-up copies to a server with plenty of mass storage, then delete all but the last back-up from my primary post-processing machine to save space.  (The back-ups on the first back-up server are themselves backed up to a second server.)  I also back up all my image files to multiple locations.  Everything is periodically replicated to paid storage at a remote location.  My paranoid mantra as a former manager of information technology was that "lightning always strikes twice."

I automate this process with custom scripts I have written, but I suspect it wouldn't be too difficult to achieve a similar amount of redundancy using commercial applications that provide their own automatic invocation processes.

[mcbroomf]

The symptom you are describing sounds to me like your system briefly lost connection to your G drive where the images and LR are located.  Without that drive LR has no option but to create a new empty catalog which I think you are describing.  If that seems likely I would 1st check that G is visible before opening LR, and if it seems a bit flakey look at checking your connection.