Lightroom 3 Folder Link Problem

T

taxboy

Suspended / Banned
Messages
1,985
Edit My Images
Yes
My primary HD failed :( and I have now had a replacement installed. As I had lightroom automatically back up to a second hard drive on import - no problems (or so I thought). I've copied the images back to my C drive and imported the last catalogue - unfortunately LR can't see the thumbnails - other than my really early stuff which I used specific named folders for (my later stuff was just thrown in my photos with keywords to find it)

Any help in the easiest way to link the pictures back - the folder names given are "imported on 10 May 2010 etc ........

The pictures are there I just can't get LR to see them

TIA

Andrew
 
Right click on the folder that is missing in the organiser and it will offer an option somethinmg like "Reconnect to missing folder"
 
The thumbnails are stored in a file called . <cat name>.lrdata It should be next to the file <cat name> .lrcat.

It may be that this file may have been corrupted and is unreadable. If you have a backup copy of the .lrdata and .lrcat files I'd start Lightroom from these. You may lose some of the current data, since the last backup but it'll save you from importing all the images again.

I'd also take this opportunity to reconsider how you store your images on the computer. I ue a tree structure, segregating by year, shoot and maybe a sub folder still, just in case this sort of thing happens.
 
arad85 said:
Right click on the folder that is missing in the organiser and it will offer an option somethinmg like "Reconnect to missing folder"
Click to expand...

The difficulty is that the back up folders have different names to the folders in the LR directory list
 
For the future it's not a good idea to store your pictures - or the catalogue on your C: drive. Your back-ups should have exactly the same file structure. Maybe you'll have to rename the backups manually now.

There is an option to 'update folder location' - which might let you navigate manually to the backup folder and go from there.
 
Chappers said:
The thumbnails are stored in a file called . <cat name>.lrdata It should be next to the file <cat name> .lrcat.

It may be that this file may have been corrupted and is unreadable. If you have a backup copy of the .lrdata and .lrcat files I'd start Lightroom from these. You may lose some of the current data, since the last backup but it'll save you from importing all the images again.

I'd also take this opportunity to reconsider how you store your images on the computer. I ue a tree structure, segregating by year, shoot and maybe a sub folder still, just in case this sort of thing happens.
Click to expand...

Thanks for this but I can't seem to find the file in explorer - I'm using XP by the way
 
it will be in MY DOCUMENTS > MY PICTURES > LIGHTROOM
 
awp said:
it will be in MY DOCUMENTS > MY PICTURES > LIGHTROOM
Click to expand...

Ah found it now thanks for this - I'm not quite certain what my next step should be. Sorry if I appear dim :bonk:

Once I've got this sorted I'll be back for advice on a new back up strategy if you don't mind :)
 
taxboy said:
Ah found it now thanks for this - I'm not quite certain what my next step should be. Sorry if I appear dim :bonk:

Once I've got this sorted I'll be back for advice on a new back up strategy if you don't mind :)
Click to expand...

Sorry to pester but can anyone offer guidance on what the next step should be as I'm hoping to start on this. Alternatively is it easier to do a re-import
 
If you have a bu of the file copy into that directory. Then re start LR. Maybe rename the existing file first for safety.

Let us know if LR then sees the thumbs.

Is the correct directory structure showing in LR ?
 
Last edited:
awp said:
If you have a bu of the file copy into that directory. Then re start LR. Maybe rename the existing file first for safety.

Let us know if LR then sees the thumbs.

Is the correct directory structure showing in LR ?
Click to expand...

I can't seem to find a BU copy of the thumbnails only the catalogue
 
ok - If the directory structure is showing correctly - right click on a directpry and click synchronise folder. make a BU of the catalog first though - just in case .. .. ..
 
Synchronise is not showing as an option - find missing folder is. Perhaps this is my problem ? I didn't back up the folders per se - I just let LR copy the photos to my BU drive on download
 
what happens if you ask LR to find missing folder? maybe it will then rebuild the thumbs - I'm starting to guess now though!
 
awp said:
what happens if you ask LR to find missing folder? maybe it will then rebuild the thumbs - I'm starting to guess now though!
Click to expand...

It then gives you an explorer view of your file structure which in my case leads me back to the downloaded on .... folders

I'm guessing that a full reimport is in order :gag: if so presumably the simplest option is to create a new single folder - copy all the pics from the downloded on ..... folders and then import from the new folder to get everything back into LR and then sort it from there if required ??
 
You want to avoid a full re-import at all costs - you'll lose all your keywords, develop settings, etc. I did it by mistake once, not a happy chappy! :)

As you'll have seen by now, when Lightroom does a backup it only takes a copy of the database (.lrcat file) which contains all the keywords, links to images, etc. The image previews aren't backed up as they can be regenerated from the source files (the previews are just the source file with your develop settings applied). Indeed, my preview folder is ~50GB, so you can understand why you wouldn't want that being continually backed up!

When you say you "imported the backup catalog" do you mean that you opened LR with a new catalog and then imported the backed-up catalog? If so, that's not the way to do it (at least, that's not how I do it). The easiest thing is to literally copy the backup catalog in Windows Explorer, and paste it where you used to have your old catalog. Use "copy" rather than "cut" so that the backup is still there if you have further problems.

If you haven't moved your image files, then when you open the catalog you'll be back to where you were pre-drive failure (well, you'll be missing any changes between your last backup and the failure obviously).

However, you said you moved the image files onto C - you don't need to do this. Indeed, if you do, the catalog in LR still thinks they live where you moved them from (D:\My Pictures or wherever). So you need to put them back there and LR will find them again without you needing to do anything else. You could use a combination of Update Folder/Find Missing Folder to get them back, but it's easier (esp if you were happy with the location previously) to put them back where Lightroom was expecting them.

Once LR has found the images (no "?" next to folder) then it will rebuild the previews - it will do this itself as required, or you can go to the Library menu, then Previews and select the "Rebuild..." option you want to make it do them all in one go (means it will be quicker when using LR as it doesn't need to do them "on the fly").

Hope that helps.
 
dfawkes said:
You want to avoid a full re-import at all costs - you'll lose all your keywords, develop settings, etc. I did it by mistake once, not a happy chappy! :)

As you'll have seen by now, when Lightroom does a backup it only takes a copy of the database (.lrcat file) which contains all the keywords, links to images, etc. The image previews aren't backed up as they can be regenerated from the source files (the previews are just the source file with your develop settings applied). Indeed, my preview folder is ~50GB, so you can understand why you wouldn't want that being continually backed up!

When you say you "imported the backup catalog" do you mean that you opened LR with a new catalog and then imported the backed-up catalog? If so, that's not the way to do it (at least, that's not how I do it). The easiest thing is to literally copy the backup catalog in Windows Explorer, and paste it where you used to have your old catalog. Use "copy" rather than "cut" so that the backup is still there if you have further problems.

If you haven't moved your image files, then when you open the catalog you'll be back to where you were pre-drive failure (well, you'll be missing any changes between your last backup and the failure obviously).

However, you said you moved the image files onto C - you don't need to do this. Indeed, if you do, the catalog in LR still thinks they live where you moved them from (D:\My Pictures or wherever). So you need to put them back there and LR will find them again without you needing to do anything else. You could use a combination of Update Folder/Find Missing Folder to get them back, but it's easier (esp if you were happy with the location previously) to put them back where Lightroom was expecting them.

Once LR has found the images (no "?" next to folder) then it will rebuild the previews - it will do this itself as required, or you can go to the Library menu, then Previews and select the "Rebuild..." option you want to make it do them all in one go (means it will be quicker when using LR as it doesn't need to do them "on the fly").

Hope that helps.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help on this - unfortunately I lost patience and did a reimport and just as you found lost my keywords etc :bonk:

When I said i moved my images what I meant was that I copied and pasted the RAW files from my back up drive back to my C drive. You are correct in that I opened from the catalogue on my back up drive.

I think that my problems arose from my back up strategy - I just let lightroom save to the back up disk on import rather than save to named folders and then copy the back up folder in explorer.

As I've already done a reimport if i try your method will it find everything or am I too late - given there's plenty of GB of files I thought I'd ask rather than just try it
 
Hi Taxboy.

If you've still got your backup catalog you're still ok - the changes made from the re-import have only affected your "new" catalog so you can still recover your old catalog.

It would really help if I knew your set-up, etc (I've always been a bit rubbish doing things blind!) but here's the steps I think you need to follow.

1. Take a backup of your "new" catalog, just in case this doesn't work and you don't lose your time doing the reimport. Easiest thing to do is just rename it, or copy it somewhere safe temporarily (you just need to copy the Lightroom.lrcat file).
2. Copy and paste your latest backup catalog (again only the .lrcat) from your backup to the location you want you normally store your LR catalog (e.g. where the one in the previous step was located).
3. Put your RAW images where they used to live. I think from the above this might be the tricky bit. You need them in the same folder structure they were in pre-crash. I'm presuming from the below that the only copy of the files is from the LR import backup location? If so, you'll need to arrange them into the structure LR is looking for them - bit of a nightmare unless LR imported them into one big folder? Let me know if you get stuck here.
4. If you then open LR with the catalog from step 2 you should, fingers crossed, have a working LR catalog back. Have a good look through, first looking for any folders with "?" and then double check for images with a "!" in the grid view.

Hopefully that's quite straightforward. I suspect that - unless you've actually got a backup of the images in the original folder structure LR is looking in - that step 3 is going to cause you the most problems, but I hope not.

See if you can get that sorted, and then I give you some tips on backup strategy if you like.

Let me know how you get on.
 
dfawkes said:
Hi Taxboy.

If you've still got your backup catalog you're still ok - the changes made from the re-import have only affected your "new" catalog so you can still recover your old catalog.

It would really help if I knew your set-up, etc (I've always been a bit rubbish doing things blind!) but here's the steps I think you need to follow.

1. Take a backup of your "new" catalog, just in case this doesn't work and you don't lose your time doing the reimport. Easiest thing to do is just rename it, or copy it somewhere safe temporarily (you just need to copy the Lightroom.lrcat file).
2. Copy and paste your latest backup catalog (again only the .lrcat) from your backup to the location you want you normally store your LR catalog (e.g. where the one in the previous step was located).
3. Put your RAW images where they used to live. I think from the above this might be the tricky bit. You need them in the same folder structure they were in pre-crash. I'm presuming from the below that the only copy of the files is from the LR import backup location? If so, you'll need to arrange them into the structure LR is looking for them - bit of a nightmare unless LR imported them into one big folder? Let me know if you get stuck here.
4. If you then open LR with the catalog from step 2 you should, fingers crossed, have a working LR catalog back. Have a good look through, first looking for any folders with "?" and then double check for images with a "!" in the grid view.

Hopefully that's quite straightforward. I suspect that - unless you've actually got a backup of the images in the original folder structure LR is looking in - that step 3 is going to cause you the most problems, but I hope not.

See if you can get that sorted, and then I give you some tips on backup strategy if you like.

Let me know how you get on.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the help on this. I've had a go but unfortunately still no joy. I think my problem is that I didn't back up the folders to the second drive so although all the pics are there LR can't find them and I've got no way of tracking them back from the RAW file no. Would this seem correct ??
 
Ye, I feared that might be your problem :(

So, you've only got the import backup folders on your 2nd drive ("Imported on DD/MM/YY" folders)? How "flat" was your folder structure in LR? I know some people dump all their files in one big folder called "Photos" or some such - not best practice IMO but if you didn't have an elaborate folder structure maybe not difficult to replicate. The other issue might be if you rename or convert to DNG on import, then the filename in your backups won't match what LR renamed them to. If the filenames had a predictable pattern (e.g. I use the same filename number in my file renaming) then you could maybe use a file naming utility, but that's probably a ballache.

I think I've just had a great idea if none of the above works - it's either a great idea or a total shocker - you could use a *new* LR catalog to reimport the files into the same folder structure as previously, and then once they're in the correct structure switch back to the other LR catalog which will find the files where it expects them again.

E.g. all of my image files end up in a Photos\YYYY-MM-DD folder of the date of capture. So if I did a re-import with a *different* catalog from the backup folders, I can have LR import to "Photos" and then the appropriate YYYY-MM-DD subfolder, so it rebuilds the hierarchy I had previously. If I could remember the filename template I apply on import, then it would rename them all (and convert to DNG) so the filenames match.

Of course, that only works if you imported into a consistent folder structure with a consistent filename & DNG conversion policy for the whole library (i.e. if you put files in different folders manually each time you're screwed) - but maybe it gives you some/most of your files back and then re-import the remainder?

It would really depend on your folder structure and import conventions, but if you've been consistent it certainly should work!
 
Last edited:
dfawkes said:
Ye, I feared that might be your problem :(

So, you've only got the import backup folders on your 2nd drive ("Imported on DD/MM/YY" folders)? How "flat" was your folder structure in LR? I know some people dump all their files in one big folder called "Photos" or some such - not best practice IMO but if you didn't have an elaborate folder structure maybe not difficult to replicate. The other issue might be if you rename or convert to DNG on import, then the filename in your backups won't match what LR renamed them to. If the filenames had a predictable pattern (e.g. I use the same filename number in my file renaming) then you could maybe use a file naming utility, but that's probably a ballache.

I think I've just had a great idea if none of the above works - it's either a great idea or a total shocker - you could use a *new* LR catalog to reimport the files into the same folder structure as previously, and then once they're in the correct structure switch back to the other LR catalog which will find the files where it expects them again.

E.g. all of my image files end up in a Photos\YYYY-MM-DD folder of the date of capture. So if I did a re-import with a *different* catalog from the backup folders, I can have LR import to "Photos" and then the appropriate YYYY-MM-DD subfolder, so it rebuilds the hierarchy I had previously. If I could remember the filename template I apply on import, then it would rename them all (and convert to DNG) so the filenames match.

Of course, that only works if you imported into a consistent folder structure with a consistent filename & DNG conversion policy for the whole library (i.e. if you put files in different folders manually each time you're screwed) - but maybe it gives you some/most of your files back and then re-import the remainder?

It would really depend on your folder structure and import conventions, but if you've been consistent it certainly should work!
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help with this but unfortunately my file policy wasn't consistent. Still I've learnt a great deal over this and will be having a fun :gag: weekend keywording and creating a new file structure (consistent this time ;) )
 
Best thing I always do;

If you tell Lightroom to make a back-up of the photos for you on the Import dialog, it creates it's own folder structure completely different from the one you have in your catalogue. You don't want to do this as you could possibly have the same problem again.

Ideally, (everyone works differently though)
You want to import your photos to Lightroom, in a structure of your taking (common one's are YYYY/MM/DD. And do all your keywording all like normall.

Download a program like AllSync (automatic back-up)
- So if you're lightroom catalogue is C://Users/JoeBloggs/MyPictures/Lightroom
- Tell AllSync to sync that folder to a duplicate on your external hard drive, continuously.

So what happens is when you import something onto Lightroom, without you realising AllSync is creating a back-up on your external hard drive.
This is really good if you ever lose a folder, etc, etc.

One thing I like to do with AllSync is tell it to do it's back-up hourly (rather than continuously) because if you accidently delete something you can usually go into your back-up find it (within an hour) and C+P it back onto your C drive.

So essentially I have;
D://Lightroom/etc, etc, (External Hard Drive, at home)
E://Lightroom/etc, etc (Back-up External Hard Drive, at home)
F://Lightroom/etc, etc (Back-up External Hard Drive, updated weekly and locked in the safe at work)
 
Doh, that's a bit of a blow! Sorry dude...

What Jamie says is quite right.

My tips would be:

- get your catalog and images off of the C drive (ideally you'd reserve this for only the OS and apps)
- have a dedicated drive (e.g. D: ) where you store your catalog and images
- create a folder (e.g. Photos) on that drive where you always import your images to
- get LR to use YYYY-MM-DD as a subfolder of that Photos folder on import, it will organise things for you
- work out a filename convention that works for you and apply on import. Mine is <initials>-<YYYY-MM-DD>-<image #> but pick whatever works for you
- something similar to what Jamie says, set-up a backup of that e.g. D: drive to your external drive. For me this is an exact mirror (i.e. the folders and files are identical on both drives). If my primary image drive fails, I can plug in my backup, remap the drive letters and I'm good to go (and have a new backup drive ready to backup ASAP!).
- the "backup on import" is only designed to give you 2 copies of your images ASAP, it's not intended for actual backup of your image files. Once the images are off the card and into your folder structure, and then you've backed up to your external, then you can delete these backups. You don't have to, but just don't treat them as your main backup - your mirror of your D drive is your primary backup, with the catalog, folder structure and images named as LR expects them.

If you're interested in learning more, the DAM Book by Peter Krogh is the often recommended text on the subject. It's not my personal favourite, but the concepts are sound and certainly make you think more about the subject (which is huge if you want it to be!).
 
dfawkes said:
Doh, that's a bit of a blow! Sorry dude...

What Jamie says is quite right.

My tips would be:

- get your catalog and images off of the C drive (ideally you'd reserve this for only the OS and apps)
- have a dedicated drive (e.g. D: ) where you store your catalog and images
- create a folder (e.g. Photos) on that drive where you always import your images to
- get LR to use YYYY-MM-DD as a subfolder of that Photos folder on import, it will organise things for you
- work out a filename convention that works for you and apply on import. Mine is <initials>-<YYYY-MM-DD>-<image #> but pick whatever works for you
- something similar to what Jamie says, set-up a backup of that e.g. D: drive to your external drive. For me this is an exact mirror (i.e. the folders and files are identical on both drives). If my primary image drive fails, I can plug in my backup, remap the drive letters and I'm good to go (and have a new backup drive ready to backup ASAP!).- the "backup on import" is only designed to give you 2 copies of your images ASAP, it's not intended for actual backup of your image files. Once the images are off the card and into your folder structure, and then you've backed up to your external, then you can delete these backups. You don't have to, but just don't treat them as your main backup - your mirror of your D drive is your primary backup, with the catalog, folder structure and images named as LR expects them.

If you're interested in learning more, the DAM Book by Peter Krogh is the often recommended text on the subject. It's not my personal favourite, but the concepts are sound and certainly make you think more about the subject (which is huge if you want it to be!).
Click to expand...

If it does fail you dont need to remap the drive numbers, because Lightroom saves the folder structure you placed it in (if the catalogue and file structure are on the same drive)
So when I use my ex-hard drive on my desktop it's D://
But on my laptop it's M:// and don't have to change it, it works fine on either :)
So if it does fail, just load up the catalogue from the back-up just like normal and no problems at all :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top