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Bad move

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Chris

Member
Premium Classic Member
Joined
Nov 15, 2014
Messages
31
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
Classic
Lightroom Version Number
12.2
Operating System
  1. Windows 11
When I was moving my photographs to my new PC, I changed a file name on my F drive from Pictures to PicturesA. I thought it would help me sort them out when I moved, big mistake. I have lost the file and the 10444 photographs in it. I don’t even know how I changed it. I cannot find the file by searching the F drive or using the Windows 11 search.

Can anyone help me get the photographs back?
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I suggest you do a screen grab from Windows Explorer.... showing all the top level folders on the F drive.

If you just renamed it it should be one of the folders listed.

If you renamed it and dragged it to another location by mistake then it will require further searching. Any searching should be done in Explorer.

There is a very useful utility called TreeSize ... which has a free version .... which is very good at analysing and displaying folders by size on different drives (and lots of other useful stuff).

If you analyse your F drive and then sort the top level by size or number of files then you should be able to zone into the folder of interest.

https://www.jam-software.com/treesize_free?ca=1
 
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Thank you, It's not in the folders listed in the F drive. I have downloaded TreeSize and will start the search.
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There is a drop down option to select Drive… then you need to click the key (arrow or triangle symbol I think) for it to scan the drive.

By default it will list the top level folders in the left panel, sorted in descending sequence by size.

Clicking on any of the top level folders will open its subfolders, also sorted in descending sequence.

If sorting by file size does not help, then perhaps sorting by the number of files may provide a clue. Pick this option from the top ribbon. The number of files not only counts the number of files in a specific folder, but in all its subfolders as well.
 
No luck yet, But I will perceiver, I still have my old PP I will try TreeSize on that at the weekend.
 
I suggest looking for one of the sub-folders ... which has a simple spelling.... such as 2009. Once you find that you can check its parents to get to the top of the tree. Search in all drives, including the 'recycle bin'.

LrQ_Screendump.jpg

If still struggling ... I would consider the tool called 'Everything'. I have no association with the author.

One of the best tools I have come across for searching for files or folders is called Everything. It puts the standard Microsoft search tools to shame. Seriously.
You can find it here. https://www.voidtools.com Not sure if it is free, has a trial, etc... but worth checking out.

1. It took me a few mins to figure out how to use it. There is a drop down selection option, not easily visible on the top right hand side. You can select 'folder as the type of object to find. Box 1 enter the folder name (eg 2009) or part thereof. 2...Select 'folder' as the object to search.
LrQ_Screendump2.jpg


2. You have to configure it to include extra drives.
Use these instructions to select the F drive or any other drive.
I only had to do this config once. It remembered the setting for subsequent sessions..

How do I add a folder to the Everything index?

In Everything, from the Tools menu, click Options.
Click the Folders tab.
Click Add....
Select a folder to add to the Everything index.
Click OK.

I have bought loads of utilities over the years to search for files and folders. This is the best tool I have come across. Further, you can configure filters which can be added to the drop down list. I have added specific filters for Word (all types), Excel (all types), PDF, etc I have also added a specific filter for Word Templates as they can be often difficult to find and I may wish to eliminate looking for generic Word docs.

It took me approx. 15 mins to set this up to suit my needs and I have never had to revisit config or options settings since.
 
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One of the best tools I have come across for searching for files or folders is called Everything. It puts the standard Microsoft search tools to shame. Seriously.
You can find it here. https://www.voidtools.com Not sure if it is free, has a trial, etc... but worth checking out.
Everything is licensed under the MIT License, which is one of the more permissive free-software licences. Amongst other things, you can download and use the software freely, also you can give or sell copies to others.
 
Is there an equivalent app for Mac.
If you mean an alternative to the OS search tools (Spotlight on macOS), traditionally those have been Alfred, LaunchBar, HoudahSpot, PathFinder, and others. A lot of people who are dissatisfied with macOS Spotlight search turn to those tools. Some of those apps build their own index of volumes instead of reading the index built by Spotlight. Not sure if any are free.

If it’s about Mac utilities that can inspect folder trees and files by size, in some cases with a graphical size map, some of those are WhatSize, GrandPerspective, OmniDisk Sweeper, PathFinder, DaisyDisk, and DiskInventory X. It’s been a while since I used one, so I am not sure if all of those are compatible with recent versions of macOS. Some are free, and some are in the Mac App Store.
 
Thanks for this very useful info. I am a big fan of TreeSize on Windows and have used DaisyDisk on Mac… but DaisyDisk is sub par compared to TreeSize on Windows, so glad to get a few more leads, especially for Mac.

I am also a fan of BeyondCompare, for lots of reasons, incl the fact it works on Mac and Win, but am dipping my toe into ChronosSynch (Mac Only) and see potential to use it to back up Sd cards in the field.
 
I'm still working hard at finding:rolleyes: my lost photographs. I had lost about 13500 and this is now down to 12121!
 
I had a good 2 or 3 hours at it today and the lost photographs are down to 6436! 'Everything' is a great help, but some of the folders have very strange references. Just long random strings of numbers and letters. Any ideas as to why this has happened?
 
I'm doing well and only got 752 more to find, but the Locate Missing Photo screen has suddenly expanded to fill the screen making it impossible
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to see it and Lightroom at the same time! Can anybody see how I can rectify this?

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Just double-click on the Title Bar (the bar that contains the text "Locate Missing Photos"), and that will get you out of full-screen mode.
 
(Edit: My original answer below is wrong if the Locate Missing Photo dialog box was maximized by double-clicking, as Hal said. If that”s what happened, what I wrote below doesn’t work but Hal’s solution does work. What I wrote below does work if the window is not maximized. It is odd…when Locate Missing Photo is maximized, you see the resize arrow when you hover over edges and corners, but dragging doesn’t change anything.)

It also looks like the triangular resize control is visible at the bottom right corner, so it should be possible to manually drag that corner up to shrink the size.

In general, on both Windows and macOS today, many windows can be resized from any edge, but it isn’t visually obvious. When there doesn’t seem to be a resize control or button, always hover the pointer over each of the edges and corners of a window, and see if the pointer changes to a two-headed resize arrow. If it does, you can drag that edge or corner to resize the window. (On macOS, if you also hold down the Option key as you drag a window edge, you resize that window from the center; I don’t know how to do that in Windows.)
 
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Thank you so much Hal. It worked. Thanks to Conrad for the extra help. Only 752 to find. My Photographs are all over my PC ,some buried in multiple folders.
 
I have lost Catalog from under Navigater on the upper left side from the Library module.
I'm writing filter keywords and starting before the box apers and evidentially applying keyboard short cuts!
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There are various ways to "unhide" the Catalog panel. An easy way would be to use the Window menu item>Panels>click on the Catalog entry.
 
I happened to be reviewing my own settings at the same time. Here is a screen grab.... a pic paints a 1000....
 

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Found it. Windows, Panels, Catalog!
 
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