C drive replacement ? corrupt backup catalog... help

[Jerry H]

Following a C drive replacement I attempted to recover my images (on a D drive) using the latest backup files.

It took hours but then there are over 138,000 images (maybe too many in one catalog?)

The recovery worked but I have weird results

All Tiffs have retained star rating and Keywording but there are no colour flags

None of the raw files have retained any of the editing or visible keywording, however I can search text and I can find images that I have keyworded – although the keywords do not appear in that image’s keyword box.

There are no collections saved.
Any suggestions?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

No, 138,000 images is not too many for a single catalog. You have to describe what you did when you 'recovered' those images. Did you perhaps import them again or created a new catalog with them?

 

[Jerry H]

The files were already on the D drive, I opened an old recent catalog (.lrcat) from June (I think) and that linked to the files on the D drive. It asked me to import the files (I ticked the box not to not include duplicates - as the images were already there)
I am having a nightmare trying to find that .Lrcat file now!!!

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Sounds like it may have been a much older catalog than you thought. Normally, simply starting Lightroom with that backup catalog would have been enough. Lightroom stores a link to the original files in its catalog, and the original files were still on the D: drive. No need to import anything if it was a recent catalog.

I'm not sure what you mean with 'it asked me to import the files'. Lightroom never asks you to import files. You have to tell it to do so by clicking the Import button or using the menu.

I'm also a bit puzzled about your statement that you are having a nightmare trying to find that .lrcat file. Do you mean finding the backup copy that you used? If you start Lightroom, it opens its latest catalog file automatically.

 

[Jerry H]

If I utilised a much older catalog (and those are all I can now see) how is it possible that I can use a text search and find recent images (even though the actual text is not visible in the keyword box)?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

If I utilised a much older catalog (and those are all I can now see) how is it possible that I can use a text search and find recent images (even though the actual text is not visible in the keyword box)?

Maybe the text is in another metadata field?

 

[Jerry H]

Can the data be in more than one metadata field? I don't understand

 

[Johan Elzenga]

I'm just guessing, but yes, of course it can. There are lots of metadata fields that can hold text.

 

[Jerry H]

Could that (metadata field) be part of the catalog I used to restart Lightroom or could the images in their folders that lightroom finds have their own metadata. I think the latter is unlikely because I did not keyword the images I only Keyword in Lightroom. My thought is that the catalog only half linked to the images (my hope is that there is buried information that can be released to complete the missing metadata (maps), and of course editing)

 

[Johan Elzenga]

I have no idea what 'half linked' is supposed to mean. An image is either linked in the catalog, or it is not. Lightroom searches in its catalog, so that text has to be in the catalog for Lightroom to find the images.

 

[Jerry H]

Yes that is what I thought. I have at last found the file I used to backup (it is hidden and I only found it with *.lrcat.)
The attached shows the catalog ... my concern is that the date on it is 2015-10-05 0953 but the date it was last modified 2nd July 2017 is about the time when I last backed up before the C drive crash, the file sizes and dates of modification of the others in the image are about correct but I don't know why it has 2015... Could it be that the backups have not been complete?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

The date and time in the folder path is the date and time that the backup was made, I'm afraid. That means it's a very old backup indeed. The file modification date doesn't mean anything, as Lightroom does not touch a backup after it is created. It simply creates new ones each time. Whatever changed that modification date, it wasn't Lightroom.

 

[Jerry H]

OH #####! I had a feeling that was the case! I think all my backup folders were on the C drive that crashed!
I have a nightmare scenario with 13 years of images that perhaps (when I retire) will get re edited ;-(
It is still odd that the up-to-date Key words have been linked to all files when I used that 2015 file to backup and the Tiff files have kept their star ratings even ones in June 2017.
I'll sleep on it and follow up tomorrow Thanks Johan for now

 

[Johan Elzenga]

You probably imported those images because they weren't in the old backup catalog yet. Some keywords and star ratings may have been in the metadata of those tiff images. That happens when you export a tiff, for example. When you import such a tiff, these metadata are read by Lightroom.

 

[Jerry H]

'You probably imported those images because they weren't in the old backup catalog yet' the RAW images were within folders with some Tiff files so this could be true but even so there are keywords on those RAW images that appear nowhere else. I can understand (now) why tiff files may carry the metadata. It is odd that there is a small amount of modern info (post 2015) that is transferred from that old backup.
I have another question.. Many of the files were originally edited on a laptop (in lightroom) and the catalog imported into my main catalog collection on the desktop when I got home. I still have many of those seperate catalogs. Is it possible to import them with the metadata? How? (sorry I may not be able to respond for a couple of hours)

 

[Roelof Moorlag]

Many of the files were originally edited on a laptop (in lightroom) and the catalog imported into my main catalog collection on the desktop when I got home. I still have many of those seperate catalogs. Is it possible to import them with the metadata?

Yes, that is possible with File menu | import from another catalog.

Are these seperate catalogs all different sets of images? If that is the case you would import them one by one

Maybe it's better to make some good back-ups before you are going to try this...

 

[Johan Elzenga]

'You probably imported those images because they weren't in the old backup catalog yet' the RAW images were within folders with some Tiff files so this could be true but even so there are keywords on those RAW images that appear nowhere else. I can understand (now) why tiff files may carry the metadata. It is odd that there is a small amount of modern info (post 2015) that is transferred from that old backup.
I have another question.. Many of the files were originally edited on a laptop (in lightroom) and the catalog imported into my main catalog collection on the desktop when I got home. I still have many of those seperate catalogs. Is it possible to import them with the metadata? How? (sorry I may not be able to respond for a couple of hours)

Yes, that is possible. I'm not sure why you ask how, because apparently you know how to import from another catalog already and that is exactly what you would need to do. If some images are already in the main catalog, you will get a question what to do with the edits and other metadata that might be different between the two copies. The safest option is to let Lightroom make a virtual copy of the changed settings, so you preserve both. After the import, you can check which version is the one you want to keep. If it's the virtual copy, you can change that copy to become the master. The old version then becomes the VC, so you can delete that VC afterwards.