Cannot re-import photos from a back-up CD. Original hard disk crashed.

[[email protected]]

I'm trying to re-import photos from a back-up CD. The original photos were on an external hard drive that crashed. Lightroom says that the photos are duplicates and will not let me import.

What should I try?

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Have you tried copying the files back to your new HD into a location the same as before i.e. construct the same folder structure on the new HD and copy from the CD into the same folders as they were before.
You may need to relink the folders if the drive name is different or rename the drive to the name the old one was.
Lightroom has the files in the catalog already with all your workings so do not reimport them or you will lose your work.

Welcome to the forum, we'll sort you out!!:grin:

 

[[email protected]]

Still won't work.

I tried exactly as you suggested but the photos are still grayed out and I cannot "synchronize" or "import". I don't get an option for LR to "find" the missing files.

 

[Kiwigeoff]

I think we need to see some visuals of what you are seeing Daryl.
Lets see a screen shot of the Folder Panel in Lightroom please.

Don't import them or synchronise just yet, you may lose all your work and we don't want that!!!:surprised:

 

[[email protected]]

Here's what the screen looks like:

I deleted all the folders with LR. I am trying to import the files from the CD and this is the screen shot:

The small yellow box says "This file has already been imported." It won't let me import.

 

[erro]

Let's see if I get this right:

- The photos were originally imported into LR?
- You then somehow lost the photos?
- Deleted by mistake in Mac Finder?
- Or deleted inside LR? If so, only removed from the catalog, or also deleted from disk?

If the photos are still imported to LR, then re-importing is not the solution. Then you want to restore the backup photos to their original location.

If the photos are not still imported to LR, then you have two choices: restore a backup copy of the LR catalog where those photos are imported (this way you will keep any changes you have made inside LR to those photos, but you will loose anything you have made after the backup was made). Or: re-import the photos as norlam, which will basically mean you get the photos imported as brand new.

 

[Jim Wilde]

I'm afraid you're really not understanding. You have to stop focussing on trying to import the images on the DVD, that is positively the last thing you should be trying to do. You need to be trying to reconstitute your replacement hard drive, restoring the images from the DVD back into the same folder structure on the new hard drive that existed on the failed hard drive. All that reconstitution needs to take place outside Lightroom, i.e. using Finder, and only when it is done do you start Lightroom and then redirect it to the new drive.

But I'm extremely concerned by your comment "I deleted all the folders with LR". What exactly did you do? What folders did you delete?

The screenshot we need to see is NOT the one of the Import Screen....we need to see the Folders Panel in the Library Module, expanded to show the contents of the failed hard drive. Can you do that?

 

[[email protected]]

OK, here is the series of events in order as I remember.

1. Hard drive with photos started to have problems (occasionally the computer wouldn't see it on boot-up which required multiple tries).
2. Prior to these problems I made a back-up of the photos onto a CD.
3. Outside of LR, I deleted the files.
4. I ran disk utility and repaired the drive.
5. Without deleting the albums in LR, I tried to re-import the files from the CD but LR believes they already exist and won't allow it.
6. Outside of LR, I copied the files to where they were on the hard disk.
7. I tried to Synchronize the photos to no avail.
8. I tried to have LR "find the missing files" to no avail.
9. I removed the folder with LR.
10. I tried to import the files again thinking I can re-create the folder. Didn't work.
11. I re-created the folder in LR.
12. I copied one of the photos on the CD to my desktop and re-named it.
13. I was able to import that re-named file to the appropriate folder that was newly created.

This is where I am now. I hope I don't have to rename all the files.

Thanks for the help.

 

[erro]

Oh my. This was never a LR issue, it was a backup/restore issue. Your first fault was in 5-9. Since you deleted the image files, but LR still had them imported (in its database), LR still knew about the photos, only they weren't there. All you had to do was to restore them, from your backup CD to the drive, in the same place where they were. Then everything would have been back in business. This was not an issue of "missing files" or a need for synchronization or anything to do with LR. It was a matter of deleted files needing a restore from a backup.

Since you now have removed the folders inside LR, it means LR has lost all knowledge of those photos. They are gone from LR's point of view. This should mean that 10 should work, since the images are new from LR point of view. apparently it doesn't work which is strange. However, even if it did work, it would mean that you import those images from scratch, thus loosing any edits you have made to them.

Do you have a backup of LR's catalog file (the database)?

 

[[email protected]]

Evidently LR has not lost knowledge of the files. I do have old back-ups from Lightroom 3. How would I use them and then come back to the present state?

 

[bripriuk]

I deleted all the folders with LR. I am trying to import the files from the CD and this is the screen shot:

The small yellow box says "This file has already been imported." It won't let me import.​

Attached Thumbnails

This happens when you have 'Don't Import Suspected Duplicates' ticked in the 'File Handling' panel.
As others have said you don't need to re-import (except as a last resort). I would add your files to the new hard disc then right-click on on a folder in the Library module and use 'Find Missing Folder'

Brian Price

 

[erro]

Evidently LR has not lost knowledge of the files. I do have old back-ups from Lightroom 3. How would I use them and then come back to the present state?

How old is your latest catalog backup? If you restore it, you will loose all work you have done after the backup was made.

 

[[email protected]]

"Find Missing Folder" option is not available after copying the files to the folder. I do not have the "Don't Import Suspected Duplicates" box checked. I have old backups but I don't want to lose all my updates since that backup.

 

[[email protected]]

I've worked around the problem and renamed the files and imported them so all is ok.