How to Find Missing Folders in Bulk?

[kckong]

I moved a whole load of folders from one drive to another outside of LR. These were very old images which existed in an older version of LR (1.3). When I upgraded to LR2, I did not port over the old LR1.3 catalog but I can still locate it (the LR1.3 catalog) on my C: drive. The folders in the LR1.3 catalog used to exist in an E: drive but were moved to a new G: drive - I did this move outside LR. E: drive no longer exists because that HDD died.

So now, I opened the old LR1.3 catalog in my LR2.6 - it had to be converted to the latest format but the conversion was successful. Unfortunately all the folders cannot be found because they no longer reside in E: drive - I moved them to G:

Is there a way to edit the drive path so that LR2.6 knows where to locate the missing folders? I've read in other threads that if I had a top level folder containing the missing folders, finding that top level folder would do the trick. Unfortunately, I don't have that top level folder & I can't even right click on the missing folders to "add parent folder"

I'll go nuts if I have to find the missing folders one by one Help!

 

[Denis Pagé]

When you say that you don't have that top level folder, do you mean there is no top level folder at all or is it only in Lightroom that it is missing? If it does exist on disk and not in Lightroom then do this:

Create a new folder with a dummy image that you can delete later at the very same level as the other ones that are missing. Import that dummy image in Lightroom. In the folders panel, this newly imported folder won't be missing so, right-click and "Add Parent Folder". Go to a missing folder, right-click to "Find missing folder". If the other folders do not update immediately (or soon enough) close Lightroom and reopen.

Let me know what happens.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Not sure that'll work for ones that are already missing, sorry Denis. I hope I'm wrong.

KC, how easy would it be to copy the missing files back to their C drive location temporarily, add a parent folder, and then delete the copies again. You could then just relocate the parent folder as Denis is suggesting.

 

[Denis Pagé]

I am not sure either Victoria. Hence my comment on "let us know hat happens" as I have no time to try. I just made a guess.

Kckong, doing as Victoria say will definitely work first time as it is a well tested operation.

 

[Kiwigeoff]

[quote author=Victoria Bampton link=topic=8913.msg59959#msg59959 date=1263419'8']
Not sure that'll work for ones that are already missing, sorry Denis. I hope I'm wrong.

KC, how easy would it be to copy the missing files back to their C drive location temporarily, add a parent folder, and then delete the copies again. You could then just relocate the parent folder as Denis is suggesting.
[/quote]
That would work if they had been on C drive to start with, they were on E drive which is gone.
There will be other ways though.
Can you change the drive letter where the files are now (G) to E and you could add a parent folder then. Afterwards change it back and relocate the one top level folder.
Or, add a parent folder in explorer adding an image file as Denis mentioned and import that then the folders should all appear in that top level one, then remove the dummy file from the top level folder.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Oh I misread that E not C. Yep, I'd go with Geoff then. Once the photos are temporarily 'found' then you can set up the hierarchy and save yourself the headache.

 

[Denis Pagé]

[quote author=Kiwigeoff link=topic=8913.msg59983#msg59983 date=1263454322]
Can you change the drive letter where the files are now (G) to E and you could add a parent folder then. Afterwards change it back and relocate the one top level folder.
[/quote]

Brilliant Geoff!

 

[kckong]

[quote author=Denis Pagé link=topic=8913.msg59928#msg59928 date=12634'2845]
When you say that you don't have that top level folder, do you mean there is no top level folder at all or is it only in Lightroom that it is missing? If it does exist on disk and not in Lightroom then do this:

Create a new folder with a dummy image that you can delete later at the very same level as the other ones that are missing. Import that dummy image in Lightroom. In the folders panel, this newly imported folder won't be missing so, right-click and "Add Parent Folder". Go to a missing folder, right-click to "Find missing folder". If the other folders do not update immediately (or soon enough) close Lightroom and reopen.

Let me know what happens.
[/quote]
The top level folder exists on disk but I can't add it or see it in LR.

So I did what you suggested Denis. Set up that dummy folder (with dummy jpeg file) at the same level of the missing folders on my G: drive. Imported dummy folder & added dummy folder's parent folder (which is the same parent as the missing folders).

What happened next is that the missing folders lit up ... which I thought meant they were no longer missing. BUT just as quickly they dimmed again - missing.

So I quit Lightroom and re-started it up. Same thing happened... missing folders lit up for just a second

Any other ideas?

kc

 

[kckong]

[quote author=Kiwigeoff link=topic=8913.msg59983#msg59983 date=1263454322]
[quote author=Victoria Bampton link=topic=8913.msg59959#msg59959 date=1263419'8']
Not sure that'll work for ones that are already missing, sorry Denis. I hope I'm wrong.

KC, how easy would it be to copy the missing files back to their C drive location temporarily, add a parent folder, and then delete the copies again. You could then just relocate the parent folder as Denis is suggesting.
[/quote]
That would work if they had been on C drive to start with, they were on E drive which is gone.
There will be other ways though.
Can you change the drive letter where the files are now (G) to E and you could add a parent folder then. Afterwards change it back and relocate the one top level folder.
Or, add a parent folder in explorer adding an image file as Denis mentioned and import that then the folders should all appear in that top level one, then remove the dummy file from the top level folder.
[/quote]
Thanks for having a look Geoff I'm sure it's possible to change the drive letter G: to the old E: drive ... have to google how though

On the other hand, I might not want to do that because I have other working catalogs that reside in G: that LR recognises. This problematic catalog is from ages ago ... the files sat in the smaller E: With the ever expanding population of files, I installed the ginormous G: for newer files ;p

Perhaps I don't understand how to do the G>E switch? I'm just afraid that if I switched names, it'll work for this old catalog ... but my newer catalogs which actually reside in G: will then be missing! Blecchhhhh!

By the way, I'm on 2.6 now ... previously 2.2. Seems much slower now with 2.6. I might want to go back to 2.2 or 2.3. How would I do that? Upgrading is normally painless, right? The later version takes all setting from the older version, right? Will it do the same if I downgraded back to 2.2 or 2.3? Can I or should I have 2 versions running on the same product serial number?

kc

 

[Denis Pagé]

[quote author=kckong link=topic=8913.msg6'''5#msg6'''5 date=1263484833]
Perhaps I don't understand how to do the G>E switch? I'm just afraid that if I switched names, it'll work for this old catalog ... but my newer catalogs which actually reside in G: will then be missing! Blecchhhhh!
[/quote]

You are right that this will repair the catalog and break the others but don't be afraid as you will change the letter back before using the other catalogs.

Here is the detailed how to: [list type=decimal]
[li]Close Lightroom[/li]
[li]Click "Start"[/li]
[li]Right-click "Desktop" and choose "Manage"[/li]
[li]In left pane choose "Disk Management"[/li]
[li]In right pane right-click drive G: and opt for "Change Drive Letter"[/li]
[li]Select E: and accept the warning.[/li]
[li]Close the Desktop Manager Window.[/li]
[li]Open Windows Explorer to check that G: is now E: and if not restart computer.[/li]
[li]Open Lightroom with the catalog which had missing folders.[/li]
[li]Delete the temporary one we created previously as it should be missing now.[/li]
[li]All your folders should be under that top most parent folder with no one missing. If they are not under the parent folder, right-click to "Add Parent Folder".[/li]
[li]Missing or not, all your folders should be under this parent folder before we continue.[/li]
[li]Close Lightroom.[/li]
[li]In left pane choose "Disk Management"[/li]
[li]In right pane right-click drive E: and opt for "Change Drive Letter"[/li]
[li]Select G: and accept the warning.[/li]
[li]Close the Desktop Manager Window.[/li]
[li]Open Windows Explorer to check that E: is now G: and if not restart computer.[/li]
[li]Open Lightroom with the catalog which had missing folders.[/li]
[li]Folder still missing? No worry just right-click and "Find Missing Folder" navigating where it is. MAGIK: All others gradually relink![/li]
[li] 8) [/li]
[/list] As the drive letter is back as it was for the other catalogs, you can now open anyone at your will.

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Try 2.5 KC. Just an uninstall/reinstall on Windows. I'm currently investigating some reports of 2.6 being slower than 2.5, which it appears I can verify, but 2.5 was a good stable build.