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I Fear I Have Created a Disaster...

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Bill Ballard

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Premium Classic Member
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Nov 13, 2017
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140
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Southeastern US (Currently)
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
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Lightroom Version Number
LR CC v9.1
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  1. macOS 10.15 Catalina
So...in a fit of organization, I changed the name of the portable HD on which my LR Catalog is based to make it correspond with the HD's I use for my back-up. Unfortunately, I only came to realize the consequences of this decision when I received the dreaded '?' and '!' on every folder and image in my catalog.

Now, LR cannot find any of the images or folders. Any suggestions? Or, am I best off deleting the now corrupted catalogs and starting fresh???

Thanks in advance to all -
 
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I assume all your pictures are stored under a common folder that I call "LR Files" as example. I also assume the same folder is present on your backup drive. Select the "LR Files" folder with the ? and right click on it. It offers you the option to re-link the folder to a new location. Browse to your newly named HDD "LR Files" folder and that should be it!

If you don't have a common root folder, you should repeat the procedure for each of the topmost level folder in your archive.

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Hal and Umberto -

No success with either of those steps...

When I follow the instructions to locate missing folders, and I right-click on the parent folder, I don't get an option to 'Locate Missing Folder.' When I right-click on a greyed subfolder with a '?', and then click 'Locate Missing Folder,' I get a dialog box which says:

"The selected folder or one of its subfolders is already in Lightroom. Do you want to combine these folders?" The options then are 'Merge' or 'Cancel.' And, where the folder is no longer greyed out, the images within that folder are still showing as missing with the '!' point.

Perhaps an issue I'm facing is the HD on which my catalog is stored is no longer showing up with the original name, it's only showing with the new name...and, this is obviously an error on my part, but my back-ups are of my complete shoots/sessions and are stored across multiple drives. They are the RAW + JPEG files from the camera, but do not include the back-up of my LR catalog. I have been relying on the LR Catalog Back-up on exit for that.

It would seem things are there, but the 'links' are still broken.
 
What about restoring from the LR Backup, prior to the drive name change?
 
What about restoring from the LR Backup, prior to the drive name change?
That wouldn't work, it is a change created outside lightroom that a backup would not help reverting.

What about changing back the name of the drive And the backup drive to whatever was the original name was your working drive?

Sent using Tapatalk
 
So...in a fit of organization, I changed the name of the portable HD on which my LR Catalog is based to make it correspond with the HD's I use for my back-up. Unfortunately, I only came to realize the consequences of this decision when I received the dreaded '?' and '!' on every folder and image in my catalog.

Now, LR cannot find any of the images or folders. Any suggestions? Or, am I best off deleting the now corrupted catalogs and starting fresh???

Thanks in advance to all -
This is a fairly simple problem, but it seems you may have complicated it a bit by trying a few things before you asked help. The fact that Lightroom wants to merge folders when you use the 'Find Missing Folder' command, suggests that you have been trying to import folder or images again.

Restoring the catalog from a backup may be an idea to fix those extra steps you took. It will not 'reconnect' the images because that drive still has a different name, so you will still have to use the 'Find Missing Folder' command to do that. But at least you should not get those 'merge' questions when you reconnect the folders using the 'Find Missing Folder' command.

One question before you do that: Did you move or rename any images or folders on that renamed drive (using the Finder)?
 
That wouldn't work, it is a change created outside lightroom that a backup would not help reverting.

What about changing back the name of the drive And the backup drive to whatever was the original name was your working drive?

Sent using Tapatalk

I can give that a try -

This is a fairly simple problem, but it seems you may have complicated it a bit by trying a few things before you asked help. The fact that Lightroom wants to merge folders when you use the 'Find Missing Folder' command, suggests that you have been trying to import folder or images again.

Restoring the catalog from a backup may be an idea to fix those extra steps you took. It will not 'reconnect' the images because that drive still has a different name, so you will still have to use the 'Find Missing Folder' command to do that. But at least you should not get those 'merge' questions when you reconnect the folders using the 'Find Missing Folder' command.

One question before you do that: Did you move or rename any images or folders on that renamed drive (using the Finder)?

LOL, well, I tend to dig a bit deeper before I realize I should (have) asked for help...but here I am...

To answer your question, I only renamed the hard drive. I did not move or rename any images or folders...at least not intentionally.

Would reverting the drive to the original name resolve the issues? Could I then 're-name' the drive with LR?

Thanks again to everyone -
 
Would reverting the drive to the original name resolve the issues?
That's exactly what you should try.

Could I then 're-name' the drive with LR?
I don't know if renaming a drive from within LR is possible, I don't use Apple ecosystem. Someone else might help you with that question.

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That's exactly what you should try.


I don't know if renaming a drive from within LR is possible, I don't use Apple ecosystem. Someone else might help you with that question.

Sent using Tapatalk

Reverting the HD back to the original name resolved the issues...thanks much Umberto!

I did look to see if I could rename the HD through LR and I couldn't see a way to do it. It is the only HD I use with photography where the drive name osn't a precise match to my filing system, (the name is close enough though...stupid OCD!) so by that reason alone, I shouldn't get it confused with anything else.

Anyway, the problem seems resolved!
 
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