Images deleted after export

[technographer]

Hello All,

I'm new to the forum, but have been using Lightroom for a while now. This is the first time I ran into this problem, and thought I would see if anyone had a solution to it.....

basically, I imported a lot of images into Lightroom, like I always do (after backing up all the RAW images first.)

I then proceeded to make all my adjustments to the RAW images. I then exported all the images as jpeg's, and then burned those to a disc.

I then exported the RAW files in their "original" format, with all the edits, and then I recieved a dialog box that said something like "there was a problem exporting the images." Now when I go back into the Library, it says the image is missing, or cannot be located. After looking where the RAW images were initially imported on my HD, there not there anymore! The images do still appear in the library, but the can't be found.

Is there anything I could do. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

-Hasnain

 

[Mark Sirota]

Welcome to Lightroom Forums!

Did you try to export them to the original directory where they already existed?
If so, you blew them away; you'll need to recover them from your backups.

What was your goal in exporting the raw files as originals?

 

[technographer]

Hey Mark,

Thanks for the quick reply. After I initially imported them, I went ahead and burned a DVD of the RAW files. If I either load them from that media(DVD) or the CF card I used, will I retain the edits I made to the RAW images, or would I have to go through and re-edit them again?

I think my reasoning behind re-exporting the RAW files was to retain the edits I had made. Correct me if I'm wrong, once you start editing the RAW data, the changes remain in the RAW file even after I've backed it up, once I'm done editing? Thanks again.

 

[Mark Sirota]

Yep, if you take the raw files from your backup and put them back in the previous location with the same filenames, Lightroom will never know anything happened, and all will be well.

You don't need to export to retain your edits; they are saved automatically in the catalog. For safety's sake you just need to back up the catalog file (something.lrcat).

 

[technographer]

Thanks Mark....I'll give it a try later today. I guess the main thing would be to make sure that the file names are the exact same, as they were imported in the same location. Would it only pull the images of the ones that exist in the Library and disregard any that were deleted/removed?

Is a better workflow to:

1. Import all the images (RAW)
2. Backup initial imported RAW images
3. Edit imported RAW images
4. Backup edited RAW images
5. Backup catalog
6. Export RAW images as jpegs
7. Backup exported jpegs

Only other question I had, kind of off topic, is it better to create a seperate catalog, every time you import images, or use the same one?

Thanks again for all your input and help.

 

[Denis Pagé]

Is a better workflow to:

1. Import all the images (RAW)
2. Backup initial imported RAW images
3. Edit imported RAW images
4. Backup edited RAW images
5. Backup catalog
6. Export RAW images as jpegs
7. Backup exported jpegs

Welcome from me too Hasnain!

It seem that you are misunderstanding a point here (#3). Lightroom can not edit any imported image! Surprizing isn't it? But true. It can edit imported PSDs, TIFFs and JPEGs files but not the images they contain. For raw image files, it wont touch the images or the files containing them.

Lightroom will write XMP info to files only if you enable "Autowrite XMP" in preferences or if you press Ctrl-Cmd+S for selected files. In this case, it will write the changes to the files containing the images for JPEG, TIFF and PSD or create an XMP sidecar file like OriginalPhotoName.XMP in the case of raw files. Also see Mick Seymour's "Where's the Save Button"...

Some do so as a "belt and suspenders" type of backup so if they totally loose Catalogs, they can create a new one and when importing files wor which the XMP was saved, they will retrieve their adjustments, ratings, keywords. So, your step #4 is unly useful if you saved XMP info out of Lightroom's database.

Only other question I had, kind of off topic, is it better to create a seperate catalog, every time you import images, or use the same one?

To make a long story short, look at John Beardy's "On the many-headed evils of controlling your pictures with more than one catalogue"

 

[Mark Sirota]

Would it only pull the images of the ones that exist in the Library and disregard any that were deleted/removed?

It's probably harder to disregard those, so if it were me I'd just pull 'em all. Lightroom will ignore the files that you've deleted from the catalog.

Is a better workflow to:

1. Import all the images (RAW)
2. Backup initial imported RAW images
3. Edit imported RAW images
4. Backup edited RAW images
5. Backup catalog
6. Export RAW images as jpegs
7. Backup exported jpegs

Like Denis says, you may be misunderstanding how Lightroom works with the raw files. They are never modified by Lightroom, so there is no need for Step 4.

So all you need to back up are your original files and the Lightroom catalog. (I'm deliberately ignoring the XMP stuff that Denis mentioned, because I think it's adding some unnecessary complication for your workflow. Get the basics down first, then you can worry about that later if you choose.)

There's also no need for Steps 6 or 7. All you need is the original raw files and your Lightroom catalog. You can always regenerate JPEGs as needed.

For example, if I need a JPEG for the web, I'll export it from Lightroom and upload it to the web, then just delete the exported file. There's no need to save it, as I can recreate it by exporting again.

Only other question I had, kind of off topic, is it better to create a seperate catalog, every time you import images, or use the same one?

Might be better to ask that in another thread, or search for previous discussions on the topic. The prevailing wisdom today is to stick with one catalog for everything provided your hardware is up to the task, but there are workflows for which multiple catalogs make good sense.

 

[Denis Pagé]

And if you eventually want to save XMP data, be warned that it will not save some information as Brad Snyder explain here.

 

[technographer]

Ok, I went ahead and copied all the original RAW files to the same location they were located on my hard drive, but realized that when I opened Lightroom, it's looking for the "re-named" file. If I do a right-click and go to "show in explorer" it says it can't find it original file, and asks me if I would like to locate it, once I point it to the "original" file name, it asks me to confirm that this is ther right file, and everything is good from then on.

I've tried doing a batch rename of the "missing" files in lightroom to their original file name, but since they don't exist it's not able to. The only other option I thought might help, but haven't done it yet, till get some expert advice on here, was to use the synchronize folder option?

Any other ideas would be appreciated. Thanks again.

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Batch rename the "originals" in Bridge to match the names in LR>
That works, I know!!

 

[technographer]

Hey Geoff.....thanks for the reply, I can give that a shot, but the only thing I was thinking is that....

I'm not sure if this will affect it but, the # of original files doesn't match the # of "missing" files, since after I imported the RAW files initially, I've gone through and deleted/removed a lot of them, so if I renamed the "original" files in Bridge, wouldn't they possible not match up with the actual "missing" files sequence? Thanks for your help

 

[Kiwigeoff]

Did you rename the files in LR after you deleted some? If so they will be different.........
If you renamed them before deleting, the solution I proposed will work.
You will end up with more files than you have in LR but you can just "synchronise" the folder in LR to update everything and you will have the option of importing or not the extra files.
Make a copy of the originals first - easier to go back.

How many total are you talking about??

 

[technographer]

Here's basically what happened....

I imported all the original RAW files into Lightroom. Made a back up of all the original RAW images. Made my edits (including deletes/removed), and exported all the edited images as jpegs. I then exported the RAW images in their "original" format into the same folder as they were located, and also renamed them at the same time.

I think that's what kind of got me, I now know that I don't have to re-export the RAW images after I've made all my edits. In the past I use to export the edited RAW images, but into a different folder, this time it was the same folder as they were imported.

There's about 25'+ images. I have the exported jpegs of all the images, and the pre-edited original RAW's, but I was hoping not to have to go back and re-edit all the images again, just in case I have to make any changes.

Any ideas.....

 

[Mark Sirota]

I didn't realize that you renamed on export. In that case, I'm a bit surprised that it blew away your originals, but I can see how that might have happened.

What rename template did you use, and before the rename, were the files using the original camera-generated names?

 

[technographer]

Hey Mark,

The images were initially imported in using the camera-generated naming sequence img_xxxx.cr2. After editing, I exported them as jpegs, using the custom name_sequence template. Then when I exported the original RAW's again, to the original imported folder, I had them renamed to the filename template, and it looks like it put them in a different sequence, I think this is how it was....

Original RAW filename: img_''12.cr2

Exported RAW filename: img_3334.cr2

What I noticed though is if I click on one of the "missing" images and ask it to "show in explorer" it can't find it, but I'm able to point it to the original RAW filename that I copied back over from my backup, and it asks me to confirm that the filename has changed, are you sure you want to update. After that it seems fine, and it's updated to the original RAW file name, and I can re-edit the image again. Hope that helps. Thanks again for all your help.

 

[Mark Sirota]

Do the names in the grid right now look like _''12, or _3334? (Praying for the latter.)

 

[technographer]

Hey Mark,

Yeah, the names (after the export and rename) show up in the Library as img_3334. If I go to the Develop module, that's when it gives me the error, that the file is "missing"

I'm thinking you have a solution for me coming! Thanks for your help.

 

[Denis Pagé]

OK. Now backup your Catalog with these names as 3344 in case you goof on the following step.

Then, go to Library, select images and Rename again but this time, choose the "Original Filename" token.

 

[technographer]

I did try renaming the "missing" files, even though I've re-copied the original RAW images in the exact same location, in the Library they still come up as "missing" since I guess it's looking for the renamed file, not the original. Since there still technically missing to Lightroom, it can't successfully rename them using the filename template.

Would it be wise to either re-import the images and/or synchronize the folder? I mainly don't want to lose any of the adjustments that were performed. I guess if there's no successful way of undoing the rename and retaining the edits it's ok, I guess I learned my lesson the hard way

On the good side, I exported the jpegs before even attempting the renaming, so mostly have what I need, and I guess I can re-import and re-edit the images I might have to go back to.

 

[Denis Pagé]

Wait for Mark to come back. He does have a reputaion for smart ideas...

 

[Mark Sirota]

Okay, to make sure I understand the current situation:

- The Lightroom catalog expects a file named _3334, which does not exist on disk.
- The original filename for this file was also _3334, but is on other media.

Or was the original filename the _''12?

If the original name was _3334 and you have it on other media by that name, you should just be able to drop it into place and restart Lightroom.

If you have it on other media under the _''12 name, then there's probably no easy way out of this.

 

[Kiwigeoff]

I did try renaming the "missing" files, even though I've re-copied the original RAW images in the exact same location, in the Library they still come up as "missing" since I guess it's looking for the renamed file, not the original. Since there still technically missing to Lightroom, it can't successfully rename them using the filename template.

Would it be wise to either re-import the images and/or synchronize the folder? I mainly don't want to lose any of the adjustments that were performed. I guess if there's no successful way of undoing the rename and retaining the edits it's ok, I guess I learned my lesson the hard way

On the good side, I exported the jpegs before even attempting the renaming, so mostly have what I need, and I guess I can re-import and re-edit the images I might have to go back to.

How many files are we talking about here??
As I mentioned LR will nit rename them as it can't find them but you can rename them in Bridge to match the names in LR.

 

[Mark Sirota]

The problem with renaming them is that the rename template included a sequence number. This entire discussion is a fantastic illustration of why I dislike sequence numbers.