Imported images deleted from source folder

[Bpalmer101]

I searched around before posting and looks like only one person had the same issue but has not replyed to questions asked to her about her issue.

So I download jpeg from the CF cards and then inport into Lightroom, usually import at the same location whrte the files are saved. When I go back now looking at some files they have the "?" on the thumb nails and then they have the files missing or offline message in develop view. I clicked the "?" and tried to locate the files. The folders where the files existed at are now empty except for the windows thumbnail file.... (PC/WInXP. SP2) this only seem to be an issue with images that were imported into lightroom 1.4, I originally hand lightroom 1.1 (free trial) and then bought the Ed. version (student) When I first noticed this I thought it was the 1:1 render which was set to delete after 3' days, so I set it to never delete but I seem to have more missing images.

I did backup the catolog weekly, so I tried to recover it by importing a backed up catolog but it is also corrupt....which seems odd. Not sure how to fix or approach this issue. I'm somewhat new to LR but have abeen a Photoshop user for years and have never befor now lost an image.

Has this happened to any one else? Any suggestions on finding the root cause?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Bpalmer101]

More Info

I just tried moving the backup file to the different location (directory and drive it's originally on an external drive), double clicking on it and I'm still missing the files, i just get grey boxes and the question mark, it's looking for the original location where the files were located... which is a empty folder. I verified it's empty via the explorer (OS). I read another post that says this is more a OS issue than Lightroom since it asks if u want to delete things and would take a long time to delete. But what is odd is so far just images that i've edited in LR have been wiped from their original location. I;m going to start looking at images on other drives and see if there are any others missing.

...I'm starting tio question my backups the files seem a little small for the amount of images that I should be backing up...so the second question would be how to restart my back up process, I'm been looking through LR software but am having problems locating a place where I can choose what I want to back up. I'm assuming that it's backing up the whole catalog (active files) that Im working in. Any suggestions? Thanks all!

B

 

[Victoria Bampton]

Hi Brian, welcome to the forum!

If you have little question marks, you'll be pleased to know it doesn't mean that your catalog is corrupted. It just means that it can't find the original photos.

Now a couple of things to understand about Lightroom...

1. The backup isn't there to backup photos - it just backs up the catalog, the data about the photos. You do need to back up your photos as you usually would. I like File Synchronization software for that job.

2. Lightroom doesn't 'store' the photos anywhere - it just stores a record of where you've stored them. If you move or delete the photos, Lightroom wants to know what you've done with them as it can no longer find them, hence the question marks.

So questions to consider:

1. When you import, do you have it set to 'Add to Catalog at the Existing Location' (hopefully not for CF cards!!), or do you have it set to 'Copy' or 'Move' which will have transferred them to a location of your choice.

2. Next thing I'd do is go hunting for all of those photos on your hard drive and/or backups. Once you've found them, you can either put them back in the folders that LR's expecting to find them, or you can point LR back in the right direction.

 

[Bpalmer101]

Thank you for replying Victoria. usually when I import I from CF card I use canon software import to a sata drive, from there I create a back up on an external drive, then I import to lightroom - at the Existing Location - when I first started importing I was choosing the copy and move function but then had concerns for space.

Last night I also found some of the missing files tucked away in a folder called "Imported Tuesday June 29, 2''8" .... I'm assuming that light room is creating these folders since that is not my naming scheme/convention. I'll go image hunting again tonight and then also looking to see the root cause of the missing files.

Also thanks for the suggestion on the file sync software. I'm going to be a little more diligent on backup my images (and not just client files), and also look into an online backup system as well.

 

[Brad Snyder]

Yes, the "Imported Tuesday ...." series of folders is where the 'auto-backup' on start-up files are stored. Again, as VB points out , it's important to note that these are catalog files, and are basically useless without the corresponding image files, which LR unfortunately leaves you completely on your own to back-up.