LR2, combined 2 folders and lost ALL IMAGES from harddrive

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beki

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I was organising my files in newly downloaded LR2 today and noticed my portfolio folder had somehow duplicated itself in the folders drop down, in library view.. so i dragged one into the other (just in case there was something in one that was not in the other) and now all images are wiped from my hard drive, my whole portfolio!!! I soooo do not understand what happened. All my images are imported from their original files in my hard drive, so no dupes (wish there were). When i check they are nowhere to be seen. I then check my time machine back up and it seems not to have been backing up properly either, or i don't know what to look at, and dont seem to find any when i search each file name!! No where to be seen! When i go back to the previous lightroom back ups they are not there either, presumably because it only references the original file, on my request. Is there any hope? Please say yes. This is major... feel faint.
Beki
 
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Not such a nice way to enter the forums, welcome anyway Beki.

You'll probably want to give us as much info as possible Beki.

aka: signature specs - pc/mac, RAW/DNG, laptop/desktop, processor, video card, RAM, back up stategy, number of images, size of .ircat, LR version before recent download etc etc.

Were the any error messages?
Any strange behaviour you noticed (apart from the obvious - sorry!)?

Might want to do a search here and on the u2u forums regarding the use of time machine (Aahh Mac right, ok i'm out:|) with LR. I have seen that there are some compatibility issues.

Some of the LR gurus will be here soon.
 
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hey brad, lol... yeah sorry terror/panic seems to have made me forget my manors, apologies : ) ok info.. on a imac, 2'16ghz intel, 2g ram, er back up strategy.. apparently the poor attempt at one.. i.e. time machine didn't care to back up my important stuff, ever!. who knew! Glad i do now though, next thread wil be on reliable back up strategies, once i have the files back to back up of course. Back on track, was on LR 1.4 till this morn when i downloaded 2.', my files are referencing their original location on hd, and i was creating a portfolio file as about to do a revamp of my current print range.. sooo..i noticed when i went into the new exciting 2.' that portfolio folder, that was actually created in LR not on harddrive now i think of it, relevant? had dup'd itself, there were two, one with four sub folders, the original then another with one sub, the totals were nearly the same image wise 26' and 261. I dind't want to search to find which image was the offending one so decided i would click on the folder in the left hand bar in library mode and drag it up to the other one, dumping the contents i.e. the one odd image missing from the other file.. it said the usual you are moving this folder message, no biggie i thought, been doing this all morn, and as soon as i did it.. all these ? came up, no images showing, all my original cr2 files gone from my hard drive folders!! they are not in trash either. No clue what happenend. enough info? As you can prob tell im more into my photography than technology, im trying and failing miserably it seems. Some images i have on cd's somewhere but not all, such a bind. Why didn't i just go to bed!
 
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Beki, that sounds totally off the wall. If your computer skills are up to it, can you post a screen shot of your Library Left Hand Panel, i.e. folders and collections? (I'm not a Mac user, so I can't give you any tips on how to do that.) (As for how to post an image on the forum, look below the reply entry box, if you see 'Go Advanced' Click that button.
If you don't see it, or after you've clicked it, look a little further down for 'Manage Attachments', click that, and open the resulting tab/window/pop-up. That will allow you to choose the image on your computer, and upload it. After it uploads, close that window. The screen capture should be attached to your reply message now. Just submit/post it.)

In addition, you've searched all your drives for *.CR2 ?

....YAB (yet another Brad)
 
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ok, will try to do a screen capture (no clue) but basically, now the portfolio folder and all the subs is gone from the folder listings (stupidly i thought id try to synchronise, yeah panic does stupid things to you) but as id mentinoed the folder was not created in the pictures folder where they all sit, it was done in LR, so what was originally a red folder and sub folders is now nowhere to be see, the only thing i have left now is the collection folders, where i was then sorting them all into different groupings, and where the images had been moved from their original files in the hd filing i.e. seascape or whatever, to the portfolio folder i created in lightroom, now there is only grey boxes and ? and the images are not found when searching the hard drive. Never showed up in Trash, nada. It just seems so weird.
 
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sorry, synch was stupid idea due to the fact that (afterwards i realised) there was no other folder with that name to synch to, hence it disappearing completely. But the images were already gone from the system before that, that happened at the moment of dragging the dup folder on to the other same name folder.
 
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beki said:
...the only thing i have left now is the collection folders, where i was then sorting them all into different groupings, and where the images had been moved from their original files in the hd filing i.e. seascape or whatever, to the portfolio folder i created in lightroom...
Click to expand...
This does not solve your problem but it is hard to follow you here as Collections are NOT folders, so one can not move images to them. Just add references to the images still in their original folder. The same image can appear in more than one collection without being duplicated. Your wife on the beach can be in the "Family" collection and in the "Ocean" collection. You won't have to develop twice...

But loosing files on hard drive trying to merge "Gost folders" must be reported to Adobe. See "Log Bug/Request Feature" link atop this page.
 
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sorry, my bad... i had set up a Folder in LR2.' where i then proceed to move my portfolio images into, from the folders they were originally in.. so i could burn a copy of all for safe keeping lol.. and also so i could separate them from my other files. Im sure there is a much better way of doing this, love to hear it.. as my method obviously sucks. Anyway, after i'd created a folder for all my port files i then set up a collection based on the contents of this folder so i could then sep them into different subjects or substraits of production etc.. So yep, i know the diff between the folder and collection. I really wish i'd just set up collections of these images in the first place without moving them all to be honest. Does this help any?
 
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oh sorry, but the issue happened when i had opened my existsing catalog in the new LR2 and i noticed that the LR folder portfolio has kinda duped itself, so i just dragged it over the other, what looked like latest version, just to make sure i hadn't missed anything before i'd delete the duped folder, but i never got to do that as when it said it's usual your moving files message and i went ahead the folders all went red, all these images went to grey boxes and ? came up, searching for them on the hard drive produced nothing, and no sign in trash.
 
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beki said:
... now there is only grey boxes and ? and the images are not found when searching the hard drive. Never showed up in Trash, nada. It just seems so weird.
Click to expand...
You searched from the Root of the drive right?

Last sad solution: Stop using that drive and use a File Recovery program. There are some at ±1''$. I always succeeded in the past on failed drives as long as they were still running. And do not forget to tell Log Bug to Adobe (link above). And no, it is not a Feature to Log a Bug Request ;)
 
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One thing to note here is that on Mac, dragging similarly name folders over each other will OVERWRITE the folder and not merge as happens on PC. This is in the OS, and Lightroom uses the OS for file operations.
 
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root folder check?

hmm.. i wonder what you mean, checked the files on the hard drive? If not, please explain.. and just remembered that actually the portfolio file did exist in my pictures folders on hard drive.. can you recommend a recovery software? really appreciate the help..
 
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hi sean, ok, does overwrite mean clear all off completely? Leaving nothing behind? I didn't know this though, thanks. Will deffo no be doing any of this again.
 
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Unfortunately, that's exactly what it means. If you copy an empty folder over one with images, the images will be erased. Sounds like somehow Lightroom created a duplicate (empty) portfolio folder and you inadvertently copied it over the original.

I don't know a lot about file recovery programs, so I'll leave it to someone else to recommend one.

You're sure they are not in Time machine? Even if you go back through all the backups?
 
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thank you everyone for trying to shed some light on this for me, the overwriting folders was a big and much needed discovery. I did locate some files in an old back up luckily so all is well (time machine only did one full back up but at least it did one!! and now i know that it was not working, had no idea. This experience made me realise just how much i have no clue about.. will be checking out LR tutorials till the cows come home.. luminous landscapes here i come.
 
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The LL tutorial is good. I've seen the first 2 (for the beta and for V1) and some of the V2 video (I've been up the walls between writing, gallery making, and book reading and other video watching-not to mention work). I'll be downloading the rest soon to watch and pick up tips I've not seen or heard yet..

I'm glad you sorted it out. I've too have learned the hard way about backup.
 
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