Master Catalog does not update

[nIkedoni1a]

I consolidated folders and did general cleanup to folder structures inside of Lightroom however when I look at the folder structure directly on the hard drive outside of Lr the changes are not there. Even more curious is the fact that it looks like I haven't used that catalog in a few months (10/27/15) even though I go on Lr frequently and as you can see from the screenshot this is supposed to be my default catalog. Inside of Lr I can maneuver around and there is no missing photo issues, even photos that have been added after 10/27/15 are all readily available inside of the Lr program, I can edit and export as well. I backup to a separate hard drive (Hard drive 3) which time stamps a new backup whenever I exit the program. I did have a problem once before where I was using the backup as my master but I thought I fixed that.

What am I doing wrong and how do I correct this?

 

[tspear]

The last opened meta value is not the most reliable value.
The modification date and creation date (unless they have been manipulated) tend to be more reliable.

You will notice the modification date is just a few hours ago. So yes, that is the file you have been manipulating. As for the last opened date, ask Apple why it does not work reliably.

Tim

 

[nIkedoni1a]

Thank you Tim. What is troubling to me is that when I move files within lightroom they are not showing up that way when I look at the hard drive outside of Lr. I would think that I would have a bunch of ? marks indicating that Lr can't find the moved photos but I don't

 

[tspear]

Thank you Tim. What is troubling to me is that when I move files within lightroom they are not showing up that way when I look at the hard drive outside of Lr. I would think that I would have a bunch of ? marks indicating that Lr can't find the moved photos but I don't

I am not following...

Tim

 

[Jim Wilde]

Can you show us a couple of screenshots (Lightroom Folders Panel and Finder view of the hard drive folder structure) which show the differences that you are concerned about?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Your images are (probably) in the 'My Lightroom images' folder on that same disk. Open that folder and show us a screenshot of what the problem is...

 

[nIkedoni1a]

Assuming that all file and folder movements are performed through lightroom I would expect the directories to be identical. also I am concerned about the October date for when the catalog was last used. What does that mean? i've opened lightroom many times since then. thanks

 

[Johan Elzenga]

There's only one catalog, so that should be the correct one. You still have to import the folders named '21205 NYC' and '201305 Pr... 1600x1200' if you want those in Lightroom too. Right click on the 'My Lightroom Images' folder in Lightroom and choose 'Synchronize Folder'.

The two 'Martin..' files cannot be imported because these are not images, they are pdf's. The same goes for the '201107...' file, because that looks like a Powerpoint presentation.

 

[nIkedoni1a]

Thank you Johan. I understand about the Martin pdfs and PP presentation however 201305 Provider Portraits had been previously imported (see it under "Dermatology" on the latest Lr screenshot). and are greyed out when I try to import them a second time.

Maybe it was a duplicate folder.

I am still concerned about the October date for "Catalog last opened" since I have opened and closed that catalog numerous times since then. This is what originally had me concerned that Lr was not consistently updating my catalog as I went along adding new photos and folders. Any thoughts on that? Thank you

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Yes, that would mean that the folder with the same name in the root of the 'My Lightroom Images' is probably a duplicate, because Lightroom doesn't consider this folder as missing. Check that in the Finder.

As other people have already said, this 'Catalog last opened' could best be ignored. You have clearly opened it more recently, and the modification date also suggests that.

 

[Jim Wilde]

And just to corroborate what Tim and Johan have said, my own main catalog (which I use daily) shows a November 2015 date in Finder for "last opened". Not something I'm ever likely to be concerned about.