merge existing folders question

[matthew.wattigny]

Lightroom Version Number

15.0.1

Operating System

1. macOS 14 Sonoma

I'm moving my company's full library to a new location. All 368K+ photos are now in two locations - an external drive and our server. The catalog files have not and will not move. I followed option two described here. The folder structure is exactly the same between the sources.

I dismounted the external drive, which prompted all the folders to go missing - as expected. I right-clicked on Photo Library (top-level folder) to "Find Missing Folder". I chose the Photo Library folder on our server. That folder connected, but everything below it remains "missing".

Here's my question - if I select "Imports" (the next folder inside Photo Library) and point to its new location, Lightroom prompts a warning that the folders already exist and asks if I want to Merge. I tried this on a much smaller scale on the external drive before making this move and didn't get the result I wanted. I don't remember this Merge question when I initially moved off the server to the external drive. Where have I gone wrong?

FYI, for anyone curious, we moved off the server to the external drive as a performance test.

 

[clarencemiddleton12]

I'm moving my company's full library to a new location. All 368K+ photos are now in two locations - an external drive and our server. The catalog files have not and will not move. I followed option two described here. The folder structure is exactly the same between the sources.

I dismounted the external drive, which prompted all the folders to go missing - as expected. I right-clicked on Photo Library (top-level folder) to "Find Missing Folder". I chose the Photo Library folder on our server. That folder connected, but everything below it remains "missing".

Here's my question - if I select "Imports" (the next folder inside Photo Library) and point to its new location, Lightroom prompts a warning that the folders already exist and asks if I want to Merge. I tried this on a much smaller scale on the external drive before making this move and didn't get the result I wanted. I don't remember this Merge question when I initially moved off the server to the external drive. Where have I gone wrong?

FYI, for anyone curious, we moved off the server to the external drive as a performance test run 3.

It sounds like Lightroom only reconnected the top-level folder, but the subfolders still point to the old volume. Don’t use Import or merge—that can duplicate or confuse paths. Instead, in the Folders panel, right-click the highest missing parent folder (Photo Library) and choose Find Missing Folder, making sure you select the exact matching folder on the server. If some subfolders still show missing, repeat the same step on the next highest missing level. As long as the folder structure is identical, Lightroom should relink everything without merging or re-importing.

 

[matthew.wattigny]

It sounds like Lightroom only reconnected the top-level folder, but the subfolders still point to the old volume. Don’t use Import or merge—that can duplicate or confuse paths. Instead, in the Folders panel, right-click the highest missing parent folder (Photo Library) and choose Find Missing Folder, making sure you select the exact matching folder on the server. If some subfolders still show missing, repeat the same step on the next highest missing level. As long as the folder structure is identical, Lightroom should relink everything without merging or re-importing.

Thank you for replying, and I had followed exactly what you described. But I made a mistake, which I realized this morning. I pointed to the second level Imports folder. As you can see in the attached photo, that action put Imports at the top level with Photo Library below it (followed by Imports again). So I kind of redid it and reconnected correctly.

 

[Urgot68]

It sounds like Lightroom only reconnected the top-level folder, but the subfolders still point to the old volume. Don’t use Import or merge—that can duplicate or confuse paths. Instead, in the Folders panel, right-click the highest missing parent folder (Photo Library) and choose Find Missing Folder, making sure you select the exact matching folder on the server. If some subfolders still show missing, repeat the same step on the next highest missing level. As long as the folder structure is identical, Lightroom should relink everything without merging or re-importing.

You should absolutely avoid using Import when trying to repair broken links in Lightroom to protect your data. Using the Find Missing Folder option on the root folder is the best solution for this drive issue.