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Missing photos help please.

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SUNNYLITTLEBEAR

New Member
Premium Classic Member
Joined
Aug 14, 2019
Messages
3
Location
UK
Lightroom Experience
Intermediate
Lightroom Version
Classic
Lightroom Version Number
Lightroom aaClassic version 10.1.1
Operating System
  1. Windows 10
Good morning everyone I hope you don’t mind if I ask for a little help. Firstly let me tell you that I am a Granny who although I’ve been using lightroom and elements for a number of years and can just about find my way round them. On the computer side of things I have very little clue at all. I am really sorry if I am asking things that have been asked before but I have tried to follow various instructions without any joy at all. My problem is that a couple of days ago lightroom said that my photos were missing so I tried several things from FAQ on here and elsewhere, I just couldn’t sort it out and have ended up with all these collections and none of them seem to be the collection I was looking for. ( see photo) having got myself in this pickle I wonder if I was to delete all the photos in my lightroom and then added new photos would this solve the problem and the new photos won’t be Missing. I think it may be an easier way for me to start again and I only have 5000 photos in lightroom most of which don’t matter if they aren’t there and I can download the ones I do want from my external hard drive. I am sorry if this is such a very easy question to ask and it’s ok for you to laugh at how little I know about the computer side of things ( a day I make someone smile is always a good day for me) but please could someone help me as I really don’t know what else to do. May I thank you in advance and wish you all a happy and safe day.
kind regards
Anita.
 

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You have to find A. the correct LrC CAT catalog and B. The folder where your files are stored.
Re A: Check the dates of the LrC CAT files, and open the lrC CAT (catalog) from just before the missing files problem.
Re B: The missing files are probably an external HD which is missing or the drive letter may have changed. Try searching (not with LrC) for the pictures.
When you find them then reconnect as described here: Lightroom thinks my photos are missing—how do I fix it? | The Lightroom Queen
-- Stig
 
Thank you for your reply. I have already looked at all the different catalogs and none of them seems to be the right one. I do have all my photos backed up onto 3 different external hard drives but don’t have to have them plugged in whilst I’m working on my photos. I know where the photos are on my hard drive but can’t seem get them to reconnect. The problem is definitely me and my lack of knowledge with the workings of my laptop. I am trying to get my head round things but it’s not an easy thing for me to do. I will have another go following your advice and I do thank you very much for taking the time to help me.
kind regards
Anita.
 
Anita, if none of the catalogs are correct you can search using File Explorer for .lrcat files. If you have used the LrC backup there will be a zipped file (also a .lrcat) somewhere. A last resort would be to open the LrC catalog with most pictures and then reconnect and work from this.
The large number of cataloges indicates that you maybe have converted a LrC (version <10) catalog several times. It is important to change the default catalog in LrC to the new v10 catalog in preferences. If LrC opens the same old catalog it will convert to v10-2 -3 etc.
--Stig
 
Once again thank you for your time and help Stig, I am really trying to understand and follow your instructions, I get so angry with myself, I can use LR and PS but have no clue whatsoever of how or why it works. I will give it another go tomorrow and with a little luck will be able to report back to you that I have managed to do it right. I really do appreciate the time and trouble you re going to in an attempt to help me and am grateful for that, I do realise that it must be like banging your head against a brick wall trying to help a silly old fool like me. Here’s to a little more luck tomorrow after a good nights sleep.
many, many thanks again
 
Once again thank you for your time and help Stig, I am really trying to understand and follow your instructions, I get so angry with myself, I can use LR and PS but have no clue whatsoever of how or why it works. I will give it another go tomorrow and with a little luck will be able to report back to you that I have managed to do it right. I really do appreciate the time and trouble you re going to in an attempt to help me and am grateful for that, I do realise that it must be like banging your head against a brick wall trying to help a silly old fool like me. Here’s to a little more luck tomorrow after a good nights sleep on best hotel mattress.
many, many thanks again
I totally agree with you. you should give it one more try.
 
Once again thank you for your time and help Stig, I am really trying to understand and follow your instructions, I get so angry with myself, I can use LR and PS but have no clue whatsoever of how or why it works. I will give it another go tomorrow and with a little luck will be able to report back to you that I have managed to do it right. I really do appreciate the time and trouble you re going to in an attempt to help me and am grateful for that, I do realise that it must be like banging your head against a brick wall trying to help a silly old fool like me. Here’s to a little more luck tomorrow after a good nights sleep.
many, many thanks again
Lightroom and certainly Photoshop are both complex programs. Victoria's FAQ book Adobe Lightroom Classic - The Missing FAQ - The Lightroom Queen is a great place to start with Lightroom. I haven't found another book that does as good a job as the Missing FAQ book. I don't know of a similar book for Photoshop, but there are certainly many, many books about Photoshop. (I would certainly buy that FAQ book.) Just as a caution. Many Photoshop books are for an older version, and there have been a lot of new features added to Photoshop in recent years.

The Adobe website has lots of tutorials, many of them in-depth. https://helpx.adobe.com/lightroom-cc/tutorials.html and https://helpx.adobe.com/photoshop/tutorials.html. And of course YouTube has no end of useful videos. It is quite possible to spend so much time learning about all the features that you never have time to actually use Lightroom and Photoshop.
 
I'm not sure what the source of your problems is, but here are three suggestions, from the specific to the general.
1. Windows has a specific way to assign drive letters like C:\ , D:\, etc. Beyond D:\ it assigns the first available drive letter. So if you have several external drives, which letter is assigned to each depends on the order you attach them to the computer. One standard way to prevent this kind of mixup is to assign to each individual drive a letter that is late in the alphabet, such as P, Q, or R. These will stick to that drive. Instructions for how to do that are given in How to Re-assign a Drive Letter on Windows (XP, Vista, Windows 7 and 8) . This also works for Windows 10.
2. Most of us have learned, usually the hard way, that the computer does what you tell it to do, not what you want it to do. So it's important to learn how to talk its language. As Phil said, Victoria's Missing FAQ books are invaluable guides for learning this.
3. I hope this doesn't sound condescending, but it has been my hard-earned experience that negative self-messages or internal tapes greatly interfere with concentrating on what you're doing. A good first step is to learn to recognize when these tapes show up, and to say "Thanks but that's not helpful, go away".
 
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