recover adjustments in outside LR moved files

[guido.coza]

Hi Guys and Girls
I did a bit of a boo boo. I copied picture folders outside lightroom onto a external HD.
What is the best way of not loosing all the edits of the pic.?
Undo and redo everything via LR (some pics however are on Laptop, some desktop some exHD) would be a mission!
All pictures are however in either laptop catalog or imac catalog. Most of the pics are also still on there original location.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Do nothing with the images that are also still on their original location. They are still in Lightroom with all their edits and there is no need to have a copy of them in Lightroom too.

For the other images Lightroom will show the 'missing image' exclamation point in the upper right corner. If the whole folder was moved, Lightroom will show a 'missing folder' question mark and show the name in italics. Right-click on such a folder and choose 'Find Missing Folder'. Navigate to the new location and select it. That will 'reconnect' the folder.

 

[guido.coza]

Hi Johann
That's not the case here. I did COPY the folders in Finder(mac) NOT MOVE them!
the reason behind, I left my working external in a hotel, and use now one of the back-up externals!!

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Hi Johann
That's not the case here. I did COPY the folders in Finder(mac) NOT MOVE them!
the reason behind, I left my working external in a hotel, and use now one of the back-up externals!!

That's exactly my point. If you copied the folders, there is nothing you need to do in Lightroom. Lightroom doesn't need to know or care that there are copies elsewhere.

 

[LouieSherwin]

If you have made edits to the images on your laptop and want to bring those edits back to the "master" catalog on your iMac then you can can use "Import from Catalog...".

Copy the catalog file ".lrcat" (the first letter is an el) from your laptop to your iMac. You don't need the images or the previews.

Open your original master catalog on the iMac and select File->Import from Catalog...

This is a common method used to have a travel catalog when on the road. For editing images from a master catalog it can be easier to create SmartPreviews instead of copying the original images. While this can take some time to setup initially it will not use as much disk space on your laptop.

Victoria has a recent post covering Merging Catalogs – The Overview.

-louie

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Right. If I misunderstood you and you have two different catalogs, then that is indeed the way to solve it.

 

[guido.coza]

sometime one doesn't see the trees because of the forest.
I have pics on my laptop from recent safaris and pics on the imac mainly recent family pics. Eventually all pics have to go on a external drive (1), that contains all the pics. this external is twice backed up (2+3)!
Now I left the EXHD"1" behind and use EXHD"2". On this HD I haven't syncd the pics from Feb. March and April. Now I copied these "missing" folders in Finder from lap top and iMac to EXHD "2" If I would sync now EXHD"2" in library I would create duplicates and loose all the edits of the pics I did on the laptop and iMac.
Should I just undo all the moves/copy (again in Finder) and move the pics via LR or is there a easier and faster way?
I hope now the problem becomes apparent.
or you can make me see the trees!!(-:
Txs a mill in advance!

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Right-click the EXHD2 folder(s) in Lightroom, then choose 'Update Folder Location'. Navigate to the corresponding folder on the EXHD1 and select it.