Sync Should I Snyc Folder?

[Piper]

Lightroom Version Number

Lightroom Classic version: 8.2 [1204643]

Operating System

1. Windows 10

I have been having trouble with duplicate images in my folders. I have receintly bought a new laptop and moved things around a bit. I now have all my images on an external hard drive with another external back up, both Seagate drives (4TB and 8TB).
When I was cleaning up my Keywords section I came across two images. I can see one image but the other is blank, but with the same name.
I began going through the images and removing, not deleting the blank images. This was proving to be a very lengthly procedure. See attached Screenshot (11).
So I finally went into "Missing Photographs (58237)" and removed, Not Deleted, all 58237. This seemed to clean everything up well.
Then I went to my folders and chose 2019 and Synchronize Folder and it showed "Import new photos (46886) see screen shot (12).
This does not seem right so I checked another folder Screenshot (13) it showed "Import new photos (4520).
Other folders showed large number of "Import new photos" as well.
I am reluctant to hit the "Synchronize" button for fear of just importing all the blank images that I have just removed.
You advise me as to the proper procedure.

 

[Califdan]

I can see one image but the other is blank, but with the same name

Per screen shot 11, the blank image is actually missing. An image that shows as blank is caused by the image not having a preview save and that it can't create one because the image is not present where LR expects it to be. This can happen if you rename, move or delete the image outside of Lightroom (say in Windows File Manager or Mac Finder). In the screen shot this is corroborated by the "!" symbol in the upper right corner of the missing image. In the case where there is another image with the same name that does show without the "!" it is probably the case that you re-imported the image a 2nd time - perhaps from a different (renamed or moved ) folder, and is safe to remove the blank one.

So I finally went into "Missing Photographs (58237)" and removed, Not Deleted, all 58237

If you did not first refresh the Missing Photographs collection you may have removed images that should not have been removed. You should use the "find all missing photos" menu item to refresh the list before you rely on it. In theory it would be good to verify that each missing image has a non missing companion. But that is a time consuming operation. You may want to just bite the bullet and remove them without checking. But, at some point you should re-import from those same folders just to see if there are any images not in the LR catalog.

I am reluctant to hit the "Synchronize" button for fear of just importing all the blank images that I have just removed.

I would not use "synchronize". The removal of the "blank" images may or may not have also removed real photos; but fortunately you used the "remove" rather than "delete" option so those images should still be on your hard drive.

Do not do anything else until we agree on a strategy. - it will probably just make things worse. However to come up with a plane, we need more info.

1) Do you still have the old computer?

2) Does the old computer still work?

3) If you open LR on the old computer do things look OK?

4) Other than trying to get LR back in business on the new computer have you done much else in LR on the new computer that could not be redone without much stress?

 

[Piper]

Hi Thanks for responding.

1. yes I still have the old computer.
2. Yes it still works.
3. When I open the old computer and plug in my 4TB E: drive it shows up as "Seagate 4TB (F see screenshot (38) it looks like all the images are there.

When I scroll to the (E drive it shows all the images with ? marks. See screenshot (39)
Then I go scroll up to the Catalog and see "All Photographs 95439"
This all seems good except the wrong drive shows up as populated. I don't understand that part.
4) I have some 1340 images in 2019 on the new computer on the Seagate E: drive and have backed up the Catalog each time I have closed LR. Don't know how that will work if I need to make any changes. The new computer is working fine except for the above issues.
Cheers,
Don

 

[Califdan]

Hi,

I'm assuming that all your images are on a single EHD that is known as either the E drive or the F drive. I also assume that you have not renamed or moved any of the image folders on the EHD other than plugging it into a new computer. So, we can either work on the old or the new computer. Let's start by working on the new computer.

1) find where you catalog is on the new computer. the catalog is file whose name ends in ",lrcat" and is probably in "Pictures -> Lightroom". Take that file and all other files in the same folder that start with the same name and temporarily move them someplace else (e.g. a temp folder on the desktop) as hopefully we won't need them.

2) Copy the "lrcat" file from the old computer to the new computer and put it in "Pictures -> Lightroom" (or anyplace else you wish, but this is a standard place for it)

3) plug the EHD into the new computer

4) double click on the "lrcat" file you copied from the old computer. This will open Lightroom on the new computer with the newly copyied catalog

5) In the folders panel, right click on the "Photos for LR" folder under the "E" drive that has a "?" on it. If this folder does not have a "?" on it then instead right click on the folder on "F" drive that has the "?". This will re-link all the images.

Send me new screen shots of the folder and catalog panels and we can continue...