Library module Split NAS library? Help!

[CAPhoto]

Lightroom Version Number

11.1

Operating System

1. Windows 10

The problem:
I'm trying (and failing) to figure out why Ligthroom seems to be arbitrarily splitting my library into two separate folders, even though everything is in the same working directory. I want everything under a single folder in Lightroom (Library Module)!

Example:
In the attached image you can see an example of what I mean. On the right is the actual '2022' Windows folder that contains all my RAW files by date. On the left, you can see how Lightroom (Library) has split this into two groups. The top Lightroom '2022' folder has all my photos from earlier in the month. The bottom Lightroom '2022' folder only has the shots from 1/30. I want to have everything consolidated into one Lightroom folder.

If I drag and drop the folder in Lightroom from one folder to the other, it says the files already exist in that location (which is correct!). In the bottom Lightroom Folder, it doesn't show the \Master Catalog of Photos\ directory. If I click \2022\ and 'Show Parent Folder' nothing happens. Yesterday I selected the bottom folders and had Lightroom 'delete selected folder'. I then ran 'Synchronize Folder, Import new photos' on the top folder. I think this fixed the issue until today when I imported a new set of photos and now things are split again.

More info about my setup:
I use Windows. I store my catalog file local to my desktop. I store my library of RAW files on a Synology NAS with lots of storage. The top-level directory file path looks like:
\\BestNAS\Lightroom Catalog\Master Catalog of Photos\. I had this issue on Lightroom 6. I just upgraded to Lightroom Classic CC hoping it would fix the issue, but it has not.

Does anyone know why this is happening? What can I do to fix it? Thanks in advance - I've been trying to figure this out for forever!

 

[Rob_Cullen]

You have been affected by the "Capitalization" problem.
If you look at your NAS Drive names- One is "BESTNAS" the other is BestNAS"

The "Duplicate Drive" syndrome will not be fixed by simply moving the photos to another folder in the Folder panel. In fact the OS will already have the photos in one folder and an error results, it is a Lightroom bug that shows them as two drives.
See this link for the method to correct- And you MUST USE this method to fix!
Folders panel displays same hard drive twice

 

[CAPhoto]

Thank you Rob! This is exactly the problem and your linked solution seems to have done the trick. Interesting that Windows is not file-path case sensitive but Lightroom is.

In case anyone is reading this solution, I followed the instructions here to quickly duplicate my folder structure.

 

[gwwinaz]

Good catch! The capitalization issue varies by operating system and possibly by application. Windows ignores capitalization. Individual applications may or may not see capitalization as a difference. Good to know about Lightroom.

On my NAS I have a folder named Temp. I tried to create a folder name temp and I got a warning asking if I wanted to replace folder Temp with temp.

 

[Rob_Cullen]

On my NAS I have a folder named Temp. I tried to create a folder name temp and I got a warning asking if I wanted to replace folder Temp with temp.

It is not imperative that you use a folder called "Temp". You can name the temporary folder anything you like for the purpose of correcting the 'Duplicate Drives/Folders' syndrome.

 

[gwwinaz]

Sorry for not being clear. I just picked a folder as an example to test the upper case/lower case in Windows. The folder happened to be named "Temp". The example was intended to apply to folders with the same letters but a difference in case for one or more of the letters.

Windows also ignores case for file names when checking for duplicate names.