to make a long story short, i was looking for a picture i took back in 2013... this was in my LR folder from 2013 that is on my OTHER external drive (the one i was using until it got full at the end of 2014)...
i hooked up the older drive... files are THERE, but i'm getting the dreaded question mark in LR... which shouldn't be, because they were moved to this external drive from within LR...
i googled and found a help thing which said to control click on the folder, and then select "find files" from the pop-up box... did that... and now the folder is gone? help? what did i do? how do i get it back???
(and how on earth did i get to be such a techno-idiot?)
and now i'm totally weirded out... the folder is there, just without it's label, and in another part of LR... and it still says that the file can't be found for editing...
still need to know what i did and how to get it back to where it belongs so i can find it in the future... and i need to know what i can do in order to properly access the thing for editing...
clearly i need to go back and take a course on LR file management... sigh...
I'm not sure but I'm just wondering if it is because it is now recognising it as another drive letter? That is one reason I assigned a fixed letter to my external drives so I can find them easier. I'm not even sure if that could possibly happen Northy but it's worth a try when you right click to find the file if that drive comes up as a different letter and you can find those files. I know someone will come along and give you the right answer but in the meantime that's a possibility to look at.
@northy hi, once in the pop-up box, maybe you need to go to search your folder in your current external drive, and then click on that, then maybe will fix your question mark in your LR folder. I hope thus will work. It worked for me when I change the name of a folder on local drive but I've not tested moving folders to an external drive.
Oh boy. Makes me glad I have settled to using the general Bridge tool to handle images. Too many things to go wrong and to straight-jacket LR it seems. Sorry, can't help with the Library module. :(
I made a similar post recently but not with the "?". The ? usually means you moved a folder but not using LR to do so. And as it's older, you may have made the switch sometime when it got full? Right click and let it try to find the folder or maybe that is what you already did. Good luck!
@frankhymus I'm convinced LR is an amazing tool for cataloging, but it must be done with such purpose that I regret that I approached it the same way I did with my first camera (learning by doing). I am learning backwards with it, and am about to bring in an instructor to fix the mess I've made (which all started with a big computer crash). I have to be thankful that all original files were never hurt, but i can't seem to find my smart previews -- hours of editing gone.
@darylo sigh... I absolutely moved these files properly within LR...
LR is seeing the external drive, and it sees the folders, it just isn't finding the data... The thing is, I followed the instructions to make it work, and I must have clicked in the wrong spot... Because when I tried again w a different folder, it worked fine... But the folder I want is still in lala land... :(
I'll have another go again tomorrow... If I can't fix it, I'm going to call the local place I've gone for training on LR and see if they can help me out, and maybe set up a tutorial for me... I really need to do a better job of backing up my stuff... Right now it's all a bit scattered...
@bella_ss@jborrases tx for your help... Still can't get it sorted, but really appreciate your trying!
@northy so can you see the photo in the hdrive? Or is it only a RAW file and unable to view? Seriously feel your pain. Let me know if you find it and how. Fingers xed.
@northy I don't know too much about LR, and am certainly having lots of teething problems too - but not of this magnitude. I suspect the best way to deal with your problem might be to contact Adobe LR Support direct. That is to say, if no-one here can put their finger on how to fix it.
@northy did you simply try to open the file inside of lightroom or did you re-import the file? If LR is not seeing the file, you should still be able to import it and re-process it from your original. Just a thought.
@northy, I would start my working in Windows Explorer and establish the files are there. Once you are happy they are there, I would then go back to LR and re import them. LR is a database and references the files , doesn't actually hold them (just a thumbnail) so as long as you haven't 'removed from disk' the file will be there, just the reference to its path is messed up.
No help at all I'm afraid but following your thread closely as I have all mine on an external drive and just assumed they would happily open when I asked!!! I really do feel for you this is the stuff of nightmares. Let us know how you get on and I hope there is someone out there who can sort it for you.
@pixiemac good point! I forgot about this. If you are running multiple catalogs, you must launch the one for those photos. I have multiple catalogs apparently when i did not think i did. I would call Adobe too.
I have run into similar problems mostly caused by moving the photos to an external hard drive for later storage. All I had to do was locate the file and then import it again to the new XHD location. It is possible you accidently imported to the wrong location and then moved the file bwhile saving. LR just remembers the initial import. So if the file gets moved you get the question mark or the cannot find file notation.
Now I try to be sure and import the files to the xhd I plan on permanently storing them. Not sure if this applies to your case.
thank you everyone for your helpful input, but i remain at a complete loss... i now can see the folder in LR WITHOUT a freakin' question mark, but when i go into the develop module it tells me that the images aren't there...
at least i KNOW they still exist because if i go in via finder, the files are there... i will try importing them back into LR, although i'm a bit afraid that it's going to confuse things even further...
i clearly need to go to remedial lessons on file management... i did actually learn how to do this in LR at one point...
just hoping that my 2015 files will show up when i need them... sigh..
i am sure there is a moral to this story... when i figure out what it is i will be sure to let you know... if i can't set a good example, perhaps i will at least serve as a horrible warning ;p
Haha Northy. I'm not completely on top of my files in Lightroom either and I guess we all need to find what works for us. I have only one catalogue going at the moment and it sounds like you do too because it just sounds so cumbersome to load a different catalogue for different external drives. I think I would get myself into even more trouble if I started doing that but I know that is how some people manage theirs. I love using Lightroom but the file management side of it can be a nightmare.
At least you know your files are there but if you can't match them up you lose your edits which is a real pain!
For this reason I keep all my files on an external drive in year and subject. I don't keep them in adobe or LR or photoshop. I use them to edit then keep them separate. On the iPad I upload to a Dropbox and then copy onto external drive. My PC is pretty full and I do worry that they are only in one place now, I copy my special family shots onto the PC as well
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still need to know what i did and how to get it back to where it belongs so i can find it in the future... and i need to know what i can do in order to properly access the thing for editing...
clearly i need to go back and take a course on LR file management... sigh...
LR is seeing the external drive, and it sees the folders, it just isn't finding the data... The thing is, I followed the instructions to make it work, and I must have clicked in the wrong spot... Because when I tried again w a different folder, it worked fine... But the folder I want is still in lala land... :(
I'll have another go again tomorrow... If I can't fix it, I'm going to call the local place I've gone for training on LR and see if they can help me out, and maybe set up a tutorial for me... I really need to do a better job of backing up my stuff... Right now it's all a bit scattered...
@bella_ss @jborrases tx for your help... Still can't get it sorted, but really appreciate your trying!
Do you run multiple catalogues?
Now I try to be sure and import the files to the xhd I plan on permanently storing them. Not sure if this applies to your case.
thank you everyone for your helpful input, but i remain at a complete loss... i now can see the folder in LR WITHOUT a freakin' question mark, but when i go into the develop module it tells me that the images aren't there...
at least i KNOW they still exist because if i go in via finder, the files are there... i will try importing them back into LR, although i'm a bit afraid that it's going to confuse things even further...
i clearly need to go to remedial lessons on file management... i did actually learn how to do this in LR at one point...
just hoping that my 2015 files will show up when i need them... sigh..
i am sure there is a moral to this story... when i figure out what it is i will be sure to let you know... if i can't set a good example, perhaps i will at least serve as a horrible warning ;p
@brianarmoured @darylo @thistle @pixiemac @cdean1956 @golftragic @frankhymus @kwiksilver @bella_ss @jborrases @cindyloo
At least you know your files are there but if you can't match them up you lose your edits which is a real pain!