# My photos are missing



## rmargolis (Apr 12, 2020)

In doing tech support with Apple re a possible corrupt user, I disconnected my external hard drive with my photos. Now in the old user and the new test user, my photos aren't in LR Classic. If I open the external hard drive, they are there. When I open LR it asks me to start import which I don't think is the right move. I restarted the computer but that hasn't helped. ln fact in LR it looks like I have just begun. There are no folders, nothing at all.  It wants me to begin a setup. Help. 
Thanks.


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## Johan Elzenga (Apr 12, 2020)

You created a new empty catalog. Look for the existing one. It should be in the Pictures folder of the old user.


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## rmargolis (Apr 12, 2020)

Thank you for your response. When I went back to the old user, my photos were in LR. However they are still not present in the new user. What's next?


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## Johan Elzenga (Apr 12, 2020)

rmargolis said:


> Thank you for your response. When I went back to the old user, my photos were in LR. However they are still not present in the new user. What's next?


You need to move or copy the catalog in the old user to the new user, and then start Lightroom with that catalog (double click on it), not the new catalog.


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## rmargolis (Apr 23, 2020)

How do I move the catalog to the new user? I haven't been able to do that. I did finally put it on a thumb drive then I was working from my thumb drive where I want to be working from my external LaCie hard drive. When I open LR in the new user it says "Click Import button to begin." I remember that one must be careful in using Import so I haven't done it. From the new user I have the LaCie drive available and I am able to open a photo from that drive. That may seem obvious but I wanted to be certain they are there. 

I have included a screen shot of the LR panel on the left. It looks like it is the original set up. Thanks again.


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## rmargolis (Apr 23, 2020)

By the way I don't know how the screen shot ended up in the body of the message obscuring a little bit of text. At one point it was at the bottom where images usually reside. Thanks.


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 24, 2020)

That's an empty catalog you've got open there. Where was your normal working catalog stored? In Pictures? Or on the LaCie drive perhaps?


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## rmargolis (Apr 24, 2020)

I have enclosed a screen shot of the Catalog on the old user. It is directly on the hard drive. Does that seem right to you?  On the new user, Robertatest, my hard drive isn't even listed on the Finder. Don't understand why. So I went into the old user, robertamargolis, to access the location of the catalog. 

Thanks for you help.


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## Paul McFarlane (Apr 25, 2020)

Lr doesn't mind where the catalog sits, the original defaults tend to be under Pictures. One exception to that - and this is a Catalina issue, not Lr - Catalina won't permit you to let any under files like the catalog sit under root or /users either. I know you're on Mojave, but useful to know in case you update to Catalina at some point.


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 25, 2020)

As Paul says, the root of the boot drive probably isn't the best spot for it, so it'll be worth rehoming anyway. 

When you say your hard drive isn't even listed in Finder in the new account, what can you see in Finder?


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## rmargolis (May 6, 2020)

Since I wrote the post on April 24th I had to replace my Mac with a new IMac 27".  Therefore I don't have to use the "test user." My hard drive is now listed in the Finder.  

The attached image is the message I received when I clicked on the catalog with the most recent date.  The main catalog is named "Catalog5.4.11-2-2.lrcat."  I don't know which is the latest catalog. Can I tell by the number of 2-2-'s  at the end? I have one with four -2's at the end. However it is Previews or Sync. I do wish I understood all of this.  

If, in the screen shot, I click on Upgrade for the catalog I think is the latest will that put it in the right place and import into LR Classic for me?


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## Paul McFarlane (May 7, 2020)

rmargolis said:


> Can I tell by the number of 2-2-'s  at the end? I have one with four -2's at the end. However it is Previews or Sync. I do wish I understood all of this.


Usually the one with the most '2's' is the latest, but it does sound like there needs to be a bit of a clean-up (and once sorted perhaps a rename of the catalog!)

I don't understand your comment on Previews or Sync. How about a screenshot of the files for us (including the dates accessed) so we can make some observations?


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## rmargolis (May 7, 2020)

It would have been better if I had identified Previews and Sync as .Preview and .Sync, file extensions.
Attached is a screenshot of the location of the latest file and the Spotlight results. May 2nd is the day I installed the new computer so that date isn't helpful. I can start the old computer and find the latest date on that hard drive. 

When I do a Spotlight search for catalog5.4.11, they are all over the place. So I would like to understand where they should be and clean that up. Trying to get a fresh start here. And import the catalog to LR Classic correctly. 

I appreciate your help.


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## Paul McFarlane (May 8, 2020)

The dates don't help. The one with the most -2-2-2 is likely the latest, but it seems odd that it's in Archive. Might be worth copying that one somewhere (to separate it and monitor) and try opening; Classic will likely tell you it needs to update, let it and see what the results are.


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## Victoria Bampton (May 8, 2020)

Can we see a bit further down that second screenshot? The fact that the first screenshot shows a -2-2-2-2 sync.lrdata does suggest that filename is the right one, but I'd expect to see the sync.lrdata and helper.lrdata in the same folder as the catalog file.


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## rmargolis (May 9, 2020)

Here is the bottom part of the screenshot of Mac HD.  In this situation I don't know why the files are in Archive as opposed to Backups.

Thanks for your help.


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## clee01l (May 9, 2020)

rmargolis said:


> Here is the bottom part of the screenshot of Mac HD.  In this situation I don't know why the files are in Archive as opposed to Backups.
> 
> Thanks for your help.


The parent folder is the "relocated" folder.   Are you running Catalina?   Some security changes with MacOS has placed these items in the relocated folder.   And security is preventing you from opening them.


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## rmargolis (May 9, 2020)

Yes I'm running 10.15.4. How can I address this issue? 
Thanks.


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## rmargolis (May 11, 2020)

I did open LR Classic with the latest catalog so I think I am fine with that problem.  I did it by dragging what I think is the last catalog to the Desktop and opened it from there. I am now running Catalina. 10.15.4.

Now I would like to know where I should have LR files and which files I should expect to have. Where can I find out how to set it up properly on the new Mac? My photos are on an external hard drive but the catalog is on my computer hard drive.  I think I am only opening and closing the catalog when I use LR so I don't understand how they end up in so many places and probably in the wrong places. I'd like to delete the files that are superfluous but am afraid to delete anything.

Attached is an image of my desktop which has 4 LR files there. Where should I put them?

 Can I straighten this out on the Forum or is it best done another way? 

Thank you.

Roberta


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## Johan Elzenga (May 11, 2020)

Lightroom Classic creates a number of support files, as you noticed. For that reason I would advise you to place the catalog in a folder, so the support files are also created inside that folder. I would also advise you to place that folder not on your desktop, but in a more appropriate place like your Pictures folder.

The images can be where ever you want, including on a separate drive. You must ‘reconnect’ them, so Lightroom knows where they are: Lightroom thinks my photos are missing—how do I fix it? | The Lightroom Queen


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## rmargolis (May 11, 2020)

I will put the most recent LR files in a folder which I will put into Pictures. Since I have so many LR files on my computer, should I put only the ones with the most recent date in that folder I'm creating? What should I do with all those other folders dangling out there on my hard drive? 

Thank you.


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## Johan Elzenga (May 12, 2020)

I don't know what all those other folders are, but if they contain old catalogs and old support files then you can safely trash these.


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