# Perplexing problem



## Balliolman (Aug 15, 2018)

I have a problem “finding” my “My Lightroom Photos” folder within LR. My MLP folder, on a separate HD, is okay and as it should be however there is a mismatch with the folder tree in LR itself. In LR there is an extra copy of a subfolder called “BBQ” which is reported to contain all my photos, when in reality it should be 10 files only -- as in the true BBQ folder lower in the tree. Please see the screenshot. Because this expanded phantom folder does not exist on HD it is preventing LR’s Find Missing Folder function to operate correctly.

I have no idea how this apparent duplication has happened. What is perplexing is that I don’t want to use the Remove Folder function on the mystery subfolder in case anything catastrophic happens – I had one shot at it but the 75 mb was taking too long and so aborted!

I am not sure what my options are and need your advice!


----------



## Johan Elzenga (Aug 15, 2018)

'Find Missing Folder' should still work fine, but I'm afraid you'll have to use that on all the missing subfolders that Lightroom thinks should be inside that 'BBQ' folder. So for example, you right-click on the missing '2008' subfolder, choose 'Find Missing Folder' and select the real '2008' folder. That will 'reconnect' the 2008 folder, and in the folder panel it will move up one level to become a folder _next_ to the BBQ folder rather than a subfolder of it. A lot of work, but there should be no problem.


----------



## Balliolman (Aug 15, 2018)

Johan, thank you for your suggestion --  it was by that method 2007 was recovered --  and I shall do the same for the remaining folders. Therefore the phantom BBQ will be at the bottom. The final matter is deciding what to do with it; let it be or get rid of it safely. I wonder would the Remove Folder function be the way or someway else? Your thoughts, please?


----------



## Johan Elzenga (Aug 16, 2018)

BBQ is not a phantom folder. It's a real folder (it's in the screenshot of your drive!), so it should not be removed. The only thing that was phantom is that for some reason Lightroom thought that a lot of other folders were subfolders of BBQ.


----------



## Balliolman (Aug 16, 2018)

Well the finding folder procedure appears to have been successful with a reestablished folder of photos! There remains but one anomaly the BBQ folder which is down to its original total but trying find it did not work:





It would be nice to finally squash this detail!  Johan, thank you very much for your advice, sir!


----------



## Johan Elzenga (Aug 16, 2018)

That second BBQ folder does not exist and is the same as the parent folder. Is this what you get when you try to reconnect it?

BTW, I still see loads of missing folders. I would start by reconnecting those before trying to resolve the double BBQ folder.


----------



## Balliolman (Aug 23, 2018)

The screenshot was taken when I tried the find missing folder function. I managed to find all the other folders successfully. When at the very last I tried to find BBQ again I got the same message.
All seemed well and dandy for a few days importing new shots; the catalog was backed up at the end of the work. Today a new permutation has appeared. ‘My Lightroom Folder’ is not found at all and others are missing – which I could not find on my drive.

MLP and lrcats are still on my external drive so I should be able to restore matters, I guess, suppose, hope …  I used to be familiar with all this years ago but now not certain at all. The following screenshots show what I have to work with. Do I have all that is needed to restore my work? And what is the procedure to do so?

I have no idea how all these shenanigans have been caused.  Perplexed, I am indeed, Johan.


----------



## Johan Elzenga (Aug 23, 2018)

Try this: Right-click on the F: folder and choose 'Hide This Parent'. Restart Lightroom.


----------



## Balliolman (Aug 23, 2018)

JohanElzenga said:


> Try this: Right-click on the F: folder and choose 'Hide This Parent'. Restart Lightroom.



Did so. On restarting all remains the same except the folder hidden is not shown, of course.


----------



## Johan Elzenga (Aug 23, 2018)

You should now be able to use ‘Find Missing Folder’ and reconnect them.


----------



## Balliolman (Aug 23, 2018)

This is what I have now.  Why is LR treating my MLP folder with close to 28K images as non-existent? What has gone awry with my system?  Now getting concerned!


----------



## Johan Elzenga (Aug 23, 2018)

Is it possible that Lightroom thinks that this folder is on the (missing) D: or E: drive? Because these are collapsed, there is too
Iittle information to suggest what might be going on. Same for the (not missing) G: drive.


----------



## Balliolman (Aug 23, 2018)

I have not used the D or E drive for nearly two years so do not know how files made since then should be listed. The G drive is never used for LR purposes the few images there were placed mistakenly.

Frequently when trying to safely disconnect the drive a false positive is given saying LR is being used by another program when it is not. Could this be a clue. For the first time I have got this:


----------



## Johan Elzenga (Aug 23, 2018)

Windows sometimes assigns a different drive letter to a drive, if you do not manually assign a drive letter yourself. That seems to have happened here too. Lightroom thinks that your ‘My Lightroom Photos’ folder is on the missing D: drive. Just reconnect it to the real location. You will get a question about merging. Click the merge button.

It’s better to assign your drive letters manually (and use a high letter), so it does not happen again. How to assign permanent letters to drives in Windows


----------



## Balliolman (Aug 23, 2018)

"Just reconnect it to the real location. You will get a question about merging. Click the merge button." I dont really understand this. My thinking is there could be a step or two here which is not specified, sorry. 



So change the current F: drive say to V:  then, what?


----------



## Johan Elzenga (Aug 24, 2018)

Balliolman said:


> So change the current F: drive say to V:  then, what?


Then use 'Find Missing Folder' one more time to reconnect the Lightroom folders to the V: disk, and you should not see the problem of missing folders anymore in the future (at least not for this reason).


----------



## Johan Elzenga (Aug 24, 2018)

Balliolman said:


> "Just reconnect it to the real location. You will get a question about merging. Click the merge button." I dont really understand this. My thinking is there could be a step or two here which is not specified, sorry.


Just try it, and if you do stumble over something not specified, then report back.


----------



## Balliolman (Aug 24, 2018)

Successfully changed drive F to V. 

With V connected LR opened to a default catalog. 

Should I now go  to File>Open Catalog> choose the latest dated?

Or should I go by another method?


----------



## Johan Elzenga (Aug 24, 2018)

Yes, just open the catalog on the V: drive. You only need to do this once, if your preferences are set to open the most recent catalog. Otherwise, just change this setting so Lightroom knows that it should use the catalog on the V: drive from now on. Then reconnect your folders via the Find Missing Folder option.


----------



## Balliolman (Aug 24, 2018)

Oh dear, matters are now looking seriously bad. 

Referring to post #7 above,  I chose a .lrcat dated 15 August 2018 which predated all these shenanigans and the most data listed this installed all my photos to about mid-2017 -- so several thousand shots missing.

Trying the .lrcat dated 23 August only resulted in getting a list of missing files which is limited to what I posted in post #11:



​A catastrophic reduction.

Thinking about this I should have a long list of .lrcat files as I have used the backup and integrity functions many many times since mid-2017. Where is the .lrcat that has the processing info for all the photos developed for the last 12 months?

 Lightroom is installed on my C: drive and that has only an .lrcat for LR5.

How has this mess happened? A sub-file in my main LR photos which contained 10 images gets to be 'credited' with 28,000? Is this something you have encountered before Johan/Anyone?


----------



## Victoria Bampton (Aug 24, 2018)

Hang on Balliolman, you're wrapping yourself in circles here. You were doing fine with Johan's instructions. 

Is this the latest catalog with all of the edits? Let's not go back in time!!!

Don't panic that they seem to have gone AWOL. To reassure yourself that nothing is lost, just check the Catalog panel > All Photographs count and check that's still 28k or higher. If it is, we're all good. The old reason it wouldn't be is if you'd started removing photos from the catalog, which you haven't, right?

Now open the D, E and G drives in the Folders panel. Ignore the fact that the external drive is currently called F. Are the 28000 photos there somewhere?


----------



## Balliolman (Aug 24, 2018)

I am certainly getting wrapped up in circles, Victoria! The D drive is showing 27,177 photos which is the correct tally.

I have not removed any photos from any catalog.


----------



## Victoria Bampton (Aug 24, 2018)

Great, let's have a screenshot of D. And then make sure you've followed Johan's instructions to make the drive something later like V before we finish fixing those missing folders.


----------



## Balliolman (Aug 24, 2018)




----------



## Johan Elzenga (Aug 24, 2018)

So right-click on My Lightroom Photos, choose 'Find Missing Folder' and navigate to this folder on its current drive (whatever that drive is). Select it, click the 'Merge' button if you get the merge dialog and you're done.


----------



## Balliolman (Aug 15, 2018)

I have a problem “finding” my “My Lightroom Photos” folder within LR. My MLP folder, on a separate HD, is okay and as it should be however there is a mismatch with the folder tree in LR itself. In LR there is an extra copy of a subfolder called “BBQ” which is reported to contain all my photos, when in reality it should be 10 files only -- as in the true BBQ folder lower in the tree. Please see the screenshot. Because this expanded phantom folder does not exist on HD it is preventing LR’s Find Missing Folder function to operate correctly.

I have no idea how this apparent duplication has happened. What is perplexing is that I don’t want to use the Remove Folder function on the mystery subfolder in case anything catastrophic happens – I had one shot at it but the 75 mb was taking too long and so aborted!

I am not sure what my options are and need your advice!


----------



## Balliolman (Aug 24, 2018)

The drive with the photos is now designated V:


----------



## Balliolman (Aug 24, 2018)

Success!  



​What to do with this duplicate file as created in post 20?



​
How did a sub file, a week ago, get credited with the entire photos tally?

But most importantly relief all round!


----------



## Johan Elzenga (Aug 24, 2018)

Do exactly the same with this folder. Reconnect it to the real folder, and click ‘Merge’ when you get that dialog.


----------

