I, like most photographers I know, are paranoid when it comes to back ups of their images. We know it is not a matter of ‘if’ hardware will fail but ‘when’ it will fail. Personally, I have a Mac for my works machine, but the same principles apply to Windows PCs or Linux boxes.. hardware fails, so look into your back up workflow before it all goes wrong. I would love it if the Windows and Linux crowd can add their data protection workflows to the comment section below.
Anyway, my Mac had a hardware failure while I was reorganising the file structures of my images in LR. I had full bootable back ups and hourly Time Machine back ups so at most I’d lose was one hours work. Sadly for me, that one hour was moving lots and lots of images within LR. When I restored my files from back up LR could no longer find my images.
Hundreds of my images showed the dreaded ? As seen in the image above.
The ‘?’ or message saying the file is missing or offline tells me that the Lightroom catalog no longer has a link to the underlying RAW or JPG file.
Lightroom wants to help you find these files, but it can’t find them all on its own. The first step is to find all the missing files in your LR catalog. Within the Library module, choose the Library Menu and then Find Missing Photos as shown below
depending on the size of your catalog, this may take some time to complete, but when it does, LR will show all of your missing images in one place, ready to be found.
select the first image in the missing files tab and click on the ‘?’
This will bring up a dialog box similar to this:
Select and copy the name of the file as shown above, then click Locate. The dialog box that pops up allows you to navigate your hard drives to find your missing file. This is can be very time consuming and tedious. By copying the previous filename and pasting it into the search box in the top right, the computer does the hard work of locating your missing file.
Make sure that the tick box ‘Find nearby missing photos’ is ticked. Select the correct file from the search results and click Select. The ‘Find nearby missing photos’ is a very useful in that it searches the rest of the current folder for anymore missing images, thus saving you a lot of manual leg work.
When you look at your missing photos folder now, you will find that a lot of the images no longer display a ‘?’ and LR is happy that it now knows where they are. Repeat the above until all images are now found, as shown below
I hope you find this useful and please add any comments or questions below in the comments section.
If this differs for Windows users, can you please add an explanation in the comments section
Cheers
Scot
Some other posts by Scot Baston
- The Eyes Have It.. LR4 Brush presets
- Shooting Tethered in Lightroom
- Changes to the Basics Tab in Lightroom 4 Beta
- A quick look at colour correction in Lightroom 4 Beta
- A further look at Keywords within Lightroom
- Creating coloured backdrops in Lightroom
- Importing in Lightroom using Presets
- Noise and Sharpening in Lightroom
- Custom Printing in Lightroom
- Creating a Web Gallery in Lightroom
- Backing up and Restoring Lightroom Catalogues
- Adding Contrast Using Lightroom Virtual Copies and Photoshop
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I’ve incorrectly aligned the wrong files to my missing originals, and lightroom has replaced an entire 2008 wedding with a 2010 one. Can I go back? Command Z isn’t working on this one! Help!
Hi Luke,
The first thing I would check is whether you are running Lightroom backups.. If so, just go back to the last catalogue backup before you misaligned the files
try this and if that doesn’t work let me know
Cheers
Scot
I use Lightroom 2.7 in Windows 7. Have never had a problem sorting and renaming files before exporting them. Now my link is lost. Initially when I open the files the little question mark comes up and gradually all of question marks disappear leaving a triangle that say there is a problem finding the files. Where your catalogue has an option “missing files”, mine says files that failed to export. Even when I have been quick enough to catch the question mark…and find the original file (actually not the original file, but the newly named file which was exported without the edits I had done!), it says it is not the same file until I force it to agree. Still I am left with unedited files….hours of work. I’m a little gunshy about Lightroom now.
Judy,
Are you files the original raw files ie .CR2 for Canon or .NEF for Nikon? or have you converted them to DNG
The original raw files hold the changes in a separate .XMP file, while the .DNG files hold the changes within itself.
I suspect the reason why you cannot see your edit is that you are using the raw & xmp files and they no longer match names. if this is the case, i think you have the long slow process of renaming the raw files to match the xmp filenames.
I suspect that the easiest way to get your images back into Lightroom would be to start a new catalog and import all your images again. the ones with a matching XMP file should still show the changes rendered, as should any DNG files. Any without a matching XMP file will have to be processed again.
This is not really an issue with lightroom, but rather the way that Raw & XMP files are linked. Using DNG negates this issue.
Also, in hindsight, backups are recommended regardless of workflow used
I hope this has helped some, and please let me know if I can help in any way
Scot
My Ligntroom 3 software is locked-up. I do not understand catalogs and did something to the catalogues files. When I try to load LR3 I get the error message catalogue DSC2274.NEF.Ircat can not be found and LR3 shuts down.
Dave
Hi Dave,
your issue is that DSC2274.NEF.lrcat is not a valid filename for a LR catalog. it would appear that your one of your nikon raw files has had its name changed to indicate it is a LR catalog.
to correct the problem, search your computer for other .lrcat files. if you find one, right click on it to bring up the menu, choose open with.. and choose lightroom. This should load up lightroom with the found catalog.
if you cannot find any other .lrcat files, try renaming the DSC2274.NEF.lrcat to LR3.lrcat and trying the above.
please let me know how you get on, and if I can help further
I have two hard drives with wedding photos on them.
Im trying to load them into lightroom and they wont load.
They are on my desktop and will open there but not in lightroom.
HELP
One day working in lightroom I just started losing files. I have 2867 missing files. I go into the library but I don’t have a “find missing files” section. HELP!!!
Ever since upgrading to OSX Lion, my lightroom has gone haywire. It seems to go through a double backup procedure, indicates it is loading the catalogue I asked it to, but loads the same catalog time after time (which is located on a different drive altogether) – When I went back to an earlier operating system (thanks to a clone drive!) It worked fine – ONCE. Now it fails to load my catalogs, but keeps going back to a previous catalog. Here’s the weird thing:
When I look at the banner on the TOP of the window, it shows the catalog name of the one it loaded, but if I go under the menu bar FILE and look at the one that is “checked” it reads that it is the one I DID want…
I have tried pulling out plists, reinstalling software, turning off auto backup (though it still goes through the backup procedure) and nothing seems to help.
Fortunately, I don’t think it is overwriting catalogs or sending backups to the wrong destination – it simply isn’t reading things right.
Any ideas??? Thanks!
Vince
Hi Vince. please excuse the lateness of the reply, had some internet issues.
This really isn’t something we can get involved in and should be taken up with Adobe really. They have an excellent help system where you can chat live with someone if that is easier. http://www.adobe.com/support/
Sorry we can’t be of more help.
I am using LR 2.7 and I am getting the missing files/offline notice. In trying all the solutions you have talked about above and not getting results, I am noticing this: I have one large external drive connected where all the files are located. Just recently, it seems to have started a new folder for that external drive. And the ‘old folder’ that has all the previous imports on it has a ‘offline’ mark next to it. The new folder is online, so the last two imports I am able to open.
What is the solution to this? It’s frustrating because I can’t edit a wedding that I worked on last week because of this. Is there some way I need to delete the new folder and activate the other one? Both folders are the same external drive, just one has named it F and one G.
thank you for any help!
Pat
My name is Joe
Rencently a photographer took photos of my daughters first birthday and loaded them into Lightbox.
He unfortunately formatted his hard drive and all photos were deleted from it.
HOwever they are still in light box but cant be opened because the source file is missing. Is there any way that these photos can be retrieved from lightbox and saved? He is using a pc.
A solution to this problem would be fantastic as we have no other photos
regards
Joe Palena
Hey Joe,
Depending on the size of the previews stored within Lightroom, you might be interested in this link
http://regex.info/blog/lightroom-goodies/preview-extraction
the plug in extracts the preview image from Lightroom and saves it as a jpg.. this might be the best solution you can hope for.
Failing that, the only other thing I can suggest is contacting a data recovery specialist to try and retrieve the lost images from the formatted drive.
Good luck
Scot
I am migrating from an old laptop to new iMac with OS X Lion, using LR2.
I exported my photos to a catalog on an external drive then imported to LR2 on my iMac, using the same external hard drive. For some reason a bunch of the photos now show the triangle and message that they are unsupported or damaged. They look fine in the old laptop/external catalog edition.
Tried re-importing from the catalog but as duplicates/same photos they do not re-import. Any ideas?
Hi Monica,
I think a possible solution is that you have the tick box for ‘do not import duplicate images’ ticked. changing that should allow them to be reimported again
regards
Scot
No dice. I removed the existing image from the catalog in LR, then tried to re-import from disk. Error message now says file appears to be unsupported or damaged, and does not import.
I can open the file fine in Preview and have it backed up all over the place.
Please help! I uploaded a family photo shoot and for some reason the only option of where to import was in lightroom3. So I imported them only to realize today that it says the files are missing. I did what you said to do but when I click locate, it takes me to other photos but not what im looking for. I even tried downloading lrviewer but nothing..feeling quite hopeless.
lightroom still does loaded up photos while the files are missing from the external harddrive. photos are seen beautiful and lovely. Unfortunately, the external harddrive apparently is discontinued due to the damage itself. what about still photos(file missing) is there optional way to save them by conversion or something as you designed this lightroom 2.7. please help me bec they are important wedding.
Hi- I’m working on a huge wedding in Lightroom about the same time I am switching over to a new computer. My IT guy moved my files onto another hard drive, how do I guide Lightroom to this without having to do it one at a time? Can I just move the files back? Is there a way to tell the path that they were once located at…. everything is temporarily confused as we are still trying to organize the system.
hIf a photo is in two files, how do I remove a photo from one of the files without removing it from the disk?
I cannot access the end of the keyword list past the keywords beginning with S. The sliding bar is all the way down to the bottom. How can I access the end of my keyword list?
Extenal USB HD
I have all my photos on and external HD. When I went on vacation we uplugged the PC computer and its usb devices. After coming back we started the PC up (64 bit Vista) and plugged in the external usb HD. Now Lightroom says it can find the photos. I checked the HD and the photos are still there, just not linked. How can I relink the photos (I have over 30k pictures) without doing one at a time??
Thanks,
Glenn
Help, Panic! I take all the pictures for my school’s website. i happily use lightroom and I am aware of the ‘missing file’ syndrome’ as I sometimes use the wrong flast drive but I keep all the picture I shoot on my hard drive. I was editing pictures yesterday….all was well. Today I opened up to see the ? sign so I checked the connection…hard drive is showing on the desktop of my MAC but the pictures are off line or missing. When I g through and find the picture on the hard drive, I get this message: ‘ the file,’rockets’ is associated with another photo in the catalog. Each file can only be associated with one photo.’ Every file in this catalog says this….help urgently required..I would be very grateful! Judy
Help. I made a “New Catalog” in LR and now can’t bring up the old catalog with all my photos.
How do I get back to my old catalog?
Thanks,
Steve
This is the main reason I stopped using Lightroom. I’m too much of a dunce to have to unravel this problem from time to time. Don’t need the headache.
Answer to the missing files on External USB HD of Glenn Rosander Nov 17.
Same panic with me. Windows assigns different drive letters if you mount external HDs in different order. What worked for me: use Folder view in left panel and locate the drive with the missing photo’s. Underneath, you find a ‘folder’ with just the drive letter. Right click and select: ‘Update folder location …’and then select the drive with your photo’s from the menu.
I’ve removed some files on my Mac (Lion), using Finder. Now, Lightroom 3 complains that it can’t find the files. How can I remove the folder within Lightroom 3?
John,
in the Library module of Lightroom.. go to the menu at the top of the screen
Library > Find Missing Photos
this will show you all the photos that Lightroom thinks are missing. select the photos you want to remove from Lightroom and press the Delete key. this removes the photos from LR
to remove folders from LR, go to the folders tab in the left hand panel on the Library module.. find the folder to be deleted.. right click ( or cmd click on a mac) the folder to be removed.. this brings up the context sensitive menu.. find the option ‘Remove’ and click it
Hope that helps
Steve,
re: finding your old catalog
go to the menu
File > Open Recent.
This should show the last few catalogs opened.. select your old catalog and load that
if that fails.. got to File > Open Catalog
Choose your old catalog and open