Lost Photos in LR 6.14: Turned on my Lightroom 6.14 today, and there were no pictures anywhere. Restarted the computer several times and reloaded LR but nothing changed, still no...

Indiana Loc: Huntington, Indiana

Turned on my Lightroom 6.14 today, and there were no pictures anywhere. Restarted the computer several times and reloaded LR but nothing changed, still no pictures. Before I make a mess of everything, I am looking for advise from HH members. I recall this question being answered before, but I can't find the post or response. Any help would be appreciated. I am not a computer/program guy so I have no idea what happened. When I look at the LR screen, it looks like a template with no photos in it.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Your images are now on a different drive and / or in a different folder structure.

Are they on an external drive, where maybe the drive letter changed? Say from J to H? Solution: get the drive reconnected with the proper (original) letter.

Are they moved to a different folder. Say \pictures to now \pictures\misplaced-folder? Solution: Move the folders back to the proper structure. Review the folder names inside LR and figure out why that structure no longer exists on your disk.

Have you 'lost' your LRCAT with all the original data? This would be an empty catalog, rather than a catalog with just missing / not-found images. Look in your \backup folder, if you can't determine from the 'modified date' of the LRCAT files when looking in the \pictures\lightroom folder at the *.LRCAT files.

CamB Loc: Juneau, Alaska

Indiana wrote:

Turned on my Lightroom 6.14 today, and there were no pictures anywhere. Restarted the computer several times and reloaded LR but nothing changed, still no pictures. Before I make a mess of everything, I am looking for advise from HH members. I recall this question being answered before, but I can't find the post or response. Any help would be appreciated. I am not a computer/program guy so I have no idea what happened. When I look at the LR screen, it looks like a template with no photos in it.

I would do a finder search for one missing photo, using it’s name or even part of it’s name. Or even file type. NEF, jpeg, whatever. It should be wherever you store all your photo files. Note the name of that storage disk and make sure LR (or whatever) is looking at that drive. If using Windows NAME YOUR DRIVES.
Everyday day on UHH there are people saying Windows changed the drive letter. Why people put up with that I’ll never understand. Hopefully this finds your files.
…Cam

mwsilvers Loc: Central New Jersey

CamB wrote:

I would do a finder search for one missing photo, using it’s name or even part of it’s name. Or even file type. NEF, jpeg, whatever. It should be wherever you store all your photo files. Note the name of that storage disk and make sure LR (or whatever) is looking at that drive. If using Windows NAME YOUR DRIVES.
Everyday day on UHH there are people saying Windows changed the drive letter. Why people put up with that I’ll never understand. Hopefully this finds your files.
…Cam

I have been a user and software developer on the Windows platform since Windows 3.1 in the early '90's. Windows does not change drive designation letters unless a drive is physically removed or fails and a different drive is added prior to its being restored. Your suggestion that, "Everyday day on UHH there are people saying Windows changed the drive letter." is completely absurd. You are just making that up.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

If the library shows nothing, no pictures, no spaces for pictures, then LR is using an empty catalog. Search for a file with an .LRCAT extension.

If the library shows spaces for pictures, but no pictures in the empty spaces, then LR has lost track of your pictures. The drive name has been changed or the files have been moved.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Do a search for jpg or whatever format you're using. If you know the exact name of a picture, search for that. the app called Everything is excellent - and free.

Hip Coyote

mwsilvers wrote:

I have been a user and software developer on the Windows platform since Windows 3.1 in the early '90's. Windows does not change drive designation letters unless a drive is physically removed or fails and a different drive is added prior to its being restored. Your suggestion that, "Everyday day on UHH there are people saying Windows changed the drive letter." is completely absurd. You are just making that up.

To expand to the my scenario, (you are correct) if I unplug my external drive and plug in an SD card via adapter or any other disk, my computer assigns the external drive letter designation to the adapter. If I then plug in my external disc with pics, my LR catalog unable to find the photos. Which seems like lost pictures, time for panic, crying, a beer. Simple fix...have a beer, right click the windows bar icon, click on disk management and then re-designate the drives as I see fit. In my case, my external hard drive with pics is "D"...so I re designate it as such. Easy-Peazy.

CamB Loc: Juneau, Alaska

mwsilvers wrote:

I have been a user and software developer on the Windows platform since Windows 3.1 in the early '90's. Windows does not change drive designation letters unless a drive is physically removed or fails and a different drive is added prior to its being restored. Your suggestion that, "Everyday day on UHH there are people saying Windows changed the drive letter." is completely absurd. You are just making that up.

Are you trolling me? Not cool. When the insults start I’m gone.
…Cam

JD750 Loc: SoCal

Indiana wrote:

Turned on my Lightroom 6.14 today, and there were no pictures anywhere. Restarted the computer several times and reloaded LR but nothing changed, still no pictures. Before I make a mess of everything, I am looking for advise from HH members. I recall this question being answered before, but I can't find the post or response. Any help would be appreciated. I am not a computer/program guy so I have no idea what happened. When I look at the LR screen, it looks like a template with no photos in it.

Did any of the answers resolve the issue? Particularly Chg-Canons? He is an expert on LR.

Are you using a PC or a Mac?

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

mwsilvers wrote:

I have been a user and software developer on the Windows platform since Windows 3.1 in the early '90's. Windows does not change drive designation letters unless a drive is physically removed or fails and a different drive is added prior to its being restored. Your suggestion that, "Everyday day on UHH there are people saying Windows changed the drive letter." is completely absurd. You are just making that up.

👍👍

JD750 Loc: SoCal

mwsilvers wrote:

I have been a user and software developer on the Windows platform since Windows 3.1 in the early '90's. Windows does not change drive designation letters unless a drive is physically removed or fails and a different drive is added prior to its being restored. Your suggestion that, "Everyday day on UHH there are people saying Windows changed the drive letter." is completely absurd. You are just making that up.

I think you are missing the bigger picture. Nobody claimed the drive nos changed while the drive was attached. Disconnecting multiple external drives and reconnecting them in a different order will result in different assigned drive letters and that will break the LR link if there are LR photos on one of the drives.

Cam said “people report” which is true. They do. If you were put off by his statement “why do people put up with it”. I suggest try not to react emotionally. Just state the facts, one of which is people sometimes don’t understand how their computers work.

gvarner Loc: Central Oregon Coast

JD750 wrote:

I think you are missing the bigger picture. Nobod... (show quote)

I agree that some folks don’t understand how a computer works. I view digital cameras as just another computer accessory and learning how a computer works is a necessity in the digital photography world.

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

Indiana wrote:

Turned on my Lightroom 6.14 today, and there were no pictures anywhere. Restarted the computer several times and reloaded LR but nothing changed, still no pictures. Before I make a mess of everything, I am looking for advise from HH members. I recall this question being answered before, but I can't find the post or response. Any help would be appreciated. I am not a computer/program guy so I have no idea what happened. When I look at the LR screen, it looks like a template with no photos in it.

Here's the link to the other one. Paul is right on, ass usual.

https://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-754550-1.html

11bravo

To name a drive in Windows:
Open Windows Explorer. RIGHT click on the appropriate drive. In the pop-up window, select Properties. In the new pop-up window, General tab, enter the desired name in the top field. Click OK.

I have a lot of drives. My drive naming convention is:

Drive_letter_I_expect Drive_Name

For Drive_Name, I use either a meaningful name, e.g. Photos, or the manufacturer's serial number.

Now Windows will NOT use the Drive_letter_I_expect part to assign a drive letter. However, it makes it easy for me to see if drives have been mounted correctly by a simple glance at Windows Explorer, as the drives will be shown as, for example,

E Programs (E)
F Data (F)
G WX12345 (G)
P Photos (P)

where the letter in parentheses is the Windows mount point. G in the above is the manufacturer's serial number.

I also use a label maker to put the serial number and the drive letter on the front of the drive. Makes it easy to find a dismounted drive in storage. YMMV

frankraney Loc: Clovis, Ca.

11bravo wrote:

To name a drive in Windows: br Open Windows Explor... (show quote)

What I do!