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Oct 13, 2021 13:18:39   #
Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona
 
Lost all of my applications when my Windows 10 computer crashed. I have reinstalled Lightroom Classic, Release 10.4 but am unable to restore my backup catalog. I spent a fruitless 2 hours with Adobe tech support last night. They were unable to help, perhaps a language problem.

What I have done is: Reinstalled a clean version of Lightroom Classic, Made a copy of ircat file from my back up folder. Relabeled the ircat created by LR. Pasted the backup ircat into the catalog file. When I open LR using the backup ircat I get my collection files with "can't find the file" error message and my Key Words which also can't find the file.

I have included a screen shot.


(Download)

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Oct 13, 2021 13:40:53   #
Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA
 
Curmudgeon wrote:
Lost all of my applications when my Windows 10 computer crashed. I have reinstalled Lightroom Classic, Release 10.4 but am unable to restore my backup catalog. I spent a fruitless 2 hours with Adobe tech support last night. They were unable to help, perhaps a language problem.

What I have done is: Reinstalled a clean version of Lightroom Classic, Made a copy of ircat file from my back up folder. Relabeled the ircat created by LR. Pasted the backup ircat into the catalog file. When I open LR using the backup ircat I get my collection files with "can't find the file" error message and my Key Words which also can't find the file.

I have included a screen shot.
Lost all of my applications when my Windows 10 com... (show quote)


Call Adobe. Had a similar issue when I switched to a new computer. They talked me through it all.

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Oct 13, 2021 13:45:40   #
fredpnm Loc: Corrales, NM
 
Sinewsworn wrote:
Call Adobe. Had a similar issue when I switched to a new computer. They talked me through it all.

Nothing like reading the original post and understanding what was said...perhaps Jack is right, there is a language problem.

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Oct 13, 2021 13:54:03   #
DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA
 
Load the catalog and press one of the "not found" marks on the image ("!"). It will tell you where it thinks the file should be. Make a note of the path to the file.

If your files are on an an external disk it could very well be that Windows loaded the disk with a new drive letter. That will screw up the path to the files that LR expects to see.

You need to force Windows to set the drive letter to what LR expects to see.

Go to the Disk Management Utility. (Google will give you some ways to find that). It will give you a list of the disks that you have attached to your computer. Locate the one that has your images. Using the Disk Management Utility, you can assign a permanent name for that drive. That way whenever you plug it in, it will have the right name (as long as there is not a different disk using that name).

It's important that the drive name be constant. The drive name is part of the path that Lightroom uses to locate the files.

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Oct 13, 2021 13:56:46   #
Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA
 
fredpnm wrote:
Nothing like reading the original post and understanding what was said...perhaps Jack is right, there is a language problem.


CALL ADOBE! The individual originally contacted did not give the best effort. Yes, I have difficulty understanding them at times. This type of problem can really be complex and require a good understanding of Windows and LR. But if you cannot determine the fix measures, then Adobe is your only help agency.
I have an on-going issue with my MacBook Pro-overheating. Already replaced the entire mobo, CPU and power suppl. Took 12 calls to Apple Care to get them to understand that the computer had fried itself. They are based in the U.S. and they speak an understandable version of English.

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Oct 13, 2021 14:02:38   #
UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT
 
Jack, use the Adobe chat feature. It eliminates most of the language issues. Also, if asked, they can take over your computer.

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Oct 13, 2021 14:21:14   #
Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona
 
Thank you all. I did use the chat feature. Three different "experts" rummaged around my computer for two hours. Adobe tech support is not an answer for me, although it seems to work well for others. I checked the drive designation and it seems correct. I'm going to see if anybody comes up with an idea, if not, I will start the long boring job of of reconstruction LR from scratch.

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Oct 13, 2021 15:36:28   #
Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)
 
For the future, Menu->Edit->Catalog Settings->Metadata Tab - check the box Automatically write changes to xmp. This way even if your catalog is hopelessly lost or damaged, you won't lose your edits. You will lose any previews you built, but that isn't so terrible.

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Oct 13, 2021 15:57:53   #
DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA
 
If your current catalog isn't working, can you try a backup catalog? Hopefully you enabled writing of backups every so often. Edit => Catalog Settings => General => (Every exit; Once a day on exit; Once a week on exit; Once a month on exit; Never).

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Oct 13, 2021 18:11:59   #
fredpnm Loc: Corrales, NM
 
Curmudgeon wrote:
...
What I have done is: ... Made a copy of ircat file from my back up folder. Relabeled the ircat created by LR. Pasted the backup ircat into the catalog file. When I open LR using the backup ircat I get my collection files with "can't find the file" error message and my Key Words which also can't find the file.
I have included a screen shot.

You made two interesting comments on the steps you have taken. Perhaps you could expand on these two...

"Relabeled the ircat [file? The catalog] created by LR." This says, to me, this was the active catalog you had been using before the crash. If so why did you feel the need to use a backup copy of the catalog?

"Pasted the backup ircat into the catalog file." Shall I assume that you extracted this ircat file from the backup zip file? How old was the backup ircat file? What do you mean "into the catalog file"? Perhaps you meant folder instead? I'm not aware of separate collection and keyword files, so could you expand a little bit on what you mean by those statements?

Your screenshot seems to say the location of your photos (Drive letter and folder/subfolders) is not the same as what the catalog is aware of. As others have perhaps LR thinks (according to the catalog) your photos are on E: drive but since you 'rebuilt' your computer that 'drive' is now labeled as D: by the Windows OS. If so that is easy to change. This will throw off your Collection and Keyword information as well.

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Oct 13, 2021 18:15:08   #
CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City
 
DirtFarmer wrote:
Load the catalog and press one of the "not found" marks on the image ("!"). It will tell you where it thinks the file should be. Make a note of the path to the file.

If your files are on an an external disk it could very well be that Windows loaded the disk with a new drive letter. That will screw up the path to the files that LR expects to see.

You need to force Windows to set the drive letter to what LR expects to see.

Go to the Disk Management Utility. (Google will give you some ways to find that). It will give you a list of the disks that you have attached to your computer. Locate the one that has your images. Using the Disk Management Utility, you can assign a permanent name for that drive. That way whenever you plug it in, it will have the right name (as long as there is not a different disk using that name).

It's important that the drive name be constant. The drive name is part of the path that Lightroom uses to locate the files.
Load the catalog and press one of the "not fo... (show quote)


Jack, take this idea and report back on what /where LR thinks the image resides and how that differs from where the image file currently resides. This should be the 'tip' that explains what is going on.

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Oct 13, 2021 19:18:09   #
Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona
 
fredpnm wrote:
You made two interesting comments on the steps you have taken. Perhaps you could expand on these two...

"Relabeled the ircat [file? The catalog] created by LR." This says, to me, this was the active catalog you had been using before the crash. If so why did you feel the need to use a backup copy of the catalog?

"Pasted the backup ircat into the catalog file." Shall I assume that you extracted this ircat file from the backup zip file? How old was the backup ircat file? What do you mean "into the catalog file"? Perhaps you meant folder instead? I'm not aware of separate collection and keyword files, so could you expand a little bit on what you mean by those statements?

Your screenshot seems to say the location of your photos (Drive letter and folder/subfolders) is not the same as what the catalog is aware of. As others have perhaps LR thinks (according to the catalog) your photos are on E: drive but since you 'rebuilt' your computer that 'drive' is now labeled as D: by the Windows OS. If so that is easy to change. This will throw off your Collection and Keyword information as well.
You made two interesting comments on the steps you... (show quote)


When you install LR it automatically creates a ircat file. In order to use the backup file it is necessary to either delete the new ircat or as suggested by Adobe simply rename it.

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Oct 13, 2021 19:47:13   #
Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona
 
Thank you all for your assistance, especially DirtFarmer and CHG_Canon. The computer re-designating the external drive letters was exactly the problem. Got it changed and everything works fine again. If I ever meet any of you, the drinks are on me.

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Oct 13, 2021 20:01:44   #
DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA
 
Curmudgeon wrote:
When you install LR it automatically creates a ircat file. In order to use the backup file it is necessary to either delete the new ircat or as suggested by Adobe simply rename it.


Not necessarily.

The backup file that LR generates automatically (if you have that enabled as I described above) can be in a different folder from the catalog being used. Mine gets stored in a folder labelled with the date the backup was saved which is within the subfolder "Backup" which is in the folder holding the catalog. It is zipped and has the same name as the .lrcat file. If you extract it into the same folder that the backup is located in, there is no conflict between catalogs since they are in different folders. Note that the catalog can be anywhere in your computer. You're not limited to the default location.

When you exit LR and a backup is due (depending on the frequency you set in the catalog preferences) there will be a dialog that enables you to produce the backup or skip it for this time. There is a button in that dialog that allows you to choose the folder you want to use for backups.

It's been a while since I installed LR (it's usually just an update since I've been using it on this computer for many years) so I don't know what the default is for the catalog name or location on installation, but I wouldn't be surprised if those parameters could be specified at installation time.

If you have an old catalog you want to use when you install LR on a new computer (or for some other reason) all you need to do is double click on the old catalog name in File Explorer and LR will start up using that catalog. So you should be able to install LR, specify a random name for the new catalog, after which you ignore the new catalog and double click on the old catalog. If you have LR set to use the last catalog on startup (Edit => Preferences => General) then that is the catalog that LR will use until you change it.

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Oct 13, 2021 20:05:06   #
DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA
 
Curmudgeon wrote:
... If I ever meet any of you, the drinks are on me.


Generous of you, but I'm a long way from Arizona so our meetings are most likely to be online. Don't wait. You can drink mine in the meantime and I'll toast UHH.

(Might not be a good idea to drink and postprocess..............)

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