> On Nov 8, 2015, at 6:46 PM, Godfrey DiGiorgi <godd...@me.com> wrote: > > I see questions like this constantly. > > 1- understand how Lightroom interacts with the file system BEFORE you do > something and then have to figure out to fix it. > > 2- when you don't understand something, ask questions BEFORE you try things. > > 3- when you're learning stuff, make a small, temporary catalog folder and > image file repository to experiment with BEFORE you apply actions to your > large working catalog to be sure it operates as you expected from your > understanding. > > Your image files are not in the LR catalog. The catalog *references* your > image files wherever you happen to put them in the file system. So let's say > you have a LR catalog on your home drive and you import a bunch of files on > an external drive "in place".. that is, without copying or moving them. The > LR catalog now knows about those files and let's you work on them, with them, > but *the files themselves have not moved and by working with them, they > themselves are not changed*. All that happens as you work on them is that LR > records what you did, adding those instructions to the catalog entry for the > images you touched, and updates the previews it uses to display your work in > the .LRDATA file in the catalog folder. > > Presumably, you have a backup system that backs up both the original files on > the external drive and the catalog folder to another, separate hard drive. > > Now, let's consider what happens if/when the external drive containing the > imported files breaks and you lose it. You get another new external drive, > you go to your backup drive and copy the image files onto it. Then you run LR > and, WITHOUT reimporting anything, you right-click on the folder that > contains your image files in the Folders panel and choose the command to > "update folder location". Once you do that, LR updates all the catalog > entries so that it now understands all the new locations where the files are > located. You're done, just keep on working. > > Let's next consider what happens if the opposite occurs—namely, the disk > containing the catalog folder breaks. If it's the startup drive, of course > you replace it, reinstall the OS, configure your account, and install LR. > Then you go to your backup, copy the LR catalog folder that your work is in > to the new drive, and open it with LR. Then you do exactly as you did above: > WITHOUT reimporting anything, you choose the "update folder location" command > and choose the folder on the external drive where your files are located. > You're done again, just keep on working. > > If you reimport things erroneously when trying to recover from a hard drive > failure, you get duplicated info in the catalog and it's hard to determine > whether the dataset is complete. To clean it up first requires that you > think: > - knowing the above about how LR works, what exactly did you import? > - Where are the image files located? > - When you look at the files in LR, are all your modifications in place? > - Which of the entries in the Folders panel point to old information that is > no longer valid, or no longer points to the actual files > > Once you have the answers to those questions answered, select the obsolete > duplicate information in the LR catalog and delete it.
Thanks, Godfrey—for the helpful clarification. And the spanking. Since the folder on the backup drive was identical to the one on the drive that failed, I expected that LR would recognize it and that would be it. When instead it suggested importing it did occur to me that it might be good to check with the group first. That’s the best I can say for myself. I won’t make that mistake in similar situations in the future. So, to answer your questions in order: I imported what I believed to be an up-to-date backup of the database on the original drive. There is a separate backup of the catalog, but not on a separate drive. The images are now on the drive from which I imported them. However, after importing them, in the process of setting up the new backup system, I copied the database to one of the new drives, reformatted and renamed the drive from which it was imported, then copied the database back to it. I assume that is why LR does not now recognize the drive. Because LR does not recognize the drive I am unable to look at my images. Right-clicking—actually, it’s gesture equivalent—has no effect. I am uncertain at this point which of the folders in LR points to the actual files, i.e., the files on the reformatted and renamed drive from which they were imported. There are indications in favor of both. (1) There is a recent subfolder in one of them (My Book 2) that has two images that also exist on the reformatted-renamed drive. The other folder (My Book 1) does not have that subfolder. Another has 13 images, and the same folder on the reformatted-renamed drive also has 13 images, while the My Book1 folder in LR has only 6. This suggests My Book 2 points to the database on the reformatted-renamed drive. (2) However, LR indicates different numbers of images in the two folders, with My Book 2 having more than My Book 1. This discrepancy exists in subfolders going back as far as 2010. I am not certain what to make of it. On the one hand, I’m certain that I have not added any images to folders that far back since the last use of My Book !, i.e., since the drive failed. That seems to suggest that the My Book 1 folder points to the database on the reformatted-renamed drive. On the other hand, neither have any images been removed that far back, and that undermines the assumption that the My Book 1 folder points to the images on the disk. If the database on the reformatted-renamed disk were an up-to-date copy of the one on the drive that failed, this discrepancy should not exist. In spite of it, I am inclined to go with (1). I know for a fact that there are images on the drive that My Book 1 knows nothing about while My Book 2 does. I am puzzled as to why right-clicking on the folder doesn’t present the option of updating the folder location. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Eric Weir Decatur, GA USA eew...@bellsouth.net “...we are a form of invitation to others and to otherness..." - David Whyte -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
