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dgluck1
dgluck1
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Can't locate negatives on HD

Jun 8, 2012 12:37 PM

iMac 27,quad, Lion, LR4.1 - I successfully completed an Import and processing of about 750 images (reduced down to 350) of birds from a recent trip. The next day while working on a few more images,  the evil question mark appeared shortly after a computer blip (unidentified) for all of the images from that download to the present (adding in the 4 or 5 new ones). The folder on the left penal that should have contained them had a question mark as well which I tried to locate and reconnect. That folder dissappeared as soon as I found it on the HD in the main folder with the others for previous dates. There are no folders for the missing dates that I could find. I have tried to searchlight a number of the lost files by title with no luck on the HD. All the thumbnails with question marks are still there but no connections. There were no files in the trash indicating they had been dumped. Before I reload the 750 and start again, does anyone have any suggestions where or how to look for these? I've used LR from the beginning and this is the first time I've faced this particular problem. Thanks in advance for any help.

689 Views   7 Replies   Latest reply: dgluck1, Jun 9, 2012 10:05 AM
 
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  • janelle_f
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    1. janelle_f,
    Jun 8, 2012 1:59 PM   in reply to dgluck1
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    dgluck1-

    how unfortunate about the missing files. I dont know if this will help you at all or not, but at least it can prevent the problem from occuring again:

     

    http://www.computer-darkroom.com/lr_tracking_files/locate-lost-files.h tm

     

    regards,

    janelle

     

    p.s. this too: http://lightroomsecrets.com/2009/05/recover-lost-images-with-lrviewer/

     
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  • dgluck1
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    2. dgluck1,
    Jun 8, 2012 3:13 PM   in reply to janelle_f
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    Thanks but there's nothing new here that helps. Those tips have to do with reconnecting thumbnails to negatives, not finding missing negatives. Not sure there is a LR answer. It could be the connections between the HD and the computer were severed somehow, which might account for nothing in the Trash. Life goes on.

     

     

    David Gluckman

    811 22nd St.

    Pt. Townsend, WA 98368

    360 379-0360

     
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  • web-weaver
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    3. web-weaver,
    Jun 8, 2012 3:22 PM   in reply to dgluck1
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    The only way to make sure where your images are is to lacate them via Mac Finder.

    Since Lr is not browser based, i.e. it does not automatically "see" what is on your hard drive (that's why you have to import images into Lr) you need something that truly recognizes files wherever they are.

    Use Mac Finder to locate your folders; then in Lr try to reconnect the missing folders with the location found in Mac Finder.

     

    Also, Lr usually does not loose the connection with images or folders. The connection is only lost when image files or folders are re-named, or moved, or the folder structure changed outside of Lr (i.e. in Mac Finder or in another program such as Adobe Bridge). When working with Lr it is best practice to do all image management in Lr only - that way Lr will keep track of where things are located.

     
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  • dgluck1
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    4. dgluck1,
    Jun 8, 2012 8:06 PM   in reply to web-weaver
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    Thanks for your response. I understand and agree with all of your information. Unfortunately, none of it helps me. I didn't do anything I'm aware of that would cause the disconnect between LR and the negatives. They were connected for a week while I worked on them and yesterday the question marks came up and the negatives were no longer on any of my disk drives (except for the unedited backups with different titles that I had not had a chance to replace with the developed ones). I decided to mark this up as a computer glitch and start over with the backups. Shouldn't take me as long as the first time since I can remember most of my choices and development changes.  I will, however, do backups as I finish each bird. Life goes on.

     

     

    David Gluckman

    811 22nd St.

    Pt. Townsend, WA 98368

    360 379-0360

     
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  • Cornelia-I
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    5. Cornelia-I,
    Jun 9, 2012 12:44 AM   in reply to dgluck1
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    "unedited backups with different titles": do you mean different filenames?

     

    If you remember you renaming scheme you might also be successful in copying a backup file into the spot whre LR expexts it, rename it in finder, and be done.

    Because then the connection is reestablished.

     

    Question is what is easier to remember: filenames or develop actions?

     

    On no account would I hurry to purge the thumbnails with the question marks from your catalog!

    They contain all your develop history still. So even if you would map them wrongly, the results could look crappy, but you have a chance to look at your history...

     

    Cornelia

     
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  • dj_paige
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    6. dj_paige,
    Jun 9, 2012 4:13 AM   in reply to dgluck1
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    dgluck1 wrote:

     

    Thanks for your response. I understand and agree with all of your information. Unfortunately, none of it helps me. I didn't do anything I'm aware of that would cause the disconnect between LR and the negatives. They were connected for a week while I worked on them and yesterday the question marks came up and the negatives were no longer on any of my disk drives (except for the unedited backups with different titles that I had not had a chance to replace with the developed ones). I decided to mark this up as a computer glitch and start over with the backups. Shouldn't take me as long as the first time since I can remember most of my choices and development changes.  I will, however, do backups as I finish each bird. Life goes on.

    Have you ttried using an "undelete utility" to locate and restore the files? I think this is a possible solution in your case. (By the way, we don't need your address and phone number)

     
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  • dgluck1
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    7. dgluck1,
    Jun 9, 2012 10:05 AM   in reply to dj_paige
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    I thank all for your suggestions. I tried them out to the best of my time constraints and ended up deleting the thumbnails and starting again. In the long run it was going to be faster unless I stumbled on the correct solution quickly, which seemed to be finding an undelete utility, learn how to use it on my mac, proceed and hope it worked. Since my images always come out better the second time around, I decided to do a clean start and remember to backup as I go. I have always wanted to know the inner workings of computers but never had the time or inclination to learn. In my simple terms, I presume that somehow the computer cpu lost the addresses of the developed images on the HD like LR loses the connections with negatives when the file names are changed or the files are moved outside of LR. Another learning experience!

     

     

    David Gluckman

     
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