Keywords not attached to photos, missing collections

[marilynv52480674]

I bought a new hard drive.  After migrating all of my files from the old hard drive, I opened Lightroom Classic, opened my most recent catalog and imported my photos from the new hard drive.  I have 42,000+ photos.  And I now have 27,000+ photos with no keywords attached, that number used to be less than 800.  All of the filter collections I had set up are also missing.  Also, my flags, stars and color coding have disappeared from most of my photos.  Someone had suggested I may have opened the wrong catalog, but all of the recent keywords I had added to the keyword list are intact and the color codes I had renamed are also still present.  Two years ago, my old hard drive had crashed and I used the same process to set up Lightroom again and had no problems at all.  Of course, this was before the new Lightroom Classic.  So I don't know if I did something wrong, or it's a glitch in the new program.  Does anyone have any suggestions?  I really don't want to have to go through all of my photos and add keywords, flags and color coding all over again.  Any help would be appreciated, Thank you!

[AxelMatt · Accepted solution]

Attached keywords, flags, stars color codings and so on are all stored in the catalog file.

Are you sure you are using the right catalog?

[marilynv52480674]

Yes.  In fact, I opened every catalog I had hoping for a different outcome. They were all the same. And keyword list, with all of the keywords I've added is still there in its entirety.  They just didn't attach to the photos.  For example: My photos from a recent trip. All of the keywords are there and they only attached to a limited number of photos. And I always add at least one keyword to all of my travel photos on import.

[JP Hess]

This might just be a play on words. But you indicated that you "imported" the images from the new hard drive. Does that mean that you imported the images into a new catalog?

[marilynv52480674]

When I opened the catalog, there were no photos showing, so as my photos were all on the new hard drive (given the same name as the old one that was removed because it was about to die), I imported all of the photos just the way I would have if I was adding new photos. 

[dj_paige]

marilynv52480674  wrote

When I opened the catalog, there were no photos showing, so as my photos were all on the new hard drive (given the same name as the old one that was removed because it was about to die), I imported all of the photos just the way I would have if I was adding new photos. 

You have to open the catalog you were using before the photos were moved, and then use that catalog. DO NOT IMPORT THE PHOTOS INTO THAT CATALOG. Instead you need to link the photos to their new location, by following these instructions (in particular, Figure 4 and associated text) Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders

Let me repeat the key piece of information: DO NOT IMPORT THE PHOTOS INTO THAT CATALOG.

[marilynv52480674]

DJ, Thanks for your help.  I admit that I'm not very tech savvy. But when I opened my catalog, the drive where my photos are stored did not appear under folders on the left panel. I have two drives: C: drive which I keep the programs on and D:drive which I keep the photos on.  The D drive wasn't even a choice. There were no photos in my library.  So there were no photos to reconnect, if I'm reading those directions correctly.  It was like opening Lightroom for the first time, except that all of my keywords were still there.

[dj_paige]

You have to open your original catalog, the one you used before you moved the photos. In Lightroom try File->Open Recent. If it's not there, use your operating system to search for files whose name ends with LRCAT.

[marilynv52480674]

That what I did. I opened Lightroom and then opened my most recent catalog. I think what I'm going to do is hook up my old hard drive and see if I can pull out the old catalog from that and maybe get different results : )

[dj_paige]

Sorry, if you opened the catalog file you were using before you moved the photos, you'd see all the photos and keywords would be attached. So this is not the catalog from before you moved the photos.

[marilynv52480674]

Yes.  In fact, I opened every catalog I had hoping for a different outcome. They were all the same. And keyword list, with all of the keywords I've added is still there in its entirety.  They just didn't attach to the photos.  For example: My photos from a recent trip. All of the keywords are there and they only attached to a limited number of photos. And I always add at least one keyword to all of my travel photos on import.