Unable to Access Some (But Not All) Folders After Upgrading to New PC

[andrewbdub]

I recently upgraded my PC and since then haven't been able to access any 2018 images taken prior to that date in Lightroom. The folders don't show up in the Library. However images from 2017, which are stored on the same external drive ARE present. The images are still on the drive when viewed in Windows Explorer. In summary, images from 2017 and the second half of 2018 are present in LR and able to be edited, etc, but images from the first half of 2018 are missing.

Any and all advice greatly appreciated as this is causing my to get quite a lot of grey hairs.

[F. McLion]

Please tell us exactly how you did move to the new computer.

Did you copy over the catalog (one, or even many) and the photos? Did you keep the file structure within all the folders with photos?

[andrewbdub]

The folders were, and are, on an external drive and I installed LR on the internal SSD drive of the new PC (it had been on an internal SSD drive on the previous PC).

As far as I can remember I copied the catalog over in a similar way.

The weird thing is that the 2017 photos, which have the same file structure as the 2018 photos, are available.

[F. McLion · Accepted solution]

Sounds OK.

When you say you are not able to access these photos, what does that mean exactly?

Are these folders not visible in the folder panel in the library?

Are there any '?' on the folders?

What if you select 'All Photos' and then browse in Grid view ... are the photos/previews available?

[andrewbdub]

No, not visible in the folder panel in the library.

No, none of the usual '?' on the folders. I more or less know how to locate things when the '?' is visible.

"What if you select.....Grid view....available?" OHHHH, now I think I'm getting somewhere!! I didn't know that 'All Photos' and 'Grid View' existed until now. Just managed to recover one folder that way and will go and try a few more!!

Thank you very, very, very, very much for your help F.McLion.

[F. McLion]

If you find them in the grid view with all photos shown, right click on a photo found and select Go to folder in library. This may give a hint on why you can't see the folder in the folder panel.