After Mac hard drive and external drive failed, I cannot access any of my edited Lightroom 5 or Classic CC files.

[Tych327]

Hello,

Both my external hard drive, where I store most of my photos, then my hard drive on my Mac, where I have other photos stored, both failed.  I managed to restore all my photos but I can no longer access them through Lightroom 5.  They do not show up.  One issue I think is I bought a new and different external hard drive.  I am sure one of the issues is the the new hard drive has changed the path the computer is trying to search for my photos.  In regard to my Mac's new hard drive, I just know I can't access my photo files.  It's like all my photos have been disconnected.  I have no idea what the real terms are for this issue but the bottom line is I cannot access any of my Lightroom 5 edited files going back many years.  I can find (4) Lightroom 5 catalog.lrat files, about 50 Lightroom Library Imports.lrcat files, and five more lrcat files that end in: (1) lrcat-wal, (2) lrcat.lock files, (1) lrcat-journal, and (1) lrcat.zip file.  But I don't really know anything about these different files and formats except that lrcat files is what I believe I need to look for.  And I have no idea how to restore access to them.

Please help.  I would love to, and need to, work with my photos.

Thank you!

[SeanMcCormack]

The .lock file is the one Lightroom creates when open. This is from the last open catalog when the application crashed. I'd go to the folder that is in and open the .lrcat with a matching name. You'll probably need to delete the .lock file though.

You can reconnect folders by right clicking and choosing Find Missing Folder.

I've something about it in this video on Folders: https://youtu.be/G23Msjpmkr4

[Tych327]

Thank you Sean!  I am back on track.  Thanks for your help!