Lightroom says there are 1000's of images to import but I the end finds none

[Rmwpro]

Lightroom says there are 1000's of images to import but in the end finds none. My files are all stored on external Thunderbolt Raid Zero drives attached directly to my Mac. But it also happened when I was using NASs. Any idea what is causing this? It's VERY time consuming when you are trying to synchronize a drive and this happens..which it nearly ALWAYS does. 

[Rmwpro]

[Rmwpro]

This was on my internal drive and the only image it found was the screenshot Itself

[Rmwpro]

Here's the final screenshot when it says no pics found after telling me it found thousands

[Rob_Cullen]

A first suggestion- Use the proper "Import" dialog (with the 'ADD' option)  to import image previews into the catalog.

The "Synchronize" function is designed primarily to update a folder of images by looking for photos that have been altered or added by other software like Photoshop.

And starting with 'Macmini' if it is a top-most system folder, is a bad idea, as all sub-folders will contain thousands of system icon files, etc.- Import only from your "picture" folders.

[Rmwpro]

I'm looking for files that have been added to that folder or that were missed in a previous import.  I mainly use import when I'm adding files from one place to another. But either process does the same thing..reports many files that it never finds. Oh, and I don't use a "pictures" folder. I have 24TB of files on 3 Raid zero OWC Thunderbolt boxes. MacMini Is just one of their names...it contains files that came off the old Mac mini.

[Rob_Cullen]

missed in a previous import

I repeat- you should be using the Import function and set the source to the folder (previously partly imported?)  and use the "ADD" option.

adding files from one place to another

This is using the "MOVE" or "COPY" options. The "ADD" option simply adds the files to the catalog and leaves them in their current location.

files that came off the old Mac mini.

So did you ever import these files into the catalog when they were on the 'old Mac mini' ?

As DJ_ says-   "already imported".  Once imported- they cannot be imported a second time, even from another location.

[Rmwpro]

And I repeat..it does the same crap if I Import or Sync. Makes no difference which I use EXCEPT..Import takes longer and doesn't give a count of how many it's found, it just shows I the import dialogue many files checked as ready to import..

And according to Julieanne Kost:

"I often download files into a folder, import them into Lightroom and then find that I have additional files to add to that folder. When this happens, I simply copy the additional files into that folder using the operating system. Then, in Lightroom, I Control -click (Mac) | Right Mouse -click (Win) on the folder in the Folder panel and choose Synchronize Folder (or choose Library > Synchronize Folder). In the Synchronize folder dialog, you can choose to display the import dialog to add additional metadata or toggle it off and add any necessary metadata in the Library module."

[dj_paige]

Two people have mentioned that this happens because the photos have already been imported into Lightroom, perhaps from a different folder.

[Rob_Cullen]

And the images on the Thunderbolt raid drives- were they ever imported when they were on the NASs?

[Rmwpro]

Yes. But I used Pathfinder (Finder replacement) on the Mac to copy them from the Synologies to the Thunderbolt drives. Then I imported them into LR. After this was all done I Synced the drives to see if any images got left out of the catalogue, which they often do when you are talking 20K images per drive, or more. And that's when I got the message that there were many but it would find either a few or none. I started a fresh LR catalogue when I migrated from the Synologies a couple weeks ago to see if that helped. same result.

[dj_paige · Accepted solution]

But that's exactly what Sync does. If the photos have been imported, it say there are many to import and then finds none. This is perfectly normal and proper behavior for Sync (although it does confuse many people).

[Rmwpro]

Thanks. If that's true it IS very confusing. Never happened on my PCs..it only started happening when I switched over to Mac. And it doesn't happen on every drive, but most of them. Also, when it reports, say 1000 files, there are over 20,000 photos on that drive so why pick that number?

[dj_paige]

This is a typical symptom of what happens when you have previously imported the photos into Lightroom.