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Photos missing in Lightroom after buying new computer

New Here ,
Jun 18, 2017 Jun 18, 2017

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I am having a lot of trouble after buying a new computer. I have an external hard drive with a Windows 10 pc and us LR 4. I can see the photos on the external, but they don't even register with LR. It is as if the photos don't exist. I have tried to import the pics, export the picture from the exter hd, but nothing works. I noticed that the photos are compressed into a zip file, but heck if I know what to do with them. I am pretty sure my problem has something to do with the folders that the pics are saved in. If someone can help m through this, I appreciate it. I have a client who is waiting on me!

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Jun 19, 2017 Jun 19, 2017

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Hi gospelflier,

We're sorry that you're having issues after upgrading Lightroom. Please take a look at this article Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders and let us know if that help you locate the missing images.

Thanks,

Akash

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New Here ,
Jun 19, 2017 Jun 19, 2017

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Ok I read the link you gave me and it looks like I have more than just one problem. Here is what I know:

1)Most of the photos are on the computer, but Lightroom does not even realize they exist. I go to Lightroom, and there are a few photos in a year, when I should have a thousand!

2)Some of  my photos are not even on the new computer, but they do exist on the external hard drive.

3) My most recent photos are on Lightroom, but have a question mark on them. I did locate several, but they reorganized themselves in a weird way and Lightroom does also show up the old location as an empty folder with a question mark and the photo is below the empty folder.

4)My GoPro pics are showing up separately from the rest of my photos.

5) When I set up Lightroom on my new computer, I did set up a file to store the pics. I think I messed up!

The link didn't really answer my questions. Last year I had an issue and someone from Adobe fixed my problem. I appreciate it if you could help me! Thanks so much!

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New Here ,
Jun 20, 2017 Jun 20, 2017

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I tried everything on the links given to me by the others. I am still unable to move the pics from my external hard drive to the new computer. Nothing is working and I am totally lost. I am afraid of making things even worse! Akash, can you please help me?

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LEGEND ,
Jun 19, 2017 Jun 19, 2017

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Photos compressed into a zip file? You must have left that part of the story out, as purchasing a new computer does not cause this to happen. You would have to unzip these photos before you can use them.

But before you do that, are the uncompressed photos also available on your external drive? Again, purchasing a new computer would not change this at all, if the uncompressed photos were there before they should be there now.

Importing is completely incorrect in this situation. DO NOT IMPORT. DO NOT IMPORT. DO NOT IMPORT. If that's not clear, let me know.

The link given above by Akash should help you tell Lightroom where the photos are located (once you find them using your operating system).

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New Here ,
Jun 19, 2017 Jun 19, 2017

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From what I understand, the photos compressed into the file when the pictures were saved on the external hard drive. I didn't say that the new computer did that. I don't know how to unzip the files, and am reluctant to try since everything I have done thus far have been wrong! I already tried to drag and drop pictures, and import them, which apparently is wrong. I am so confused!

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LEGEND ,
Jun 20, 2017 Jun 20, 2017

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gospelflier  wrote

From what I understand, the photos compressed into the file when the pictures were saved on the external hard drive.

This is not what Lightroom does, this is not what any photographic program that I know of does.

Explain why you think your photos are in ZIP files (or better yet show us a screen capture). Have you actually searched for your unzipped photos (using your operating system's search feature)??

It's really tough to help until we completely understand what you are seeing on your computer. You seem to make it sound as if all these things have happened to your photos by themselves, but actually YOU must have done these things, or instructed Lightroom or other software to do these things, and we need to have all the details you can possibly give us about what you did to get to this point.

2)Some of  my photos are not even on the new computer, but they do exist on the external hard drive

You are the person who must have made this happen, could you explain what you did and the entire situation IN A LOT MORE DETAIL?

3) My most recent photos are on Lightroom, but have a question mark on them. I did locate several, but they reorganized themselves in a weird way and Lightroom does also show up the old location as an empty folder with a question mark and the photo is below the empty folder.

Lightroom does not cause photos to "reorganize themselves". Lightroom does exactly what you tell it to do. If you followed the instructions to fix the question mark, then the photos are now located in the folder you just told Lightroom to use, the folder where the photos are located in your operating system.

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New Here ,
Jun 20, 2017 Jun 20, 2017

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Yes, I know that Lightroom does not store photos in itself. It is just how I was trying to explain stuff. What I did when I first tried to set up my new computer was this: Plugged in the external hard drive and drag and dropped the photos onto the desktop in the form of folders. Then I put Lighroom onto the new computer,. Some of the photos were missing (last three years), so I tried importing. Realized I forgot to set up folde hierarchy so I did that. Made everything worse and then decided I didn't want all those folders cluttering up my desktop so I dragged them into the trash. (They are still there). Yes, I know I messed up, yes I know I'm an idiot who did everything wrong, but the links you gave me don't help.

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LEGEND ,
Jun 20, 2017 Jun 20, 2017

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Start over from scratch. Follow the instructions at the link given above by Just Shoot Me.

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New Here ,
Jun 20, 2017 Jun 20, 2017

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I tried that and no joy. The instructions are for someone who is moving their pictures from an old computer to a new one, not moving from an external hard drive to a new computer.

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LEGEND ,
Jun 20, 2017 Jun 20, 2017

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The link given by Akash spells out the process in detail. If you are having problems, don't just say "I tried that and no joy". If that's all you're going to say, we can't help you. As before, I am asking you to provide DETAILS about what you did and what did or did not happen, and then we can help you. Lots and lots of details. Leave nothing out. Show us relevant screen captures of the situation at is exists right now, both inside of Lightroom and as your operating system sees it.

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New Here ,
Jun 20, 2017 Jun 20, 2017

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Screenshot (1).pngScreenshot (2).pngScreenshot (3).pngScreenshot (4).pngScreenshot (5).pngScreenshot (6).pngScreenshot (7).pngScreenshot (8).pngScreenshot (9).pngScreenshot (10).pngScreenshot (11).pngScreenshot (12).pngScreenshot (13).pngScreenshot (14).pngScreenshot (15).png

Ok here are some screenshots showing the errors I am getting, plus where it says my photos on the external hard drive are compressed. Hope this explains it better.

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LEGEND ,
Jun 20, 2017 Jun 20, 2017

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In the screen capture where the error message says "There was an unknown error while writing metadata ...", the photos are missing, as indicated by the exclamation point icon on each photo.

This means Lightroom cannot find the photos. So YOU have to tell Lightroom where the photos are located.

To do this, you have to first find the photos somewhere on one of you hard disks, you can use your operating systems search feature to find one or more of these photos by file name.

Once you know where they are in your operating system ... you can't proceed until you know where they are in your operating system ... you then must tell Lightroom where they are, by clicking on the exclamation point icon and following the instructions at the link given by Akash.

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LEGEND ,
Jun 19, 2017 Jun 19, 2017

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Please review this webpage on how to move LR, the LR catalog and your images to a new computer.

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-move-lightroom-to-new-computer/

What I think you are looking at is the LR catalog backups and not your images.

LR is a Database program. No images are IN the LR catalog file. Your images are only referenced into the database file, the catalog file, from where they are stored on your hard drives.

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