RAW FILES MOVED TO USB

[peppers28057424]

I took some photos on sunday and edited them in lightroom 6 ( im running windows 10),i then moved my raw files to a usb stick.A couple of days later i went to edit some of then photos,and so copied the raw files from the usb stick to my documents.I opened up lightroom and went to the my documents folder and the photos displayed but wth the message folder could not be found.I thought it was a simple thing to do was just simply copy the files from my pc to the usb and then copy them from the usb to my documents and import them in lightroom when i wanted to edit them in the future.Ive had a bit of a mess around and got question marks next to some folders,so i right clicked and search3ed for missing folder and the files appeared and i was able to edit them no problem.What have i done wrong and how is it possible to make it easier to edit my raw files from a usb.Also when ive selected the folder in which the raws are stored sometimes the thumbnails display greyed out.Any help really appreciated

[dj_paige]

THe problem is that you didn't copy the photos to the exact same location they were in previously, and so Lightroom doesn't know where they are. If you copy the photos to the exact same location they were in previously, this problem won't happen.

In general, I do not recommend moving photos back and forth like this, once they are on your hard disk in the desired location, don't move them. It's really that simple. Don't make your workflow more complicated.

[peppers28057424 · Accepted solution]

Thanks for your reply will take on board what you said and hopefully not have this happen again.