Lightroom 5 shows no images

[PierreCT]

I am working with Lightroom 5.7 64 bit. I recently got the error message on starting Lightroom: "Lightroom encountered an error when reading from its preview cache, etc.". I found a forum discussion on this and, as directed, deleted the folder Lightroom 5 Catalog Previews.lrdata. When I restarted Lightroom I no longer got the error message, but I also don't see any images.

In Library view, all the spaces are there where the images should be, as well as the ratings and flags that I have assigned, but the images are nowhere to be seen. If i open an image by double clicking, I get the image data, but the screen is grey. If I try to open the image in the Develop module, it says "The folder could not be found).

The images are all still where they used to be (on my external hard drive), and I can open them in Photoshop. How do I get them back to where they need to be in Lightroom?

Many thanks!

[ManiacJoe · Accepted solution]

In the Library module, go to the Folders panel and see if any of them are marked as missing "?". If some are, correct the problem at the highest level in the folder tree and all the levels below will be automatically fixed.

After you fix all the missing folders, check the Grid to see if any files are marked as missing "!". If so, now fix those.

Adobe Lightroom - Find moved or missing files and folders

[PierreCT]

Thanks for this feedback, I think it is headed in the right direction. All the Folders are marked as missing "?".

Lightroom is looking for the folders in a mysterious "E:" drive, but they are actually located on "G-Drive (D:)". How do I get LR to look for these folders on the correct drive?

In case it's relevant - I fairly recently moved my entire LR folder (images, catalog, etc) to a new external hard-drive because the old one was running out of space. I don't remember what the old hard-drive was labelled, but it might have been E: - could it be that when I deleted the previews.lrdata folder, it caused LR to revert to a previous state?

Thanks!