Lightroom deleted photos

[Guest]

Hi,

I created a new catalog on an external drive and attempted to import a folder of photos also on the drive to that catalog so I could do a first edit.

Nothing happened for quite awhile so I cancelled import, moved the catalog and folder of photos to my desktop to try again (in case the external drive was the issue.)

Except the folder of photos was empty.

I know it was full because I was looking at the photos before I created the catalog, but they are gone. Not in trash, not in any other folder. I've been through every single other folder on that drive and on my desktop.

Losing my mind or did Lightroom lose my photos? And, more importantly, can I get them back somehow? I have read in the forums that this happened before but there was supposed to have been a fix. I am running the latest version of LR classic.

Thanks,

Kelle

[ManiacJoe]

Mac or Windows? Which version?

Which exact version of Lightroom?

Which kind of import? (Add, copy, move, copy as DNG)

What were all the other settings in your Import dialog, especially all the Destination settings?

[Guest]

Mac

Lr Classic 7.2 release

Copy

Destination to the same folder as the photos, on the external drive

[Just Shoot Me]

If images are on a hard drive already NEVER Select COPY or MOVE. You should select Add.

[Guest]

Thanks. Helpful for the future. Alas, I think I'm out of luck and my photos have just vanished. Just shoot ME.

[Guest]

Anyone else have an idea of where they went? Does Lr just disappear them into the ether? They had to have gone somewhere...right?

[Just Shoot Me]

Well I am sorry to hear that your images are possibly gone. Have you searched all your drives for them? Just do a search for one of the File Names and see what turns up.

Whether it was you selecting the same drive and folder as the Source and the Destination along with the Copy option during the import process or if it was that you Canceled the import as the reason your images vanished I have no idea.

I suspect the latter.

In all honesty it wasn't LR that made then go away. It was your actions, your selections in the import dialog window, and that you Canceled the import that lead to this happening.

The screen shot you posted of the import dialog is the Minimal look and there is a triangle button on the lower left to Expand that dialog window into something that you can actually work with. IE Select the Source, The Destination along with other options. The import dialog should look like this except the images shown in the viewing area shouldn't be grayed out. Grayed out images means those photos are already in the Catalog file.

If you continue to use LR as a photo organizer and editor you should read up, and or watch some online tutorials, on how LR works and how to properly work with LR.

If you Google Lightroom Classic Tutorials you will get tons of links for instruction tutorials.

[Guest]

Yes, it was a screenshot of the minimal import dialog.

I bought Scott Kelby's book at the onset and have worked with Lr for about 6 years with no problems at all - always used the copy option. This is the first and only time this has happened, but it is also the first time I have tried an import from an external drive to the same folder (I just wanted to view, organize and edit before going into Photoshop.)

It never occurred to me that Lightroom would delete my photos and placing the blame on the user isn't helpful; Adobe should take a good look at the way this error resolves. At the very least the images should go to my trash bin; not just disappear completely.

Thank you, I really do appreciate the reply. I will be very, very, cautious about using Lr going forward.

[Just Shoot Me]

Let me say again.

It was not LR that did that. It was the options you selected and that you STOPPED the import part way through.

Like the old saying, Two Wrongs choices don't make a Right choice.

You were trying to Copy files from a folder and paste them into the same folder. You shouldn't do that. Then part way through you Canceled that operation.

This is User Error.

[Guest]

"If you Google Lightroom Classic Tutorials you will get tons of links for instruction tutorials."

Is there one that addresses this issue? Does it say anywhere that if one makes a mistake Lightroom can just disappear one's photos?

They should still be in the trash, my error or not.

[Just Shoot Me]

Did you do a search of your drive?

[nancylee]

Something similar just happened to me –

I attempted to copy folders from a folder on hard drive A into a separate folder on that hard drive where all of my lightroom files are kept, also checking the "Make a Second Copy To:" box to have a backup to hard drive B – a workflow I've used successfully for the past year.

Lightroom crashed halfway through the import, and the photos that hadn't already been copied to the new folder / backup hard drive were just GONE.

Not in the trash.

Nowhere on any drives.

Gone.

I've never experienced anything like this, and I'm incredibly frustrated because I have 5 hours of retouching to redo. But at least mine weren't originals 😕

I searched for other reports of similar issues and this is the closest I've found –– seems like an actual bug in the software that goes along with a Lr Classic crash? Infuriating.