> On Nov 10, 2015, at 2:41 PM, Godfrey DiGiorgi <godfreydigio...@me.com> wrote: > > The catalog database points to the image files in the file system, not the > other way around. You open a catalog/database … from there you see what image > files it points to and what folder it records them as being contained in. > > The specific layout of your system is hard to understand from the description > you provide. In (1), are you talking about what you see in Lightroom Folders > panel or what you see in the file system (be it Windows or OS X)?
Thanks again, Godfrey. I’m glad I asked again. You’ve opened Lightroom up further for me. I apologize for the lack of clarity. I was responding to your last question—"which entries in the folder panel no longer point to the actual files.” In my (1) and (2) I was struggling with that. I was referring to the Folder Panel and comparing what I saw in the detail of each of the folders there with what I saw in the file system. I ended up leaning one way but uncertain. As a result of your last message I feel certain that if I’d gone with my intuitions at that point I would have made another mistake. > Look into the folders that a specific catalog shows in Lightroom. Then look > to see what is on disk at that location by using the Show in Finder (or Show > in Windows File Manager or whatever they call it) command (a right-click on > the item you're looking at, either file or folder.) Once you see the data in > the file, you can backtrack from there to see which drive it's on. That > should tell you what data in the catalog you opened is up to date, or not. If > the data isn't real, LR should show you the dialog to locate a missing folder. A point of clarification: I have only one folder of images in the file system. There is no point in trying to figure out which one to use. The issue for me—at least as I understand it at this point—is which of the folders in the folders panel is associated with the most up to date information in the catalog. Or, to put it differently, from which of the folders should I ask Lightroom to “find the missing folder." I’ve never done anything with my catalog—and I do have only one—and was simply unaware of how it might be used in this situation. Going to it now I can see that there are duplicates of many, perhaps all, of my images in the catalog. In some cases they appear adjacent to each other. Others are widely separated. I don’t know for certain that every image is duplicated. I suspect they are. Most importantly, in every case I’ve looked at so far, all the images that have been edited are indicated as having been in the same location and thus associated with the same Lightroom folder, i.e., on the disk that failed and the folder associated with it. The other folder was created when I, as I now understand I should not have, imported the backup folder. It seems that the data regarding edits was lost when I did that. Therefore I now believe it is from the first folder that I should ask Lightroom to “find the missing folder.” Before your last message I was leaning toward using the second folder. So, asking, I’ve saved myself from another error. > You can also select the folder or its containing folder in the Lightroom > Folders panel and right-click to use the Synchronize Folder command. This > will allow Lightroom to interrogate the folder and determine what if anything > that is in it is not in Lightroom, or needs to be removed from LR, etc. You > use these tools to determine whether you have all the current data and/or > whether what you have is up to date in the context of a given catalog. As I understand this, Lightroom will have to have access to the images in the file system, and that I should go ahead an ask Lightroom to “find the missing folders.” I sense that after that the Synchronize Folder command will help me insure that I have as complete information as possible on the images in the file system. Might it also help, once I’ve got my catalog as complete as I can make it, in eliminating the duplicate information? At this point all that seems to be associated with the folder that was created when I imported the backup database and to contain nothing about my earlier edits. > Sorry if this doesn't answer your questions directly. Unraveling a slightly > mucked up Lightroom catalog database takes time and persistence. You need to > look at a lot of things, one at a time, to determine what the state of a > particular catalog is and what files it is looking at. Always look from > catalog to file system, and then the other way, to determine issues that need > to be fixed. It’s very helpful, Godfrey. I’m OK with it taking time. And needing to try different things. Do you agree my next step is to ask Lightroom to “find the missing folder”? For me the issue is not which database in the file system to point Lightroom to, but preserving the most complete information about the images in the only database I have. Your help is greatly appreciated. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Eric Weir Decatur, GA USA eew...@bellsouth.net “[I]t is a sign of great inner insecurity to be hostile to the unfamiliar.” - Anais Nin -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List PDML@pdml.net http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net to UNSUBSCRIBE from the PDML, please visit the link directly above and follow the directions.
