File Could Not Be Found ???

[Ed Rooney]

For the past two days, I've been getting a 'The file could not be found' notice in Develop of CC LR Classic. I think the problem is in LR because has happened with images on two different memory cards. It's only on some images. I'm using a Sony RX100/5.

 

??? 

[RyanU]

Are you automatically importing the images? Pics will save into a dated folder within your PC's pictures directory meaning you won't need to keep the card attached to access the images. Might be there's an issue pointing to the folder holding the imported pics or they're not being imported at all.

[Steve F]

Hi Ed,

It just means that Lightroom is looking for the files wherever they were when you imported them or worked on them. And you've subsequently moved them or renamed one of the folders they're saved in. There will be a little exclamation mark in each file that LR cannot find (e.g. on the Develop module there is a ribbon of photos at the bottom and the missing photos have this exclamation mark in the corner) - just click on this and you get the option to browse to the current location of the file. LR is clever and will do the same with all photos in the same folder that you've just browsed to.

Steve

[Harry Harrison]

Do you mean that it's only 'on some images' within a particular import? If so then as Steve suggests perhaps you've moved them or renamed the containing folder or even the image files themselves. If it was all the images in a particular import then I suppose it's possible that you inadvertently set Lightroom to 'Add' rather than 'Copy' the images on the card.

Edited March 8, 2021 by Harry Harrison

[Ed Rooney]

I've been trying out some of the tips but I have to go out now. I'll get back to this later. Thanks.

[Ed Rooney]

I'm back.

 

Ryan, "automatically importing?" I have no idea what that means. 

 

Steve and Mark, I did not knowingly move or rename anything. But "inadvertently?" did I do something? Maybe. I've been using LR and PS for years and I never had this problem before. 

 

I took Steve's advise about the "!" and that took me on a digital adventure. I was able to bring some images back, edit, and upload them. I should suggest to Adobe that they use a question mark for that. I probably would have clicked on that.

 

I will be paying attention to the points you guys have suggested when I do my next edit. I've lost some images but nothing important. Thanks to all, and remember: I'm a Stranger in a Strange Land. And as I get older, I don't get smarter. 

 

Edo

 

 

[spacecadet]

8 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

automatically importing

You can let LR import when it detects a card or camera. But if you don't, it's not that. I don't.

I get the problem in external drives when my computer changes drive letters, LR doesn't like that. But unless you've moved images outside LR, and I bet you haven't, I don't know what to suggest, except maybe a filename search.

Incidentally, LR previews can be recovered, I forget how, and although only jpegs they're better than nothing, especially if they're full-size. You don't want to know how I found out about that.😮

It's here

https://www.howtogeek.com/364408/how-to-recover-your-images-from-your-lightroom-preview-files/

[Bryan]

I often find LR stating that it can't find the file while returning to that program from editing a TIFF of the photo in PS.  It is never actually lost.  When I adopt LR's  Library Grid, it is still there and I can click on the missing TIFF  to delete.  I've no idea why this occurs and it is a sporadic, not a general, problem.  

 

I suspect that your issue is more severe Edo ?

[Ed Rooney]

8 hours ago, Harry Harrison said:

Do you mean that it's only 'on some images' within a particular import? If so then as Steve suggests perhaps you've moved them or renamed the containing folder or even the image files themselves. If it was all the images in a particular import then I suppose it's possible that you inadvertently set Lightroom to 'Add' rather than 'Copy' the images on the card.

 

Yes, Harry, that was what I was doing. LR was set to Add instead of Copy. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I think I've always had LR set on Add. ??? 

 

Anyway, the problem seems to be solved -- thanks to all you smart, helpful people. I edited and uploaded three small batches today. 

[Betty LaRue]

59 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Yes, Harry, that was what I was doing. LR was set to Add instead of Copy. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I think I've always had LR set on Add. ??? 

 

Anyway, the problem seems to be solved -- thanks to all you smart, helpful people. I edited and uploaded three small batches today. 

Ed, I found after one of the LR updates, things had changed. I did the upload exactly like I had always done, but the new images became a string in previously uploaded pictures. It confounded me. I think I posted something about that and someone pointed me to fixing it, which wasn’t add it. I had to physically change something that had changed with the update.

I don’t understand why updates can’t cross over to the settings we’ve been using. 

Edited March 8, 2021 by Betty LaRue

[Ed Rooney]

Yeah, Betty -- I suspect there was a change in the last LR Classic update. With the forum's help, I've sorted the problem out. 

[MDM]

2 hours ago, Betty LaRue said:

Ed, I found after one of the LR updates, things had changed. I did the upload exactly like I had always done, but the new images became a string in previously uploaded pictures. It confounded me. I think I posted something about that and someone pointed me to fixing it, which wasn’t add it. I had to physically change something that had changed with the update.

I don’t understand why updates can’t cross over to the settings we’ve been using. 

 

I recall that problem you had clearly as it was not long ago and I was the someone who helped you to solve it. You had accidentally installed Lightroom (the cloud version) rather than Lightroom Classic and had been using it for some time. This has nothing to do with Edo's problem which he appears to have solved anyway.

 

[Ed Rooney]

That's exactly the way I'd put it, Michael -- "he appears to have solved. . . ." I just hope it will not return.

[Harry Harrison]

13 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

 

Yes, Harry, that was what I was doing. LR was set to Add instead of Copy. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I think I've always had LR set on Add. ??? 

Glad it's sorted Ed, I can't shed any light on how it happened but you couldn't have LR set to 'Add' before as this would have happened every time. If they are still on the card then you just need to put it back in and then drag them where you want them in Lightroom itself in 'Folders'.

 

I use 'Add' from time to time, usually if I've put some scans where I want them to stay or sometimes if I've deleted images from my LR catalogue using 'Delete from disc' and then have second thoughts so restore them from the Recycle Bin (Trash) and then have to 'Add' them back into Lightroom. However it's never defaulted to 'Add' when I put a card in but then I'm on 6.14 so don't receive updates. Your subscription Lightroom has some pretty extensive ways of creating import presets, I use separate ones for my Canon & Fuji images.

 

https://helpx.adobe.com/uk/lightroom-classic/help/raw-defaults.html

[MDM]

As far as I know Lightroom Classic does not allow you to add images from a card which makes sense as the you definitely do not want to be writing data from the computer to a card (e.g. xmp files). It is generally best I think to copy the images from the card to the drive first (I always use a card reader) to a folder of one's own choosing and then Add them to Lightroom from there. That way the only way the files can go astray is if you accidentally delete them, remove them from the catalog or rename the files or the containing folder. 

 

But the really important thing to remember is not to panic ever because Lightroom does not contain your files. It is just a catalog with a reference to your files. Unless you have deleted the files completely from the computer they will always still be there and it is generally a fairly simple exercise to find them again. 

 

 

 

[Harry Harrison]

23 minutes ago, MDM said:

As far as I know Lightroom Classic does not allow you to add images from a card which makes sense as the you definitely do not want to be writing data from the computer to a card (e.g. xmp files)

Certainly can on 6.14, never had a problem. Why would that have anything to do with writing data back to the card, I don't understand?

Edited March 9, 2021 by Harry Harrison
Nonsense statement

[Harry Harrison]

21 minutes ago, MDM said:

As far as I know Lightroom Classic does not allow you to add images from a card which makes sense as the you definitely do not want to be writing data from the computer to a card (e.g. xmp files).

Ah, penny has dropped, understand! Except that's what Ed said had happened.

 

Edited March 9, 2021 by Harry Harrison

[Harry Harrison]

25 minutes ago, MDM said:

As far as I know Lightroom Classic does not allow you to add images from a card

Confirm that you cannot 'Add' from a card on LR 6.14, kind of explains why it's never happened. Baffled by Ed's problem then.

[MDM]

30 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

Confirm that you cannot 'Add' from a card on LR 6.14, kind of explains why it's never happened. Baffled by Ed's problem then.

 

Edo would need to explain his workflow and then we might understand what happened. Perhaps he accidentally removed them from the catalog so they were showing as missing but not deleted. They must have been in the catalog at some point. There are so many ways of importing images into LR  that it is impossible to tell without more info.

 

I developed a habit many years ago based on advice from a book by Jeff Schewe and Bruce Fraser of copying images directly from a card reader to the computer rather than importing (at that time well before Lightroom, the importer would have been some part of Bridge). I've been doing it so long I forget the full logic but the basic idea is to minimise any chance of the computer writing anything to the card which could cause any corruption. An advantage of course is that I know where I've put the files. This method always uses Import-Add. 

 

 

 

 

[Harry Harrison]

10 minutes ago, MDM said:

An advantage of course is that I know where I've put the files. This method always uses Import-Add. 

As you say, so many ways. Right from the beginning I've let LR create the date folders so I'm happy to take them straight from the card (using 'copy' of course) and then doing a bit of basic captioning & keywording to find them afterwards. I'm a big fan of Collections & Collection Sets also. A friend who I introduced to Lightroom just couldn't do it that way, needed to create descriptive folders for everything. fortunately Lightroom accommodates all sorts of workflows.

[MDM]

40 minutes ago, Harry Harrison said:

As you say, so many ways. Right from the beginning I've let LR create the date folders so I'm happy to take them straight from the card (using 'copy' of course) and then doing a bit of basic captioning & keywording to find them afterwards. I'm a big fan of Collections & Collection Sets also. A friend who I introduced to Lightroom just couldn't do it that way, needed to create descriptive folders for everything. fortunately Lightroom accommodates all sorts of workflows.

 I just keep very high level folders for my general photography - so England20, Ireland19 etc. The metadata filter and search facilities in Lightroom are so good that I don't bother having lower level folders. At a minimum I enter location data even if I don't get around to keywording so I can always filter or search by date and location. At one point I was very good at keeping up with keywording but not any more unfortunately. 

 

For client work I keep separate catalogs for each client and folders for each session, primarily because it is easier to manage in terms of size, privacy and encryption for backups. 

 

 

[NYCat]

I also copy images from a card reader onto my computer as a first step. I'm sure somebody trustworthy recommended it as avoiding problems. I then, however, do copy onto an external hard drive when I import into Lightroom and have a copy put on another back-up hard drive. I then work from the hard drive and I eventually delete the images from the computer. I let them stay around for a while "just in case".

 

Paulette

[Betty LaRue]

20 hours ago, MDM said:

 

I recall that problem you had clearly as it was not long ago and I was the someone who helped you to solve it. You had accidentally installed Lightroom (the cloud version) rather than Lightroom Classic and had been using it for some time. This has nothing to do with Edo's problem which he appears to have solved anyway.

 

That’s right. I remember, now. But I assume you upload in both versions the same way? No?

[MDM]

1 hour ago, NYCat said:

I also copy images from a card reader onto my computer as a first step. I'm sure somebody trustworthy recommended it as avoiding problems. I then, however, do copy onto an external hard drive when I import into Lightroom and have a copy put on another back-up hard drive. I then work from the hard drive and I eventually delete the images from the computer. I let them stay around for a while "just in case".

 

Paulette

I do the same. I don’t keep much on the internal drive. 
 

27 minutes ago, Betty LaRue said:

That’s right. I remember, now. But I assume you upload in both versions the same way? No?

 

I don’t know actually as I don’t use the cloud version. It is not recommended by Adobe to use both. 

[Ed Rooney]

This thread is now, for me at least, going in several directions. I can't read through all of this and answer much right now. I'll try in the morning. But let me add to the confusion by saying my MacBook froze a half-hour ago. It's working now. But my card reader seems to have died. 

 

Edited March 9, 2021 by Ed Rooney