File Folders problem with LR2

[aramb]

Lightroom has created another drive in my folders panel that is the same drive as my original one, but is putting some folders in the one drive location and others in the original drive location. In the picture below, I have circled two subfolders that are physically located on the same hard drive and within the same subfolder. However, it is showing up in two different drives in LR. How do I fix this?

Aram Basmadjian
Macungie, PA

[BobSmith]

I've seen this on a number of Mac systems but it looks like you might be on Windows?  If by chance you are on a Mac, search for the invisible /Volumes folder which is where all hard drives mount to the system.  If a drive is ever removed from the system improperly... unplugged without ejecting... or perhaps a system crash of some sort... then the mount for that drive will not be erased from this folder.  The next time the drive is properly mounted a second instance of the drive will appear here.  Every other program seems to ignore the presence of the errant drive listing here.  LightRoom doesn't.  It will under certain circumstances honor and try to use both.  The result is that you see what looks like two instances of the same drive in Library.  The cure is to remove the extra instance of the drive from /volumes and restart LightRoom.  You'll probably have some files with broken links at this point that need to be repaired. 

Bob Smith

[aramb]

Bob - I am using Windows. The "volume" is actually my networked file server which is where I store all my photos. I am not sure how to remove the volume as you suggest. I have considered starting a whole new catalog and see if that fixes the problem. If I do that, however, will I lose all the changes I have made from within lightroom, or, are those non-destructive changes stored in the DNG files themselves and not the catalog.

[BobSmith]

The corrections will be saved to the DNG files only if you choose to do so.  Choose all or a selection of files and then in Library, from the MetaData menu select Save Metadata To Files.  Then, when imported into a new catalog the will appear just as they do in the current catalog.

Bob Smith

[peterkrogh]

Aram,
Any idea why the capitalization difference between instances?
Peter

[aramb]

Peter,

I have been trying to figure that out myself. I don't know if it is something that changed when I upgraded from XP to Windows 7. In any case, I think I am going to need to start a new catalog. I am just not sure of the best way to do it without losing data.

Aram

[aramb]

The corrections will be saved to the DNG files only if you choose to do so.  Choose all or a selection of files and then in Library, from the MetaData menu select Save Metadata To Files.  Then, when imported into a new catalog the will appear just as they do in the current catalog.

Bob Smith

Thanks, Bob. I will give this a try.

Aram

[peterkrogh]

Aram,
You might want to try removing the 51 images that are shown on the phantom drive and reimporting. 
Peter

[aramb]

I tried that, Peter. It did the same thing. I think that when I upgraded to Windows 7 it did something to the way it sees the server. I suppose I will just create a new catalog and re-import everything. I just hate to do it. I know it will end up turning into a big project!

Aram Basmadjian
Macungie, PA

[johnbeardy]

Before you do that, save the metadata back to the files - select them and Ctrl S.

One way you may try is to create a new catalogue, and then use File >Import from Catalog to bring in the existing one. It seems to cure all sorts of problems, and is quicker than importing. So I would try this next.

John

[aramb]

Thanks, John. I gave your suggestion a try, but same results. I will save the metadata out to the DNGs and then re-import the whole lot into a new catalog.

Aram