Learn from me - Burned by Lightroom

[Ron Hunter]

I started using Lightroom earlier this year to help process time lapse images. The more I used it the more I liked it! Whenever I put an SD card into the PC Lightroom would launch and immediately offer to import images for me. At the time I never worried about "where" LR wanted to put the images, after all, as long as I place the photos in a collection I'll be able to find them later. Who needs to worry about file location? Ah, that would be me.

Back in April I used LR to import two weeks worth of photos from my "take a photo every week from the same spot outdoors to capture seasons changing" project. Again, I didn't care where the photos were stored, I simply placed them in my "Time Lapse Project" LR collection and went about my business.

A few weeks later I was doing some housekeeping on my PC and saw a folder from a completed video project. "Don't need that folder anymore", I said, so I deleted the folder. You can see where this is going...

Well, this weekend after I finally shot week 52 of my "seasons change" project, I gleefully opened LR to begin the editing process for my yearlong timelapse. Guess what? LR couldn't find weeks 30 and 31 of the project. In a panic I searched every hard drive, internal and external, and even searched my USB flash drives. The pictures from April were GONE. Apparently LR had placed those photos in that deleted video project folder (since I had it open around the time of the photo import).

And then I thought, "But wait! I have backups of my LR catalog. That will help!" No it didn't. Apparently LR catalog backups do NOT include the media files, only the LR catalog data. (Quite the bummer since I knew Photoshop Elements catalog backups DO include media files.)

In the big scheme of things this isn't life changing. After all, each picture was only going to be on-screen for 1 sec each, so the overall time lapse will be shortened by 2 sec. Most people won't notice it. But I notice it and it is VERY annoying!!

Lesson? Don't be complacent with Lightroom (or any program) volunteering to place your files just anywhere. Always know where your files are going!!!

[Peru]

Sounds like you need an external hard drive or two for backup files.

[Ron Hunter]

Got 'em. Even keep one off-site. However, they all lack those files. Not sure how I managed to do that. I guess one backup was done before the files existed, and the next backup was performed after the files had been imported into a folder and subsequently deleted.

Since that time I have started using "Good Sync" to automatically backup files at least weekly. Hopefully this won't happen again.

[momoffduty]

Live and learn. I've been burned a few times with lost media. I've been using this file structure which was posted at Muvipix many years ago and I can't recall who posted.

Digital Photos main folder with sub folders of each year. Each date of photos are in its own folder with the date and brief description. Same with Video. I used Digital Video so that it is next to Digital Photo file.

Digital Photos
2013
2014
......01.01.14NewYear
......05.01.14BrynBday
......09.15.14Flowers

For video in Bridge as I sort thru video I star rate 1 thru 4. If I use that video clip in a project I give it a 5 so I know not to delete any 5's. I usually only keep 3,4,and 5's. But, at least I know that a 5 is tied to a project.

For photos used in a project I don't have to worry about deleting any in the original file because when I resize I put the new resized photo file in the Project folder.

My Projects are set up the same way:

PrPro_Projects 2014
.....Commencement_Fall
..........ProPro_ComFall14
..........AE_ComFall14
..........Encore_ComFall14
..........ResizedPhotos_ComFall14
..........Graphics_ComFall14

EDIT: I had to us .............to represent the indentations in the forum post.

[Peru]

Got 'em. Even keep one off-site. However, they all lack those files. Not sure how I managed to do that. I guess one backup was done before the files existed, and the next backup was performed after the files had been imported into a folder and subsequently deleted.

I have either an additional internal drive or a permanently connected external drive dedicated to manually backup files at the same time that I save them to their regular location. After I back up to on site and off site externals, then those get deleted. This way I'm not "in between backups."

[tjodork]

it good to see these great tips....i've become complacent and need to get my butt in gear and make sure things are backing up properly !!!!!

[sidd finch]

I think you can Google recovery software for files that are deleted.

My understanding is that the files are still really on your hard drive but the file header information was wiped. It will not get deleted but written over when new files are saved. I am sure Bob can give you the correct details on this.

Might be worth a try to see what you can find.

Sidd

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

Ron, any of these help?

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/filerecov ... ograms.htm

[Bob]

Sorry to hear of your lost photos.

I don't know how photos ended up in the project folder, the default Lightroom import location is the "my pictures" folder. You should review the locations where your other photos are stored and move them if necessary. You can easily do this within Lightroom. Look at the Folders panel on the left side of the Library module. If any need to be moved, moving from within Lightroom will keep the catalog in sync. It's a best practice to determine where and how you want to store your photos rather than just accept a default. Once determined, Lightroom can help you achieve that goal.

Since this happened so long ago, the photos are probably not recoverable. Windows doesn't wipe the file data on deletion -- it marks the directory entry as deleted and puts the allocated space on the available queue for reuse. If you act fast before the space is reused, you can recover the file. I've used the free Recuva utility from Piriform with good results.

The Premiere Elements Organizer doesn't store the photos in the catalog either. However, the backup routine will backup both the photos and the catalog. Lightroom only backs up the catalog and the catalog backup dialog explicitly states that photos will not be backed up. Lightroom can copy a photo to a backup location for you on import, but it assumes you know best how you want to backup your photos. Different programs, different philosophies. Both are valid approaches.

I'd recommend anyone getting started with Lightroom to take a look at some of the free basic Lightroom introductory courses available. Julieanne Kost has one of the better ones. Here's the chapter on Importing photos into Lightroom 5.

[Ron Hunter]

Thanks everyone! Mom, thanks for re-posting that folder structure, I will use that going forward. Bob, I know that Lynda has many LR tuts. Time for me to go through them. Like I said, live and learn...