LR problem moving files to ext drive

[bs0604]

I moved collections to an external hard drive as I was running out of room on my macbook pro's internal hard drive (OS 10.6.8). Although I thought I did it the same way with each collection, some of the collections show an icon with a ? mark and when I open up these pictures, either from the LR collection on the hard drive or the LR collection on the internal drive I get a message saying "The file ---- is either off line or missing". However, if I open up my external hard drive and click the indiivudal pictures they are there and can be imported in to Photoshop. Though I can see the images in LR using either the external drive or the internal drive I have the message "The file --- is either off line or missing" and the picture cant be manipulated from LR. I don't know if this made sense. Thoughts/solutions?

 

[baturn]

Did you rename some files in another program?

 

[Mully]

In LR when you move files LR does not know where they are ....the ? are the files that LR can not find so all you have to do is click on the ? and LR will ask you if you want to find then answer yes and show LR where they are. So try this

 

[KmH]

When you move photos, folders, catalogs etc that you have told Lightroom about, you have to use Lightroom's Library module to do the moving.

That's the way Lightroom stays informed of the memory path to the files.

None of the files are ever stored in Lightroom. Lightroom only keeps track of the memory path.

To better utilize all 7 of Lightroom's modules you might want to get the comprehensive and inexpensive Lightroom 4 reference book - Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 4 Book: The Complete Guide for Photographers

 

[Mully]

^^^^ You should be a book salesman

 

[Buckster]

^^^^ You should be a book salesman

Or a bot from Adobe that just rattles off white paper tech-speak every time someone posts about an Adobe product.

 

[Mully]

Maybe he is a bot.... walks like a duck.... I find his tech speak very annoying... i guess I am not the only one

 

[bs0604]

I did use Lightroom's library module to move the files to the external drive. I took your advice, clicked on the question mark on a photo and was able to restore all the collections I thought might have been lost. Thank you very much for your help. I have learned so much on this forum and you guys/gals continually manage to get he out of scraps.

 

[Mully]

Glad it worked out for you

 

[KmH]

Some one said - "If you learn why, it's a lot easier to learn how."

And the classic -

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he can feed himself for life.

My goal is to teach people how to fish.

 

[ewick]

Some one said - "If you learn why, it's a lot easier to learn how."

And the classic -

Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he can feed himself for life.

My goal is to teach people how to fish.

I, for one am not mad at you at all. I want to eat for life!