I recently discovered that when I try to "synchronize a folder" in which I have added new photos to (CR2 raw files), this pop up shows up in Lightroom 4 (Mac):
It says that my images in that particular folder are missing and tells me to "remove" them. But it also suggests that I import "new" photos in that same folder. These are the same files. There's nothing that's changed and yet it registers them as the "old" photos missing and there are "new" photos to import.
If I click the "synchronize" button, all my metadata and developing will be erased (if I'm correct) and I'll start with photos that just came out of the camera.
But the biggest question I have is this: I am not getting any (?) question marks on any of my photos and upon clicking on "Library > Find missing photos", there is no broken links between the catalogue and the photo files on my drive.
--- Here's more detail on my specific situation ---
I have a folder called "2013" and inside it is "01", "02", etc for each month. But recently when I tried to sync "2013", it says that I should "remove missing photos 785" and "import new photos 785". These 785 photos are actually the same ones but LR4 is registering them as different ones. I tried clicking "synchronize" but unticking "remove missing photos". This caused my "2013" folder to duplicate on the sidebar in the library view and I tried merging them back to the old "2013" folder but it says "a folder named 01 already exists at this location".
How can I fix this problem? I hope I'm clear enough for you to understand. I've tried Google, but all I could find is how to fix broken links between the LR file and the photo file.
Thanks so much in advance.