Corrupted picture while moving Lightroom folder to network drive

Question

I moved ~5000 pictures from my laptop to a NAS. I did this by dragging-and-dropping the relevant folder in the Lightroom Library.

My problem is that at some point the network failed, and Lightroom left the files in an inconsistent state with one image partially transferred.

I resumed the transfer but if I hadn't double-checked myself for problems I would have lost the picture because it wasn't transferred fully.

Question: How can I make sure my transfer is complete and correct?

The computer scientist in me would say to use a dedicated tool like rsync to safely transfer the files and then update the location in Lightroom, but I'd prefer a solution within Lightroom.

Answer 1

Lightroom is simply using the underlying operating system to move files. The benefit of doing it in Lightroom is that it also updates the LR database with link locations. Lightroom itself did not corrupt any files.

You can simply move the files yourself, outside of Lightroom, and then go into Lightroom and tell it where the files are located.(You may wish to copy to the NAS, then delete from original location after confirming the files are ok).

After moving the files, open Lightroom, and select the Library Module. In the Folders window, select the highest level of your photos (Photos folder, etc that you moved). This folder, and all others under it, should have a '?' on them, as they have been moved. Right click on the highest folder, and select 'Find Missing Folder'. Point LR to the new folder on the NAS, and LR will update all its pointers to the NAS.