# LR Classic 8.2.1 Crashes all the time



## Scott Jameson (May 17, 2019)

Can someone help me please (Adobe have been useless). I'm using LR Classic CC version 8.2.1. which I purchased online recently. I launch LR and as soon as I click on the Develop Module the program crashes (this is a hard on problem, it does it every time I try to use LR).  A message from Adobe comes up saying that there is a fix for the problem; when I apply the fix the same problem reoccurs every time.  I also have the LR Cloud based program which works ok (but even as a beginnerI don't like it, it does not have anywhere near the features of the Classic version). Help please.........


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## jdgwka (May 17, 2019)

I am new to Lightroom and feel like cancelling it !! I have exactly the same problem but further more I cant get the top menu to work either. I have LR Classic version 8.2.1. Am running it on a Mac 1TB , 16GB RAM. So frustrating that its now frozen. Restarting computer doesnt help. Is there a storage capacity issue with my LR Cat which is using 23.5GB. Of this the Smart Previews is taking up 13.81GB and the Previews takes up 7.25 GB. I have downloaded 66,000 photos on Lightroom. Love someone to solve this please !


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## Roelof Moorlag (May 17, 2019)

Victoria discribed some standard troubleshoot steps you can follow: 
https://www.lightroomqueen.com/standard-lightroom-troubleshooting-steps/
One step that is not mentioned there is disabeling GPU.


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## Victoria Bampton (May 17, 2019)

Roelof Moorlag said:


> One step that is not mentioned there is disabeling GPU.


So it's not! I shall put that on our list of blog posts to rewrite.


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## clee01l (May 17, 2019)

jdgwka said:


> I am new to Lightroom and feel like cancelling it !! I have exactly the same problem but further more I cant get the top menu to work either. I have LR Classic version 8.2.1. Am running it on a Mac 1TB , 16GB RAM. So frustrating that its now frozen. Restarting computer doesnt help. Is there a storage capacity issue with my LR Cat which is using 23.5GB. Of this the Smart Previews is taking up 13.81GB and the Previews takes up 7.25 GB. I have downloaded 66,000 photos on Lightroom. Love someone to solve this please !


As Roeloff has suggested, the problem in develop is likely related to the Windows GPU driver.  Either it is not up to date from the GPU mfg. or the hardware is not compatible with LR.  The GPU is used to supplement the CPU by providing an additional computational core for certain LR Develop functions.  A bad or incompatible GPU driver and Windows hangs or crashes. 
With a Mac, this is not going to be a problem IF your OS has the latest patches from Apple.  You should be running MacOS v 10.14.4.  Unlike Microsoft, Apple controls the hardware and the software.  

Your catalog file (the one with the .lrcat extension) should not be 23 GB   This suggests problem with the catalog file itself.  With 1TB Primary drive working storage and frees space should not be a problem, but you should never let it get below 1GB 
If you can open LR and get the menu, open the Help sub menu and post the contents of {Help}{System Info...} in your next reply.  We should be able to diagnose any hardware issues.  

With a 23GB catalog file (.lrcat),  I would suggest that you use the "Export as a Catalog"  option to copy all of the imported images to a new catalog file.   This will copy all of the good data about these images to a new clean catalog that should be smaller than 23GB) This new catalog file  should then become your new master catalog file. 
Unless you are using the Smart Previews  for work when away from the Primary images files, you do not need to Smart Previews folder.  You can turn off creating these on import and delete the Smart Previews folder.
 Regular previews need to be managed with the size and retention period setting in the file handling tab of Catalog Settings.   With LR closed you can deleted the Previews folder and LR will create a new empty one the next time LR opens that catalog file.  LR will then proceed to build new previews just for those images that LR actually needs previews for.   This will take a little longer  when you open an image file for the first time but the result is a much smaller Previews folder.


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## jdgwka (May 18, 2019)

Many thanks for your helpful reply Cletus. 
Yes I am running Mac OS  10.14.4. 
I have attached a screenshot of what my Lightroom folder on the desktop comprises and you can see I got the details wrong !! The LR cat extension is 496MB and the smart previews are 13.8GB and Previews are 7.25GB. So is it necessary to create a new catalog file as you suggested since its only 496MB?  
If you still think I should  delete the previews and smart previews I do that in the LR folder on my desktop ?
I have also attached the other information you asked for 
Also I am not sure what the temporary import data entries are in my LR folder ?

Thanks again
Regards
Jill


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## clee01l (May 18, 2019)

jdgwka said:


> The LR cat extension is 496MB and the smart previews are 13.8GB and Previews are 7.25GB. So is it necessary to create a new catalog file as you suggested since its only 496MB?


No, You do not need to create a new catalog as the current catalog is not  overly large.  
In fact, I don't see any reason from what you have posted for you to be having a problem.   You can delete the Smart Previews if you are not using them and not create new ones.  It does not sound like your 1TB is cramped fro free space, you need to keep ~ 100GB free for working storage (swapfile and temporary files the Lightroom and other apps create).  (That 1GB posted previously was a typo, it should be 100 GB).   So, how much free space do you have?  I need to see a complete listing of {Help}{System Info...}.   On that dialog is a button to copy the contents of  {Help}{System Info...} You can then paste it back here in your next reply.   I am particularly interested to know if the GPU passes the LR requirements.  If it does, then MacOS 10.14.4 will have the latest GPU drivers installed. 
Next, I am interested to find out exactly what happens when you "have exactly the same problem but further more I cant get the top menu to work either."   Are there any error messages?   Unlike Windows, MacOS does not just freeze.  There can be background tasks that are needing user input and the message screen is hidden and it will look like the OS has frozen.   What other apps are you running along side Lightroom.  I suspect these are the culprit.  we need to identify them and eliminate them one by one until  LR stops the problem from happening. 

SO here's what we need:

A  complete listing from  {Help}{System Info...}.
How much free space is available on the 1TB "Macintosh HD"
If you are running an anti-malware app, what is it? and what happens when you disable it and run LR?
Any error message you receive when LR stops responding.
Does LR stop responding always in the same place in Develop. 
Do you have any 3rd party  plugins enabled?


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## jdgwka (May 20, 2019)

Thanks for your reply Cletus and help here. The good news is I have had success and my system has started running again with no more freezing.  I think it was because I turned off the GPU even though my operating system is MacOS 10.14.4. So its all good now although I was surprised to read in your last comment that there should be 100 GB of working storage - thats a lot of space to take up. I have over 250 GB but that could be a problem later on. Thanks again !


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## clee01l (May 20, 2019)

jdgwka said:


> I was surprised to read in your last comment that there should be 100 GB of working storage - thats a lot of space to take up


There used to be a full of thumb for free space — 15%.    With modern OS and apps more and more use working storage and with very large disk drives, the 15% no longer made sense.   100GB seem to be a practical number.   With the introductions os SSDs as the primary drive,  Cost made the size of the SSD 500GB or less.  Still this did not change the working storage requirements and 100GB still seems to be a practical number  This is 20% of a 500GB SSD and not a lot of space when you consider what it is being used for.   Freespace on the Primary disk is not empty space.


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## jdgwka (May 21, 2019)

Many thanks for explaining . I am very impressed with the great service this forum offers especially for a novice starting out as I find it quite daunting !! I am now going to upgrade my computer - would you happy to provide me with the best link available outlining the steps for this ? Thanks again


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## Roelof Moorlag (May 21, 2019)

https://www.lightroomqueen.com/moving-lightroom-free-ebook/


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