# Photos get corrupted



## palengh (Apr 3, 2018)

I have experienced this error since LR 3.0, and on several different Windows versions, storages and even on OS High Sierra on Mac. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			




Anyone got a clue why this is happening?


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## tspear (Apr 3, 2018)

This is data corruption. The cause of it is unknown without more information.
The basic questions are when does this occur? After you have edited the images, during import, after import....


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## palengh (Apr 3, 2018)

tspear said:


> The basic questions are when does this occur?



I don’t really know. 
I ‘ve been testing a lot some years ago, without any conclusion. 
My best shot would be it occurs when opening the image from grid view. I have not found any link to actually editing the photo. 
It happened both to jpeg’s and NEF. 


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## tspear (Apr 3, 2018)

If the problem is internal to Lr, then this likely is a video card problem.
Otherwise, the data is corrupted before Lr gets uses it.  In the library module, Lr uses built in previews of the file, and previously generated previews. 
The develop module uses the actual raw data of the image (from a simple perspective, there actually is a series of file caches involved to increase performance).

So was the file always this way? When you compare the image file to your backup, are they the same at a bit level?

Tim


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## palengh (Apr 3, 2018)

tspear said:


> If the problem is internal to Lr, then this likely is a video card problem.


I’ve Steen this on different Windows PC’s and finally also on my iMac. The iMac even got new RAM to try to sort this out. 

```
Otherwise, the data is corrupted before Lr gets uses it.
```
This could be, but still I have experienced the photos being edited in LR Developers module, all good. Went back to the to-be-corrupted photo selvrealisering mintes later, opening it for more developing, and Boom! It’s cortuoted. 


```
So was the file always this way? When you compare the image file to your backup, are they the same at a bit level?
```
The backup seems fine, and when swapping the files it seems to be fine. 
How do I check at a bit level?

Pål Engh
NORWAY


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## Roelof Moorlag (Apr 3, 2018)

palengh said:


> How do I check at a bit level?


The only file format which allows this kind of validation (from within Lightroom) is DNG.


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## Johan Elzenga (Apr 3, 2018)

Roelof Moorlag said:


> The only file format which allows this kind of validation (from within Lightroom) is DNG.


There is a plugin that can do it with proprietary raw files too. Validator: A Lightroom Plugin for Verifying Image Files


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## Roelof Moorlag (Apr 3, 2018)

Ferguson did made something too: LRValidate - Validate image data from Lightroom Catalog


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## palengh (Apr 4, 2018)

Thank you for all your answers. 
Still I would like to know how I can prevent such errors in the future? I have several of these - far too many to not try to sort it out. 


Regards

Pål Engh
Fredrikstad, NORWAY


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## Roelof Moorlag (Apr 4, 2018)

I don't know if it's possible to prevent file corruption. However, it is possible to discover it in an early stage with the mentioned tooling.
To  minimize the chance on file corruption you should use good quality hard disc's and replace them after a few years.


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## Roelof Moorlag (Apr 4, 2018)

Do you have trouble finding the corrupted images?
When you do, it is possible to use the (free) DNG converter from Adobe to trace them.


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## palengh (Apr 4, 2018)

Roelof Moorlag said:


> To minimize the chance on file corruption you should use good quality hard disc's and replace them after a few years.


I know. My current disk on the NAS is 2 years now, and is not too busy (private usage). 

Regards

Pål Engh
Fredrikstad, NORWAY


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## palengh (Apr 4, 2018)

Roelof Moorlag said:


> Do you have trouble finding the corrupted images?
> When you do, it is possible to use the (free) DNG converter from Adobe to trace them.



Can you explain this?
You suggest to convert all files to DNG?


Regards

Pål Engh
Fredrikstad, NORWAY


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## palengh (Apr 4, 2018)

I checked this image (top of thread) and if I get it right, LR do not write to NEF files.
The HDD do not report any sector/HW fault.
Then, what is causing this?





Regards

Pål Engh
Fredrikstad, NORWAY


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## Roelof Moorlag (Apr 4, 2018)

palengh said:


> Can you explain this?
> You suggest to convert all files to DNG?


Yes but not to keep them!  DNG converter logs all files that it can not convert. So, afterwards you do have a list with all 'problem'  files.


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## Roelof Moorlag (Apr 4, 2018)

palengh said:


> I checked this image (top of thread) and if I get it right, LR do not write to NEF files.


Yes, Lightroom is non-destructive. All edits are saved in the database as instructions. The original file is not touched so the cause of the corruption must be outside of Lightroom.



palengh said:


> The HDD do not report any sector/HW fault.
> Then, what is causing this?


Sector/HW faults are not the only cause for file corruption. A virus is also possible for instance but in most situations it's some kind of hardware problem.


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## cknight819 (Apr 22, 2019)

I am experiencing a very similar problem with images imported via LR on my IPAD. My workflow is to import images from the SDCARD to LR on my IPAD then let them synchronize to LR Classic CC on my PC.

 When the images sync and download to Lightroom Classic CC on my PC, some are being corrupted. The file corruption is clearly in the downloaded files because it is present when I access the image in the develop module and also when I export the original NEF and view it in another program (Photoshop or ON1).

This is only happening with a few images  and appears to have started in March and has continued into April. This is only happening with files synced from the cloud.

All of my Adobe software is up to date (according to Help). My IPAD software is up to date at 4.2.1

The file corruption is not present on my IPAD or in the "cloud" stored images when accessed via Lightroom CC. If I download the original NEF image from the cloud via Lightroom CC  there is no corruption.


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 22, 2019)

Hi cknight819, welcome to the forum!

In Classic, can I please get you to go to Help menu > System Info just to confirm the version number? Sometimes the CC app says it's up to date when it's not. The reason I ask is there was a very similar sounding bug fixed a while back. It's possible it's resurfaced in a different way though.


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## cknight819 (Apr 23, 2019)

Classic version 8.2.1 (1206193)


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## Victoria Bampton (Apr 23, 2019)

Hmmm, sounds like it's back then! Can I get you to report it as a bug please, and I'll make sure an engineer sees it:  How do I send a bug report or feature request to Adobe? | The Lightroom Queen  In the meantime, you can download the problem ones from the cloud to replace the originals (as it sounds like you're already doing) - and I know that's not a proper fix!


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## Paul_DS256 (Apr 23, 2019)

This is a good discussion but makes me think it would be useful to know to check the integrity of the file on the card in case there is a problem with the camera or the card. I had a quick look but couldn't find any external tool that could check the image files on a card or directory. Does anyone know of one?


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## cknight819 (Apr 23, 2019)

I would doubt that there is a problem with the integrity of the file on the card because it transferred to ipad photos then to IPAD Lightroom then to the cloud correctly. 

The corruption is present solely in the file synchronized from the cloud to Lightroom Classic CC. This was visible both in Lightroom Classic CC and when viewing the downloaded file with other software (ON1 and Photoshop). When I dowloaded the original file from the cloud via Lightroom CC there was no corruption. 

This process would tend to isolate the problem to the cloud synchronization process within Lightroom Classic CC.

The date range on affected images seems to be from 3-08-19 to 4-16-18 which could indicate this is a transient problem associated with some update.

I will report this occurrence to Adobe but at this time I am not able to reproduce it.


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