# Catalog backup not working since Windows update



## jimlevitt (Sep 18, 2019)

Microsoft pushed through a regular update last week. Since that time,  I've not been able to back up the catalog in Lightroom Classic 8.4.  It gets about halfway through, with "copying catalog" showing under the green bar, and then gets stuck. It will remain that way for hours. I have to go to Task Manager to "end process" on Lightroom Classic to shut down Lightroom. If I check the latest catalog backup, it's twice the size of earlier backups - probably because the backup process never reached the "optimizing catalog" phase.

Is there a fix for this? Or must I wait for the next Windows update from Microsoft, and hope they fix the problem? In the meantime, I do not have a current backup.


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## Umberto Cocca (Sep 18, 2019)

Hi!
Where do you copy your backup file? Have you checked the available free space on the drive where the backup catalog is being copied? Sometimes windows updates can be heavy on disk space usage.
If all sounds OK then you could manually copy the .lrcat file onto your backup drive while waiting for an official fix. 

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## jimlevitt (Sep 18, 2019)

Umberto Cocca said:


> Hi!
> Where do you copy your backup file? Have you checked the available free space on the drive where the backup catalog is being copied? Sometimes windows updates can be heavy on disk space usage.
> If all sounds OK then you could manually copy the .lrcat file onto your backup drive while waiting for an official fix.
> 
> Sent using Tapatalk


I use a 500GB SSD drive, which currently shows 176GB free. I'm pointing the finger at the Microsoft update, because the problem started only after that.  I've been using the same drive, etc for years, without ever encountering this before. No other troubles have emerged, either with Lightroom Classic, or any other application. Only the LR backup issue. 

Thanks for the suggestion to manually copy the .lrcat file. I'll do that just to make sure I have something fairly current stored on a few other drives.


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## Hal P Anderson (Sep 18, 2019)

When you manually create a backup, you can zip the file as well. That will save you a fair bit of space.

The backup works OK for me. Here's what I get when I run Winver:


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## davidedric (Sep 18, 2019)

I'm guessing the OP is on Windows 1903, which I have heard is still causing some glitches


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## clee01l (Sep 18, 2019)

Silly question (I Know)  but have you rebooted the OS since the update?   Rebooting will clear any detritus that may be resident in the working storage (free space)   A reboot can't hurt.   BTW, the important free space is on C:\ where the Windows update created a bunch of temporary file and where LR builds the staging files for the backup.   How much free space is found on C:\


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## jimlevitt (Sep 19, 2019)

Umberto Cocca said:


> Hi!
> Where do you copy your backup file? Have you checked the available free space on the drive where the backup catalog is being copied? Sometimes windows updates can be heavy on disk space usage.
> If all sounds OK then you could manually copy the .lrcat file onto your backup drive while waiting for an official fix.
> 
> Sent using Tapatalk


I use a 500GB SSD drive, which currently shows 176GB free. I'm pointing the finger at the Microsoft update, because the problem started only after that.  I've been using the same drive, etc for years, without ever encountering this before. No other troubles have emerged, either with Lightroom Classic, or any other application. Only the LR backup issue. 

Thanks for the suggestion to manually copy the .lrcat file. I'll do that just to make sure I have something fairly current stored n


clee01l said:


> Silly question (I Know)  but have you rebooted the OS since the update?   Rebooting will clear any detritus that may be resident in the working storage (free space)   A reboot can't hurt.   BTW, the important free space is on C:\ where the Windows update created a bunch of temporary file and where LR builds the staging files for the backup.   How much free space is found on C:\



My C:\  drive is also a 500 GB SSD, with more than 250GB free.  I shut down my PC every night when I'm done, so it's been rebooted numerous times since this Windows update. Since that time, I updated Lightroom Classic to 8.4.   The backup problem remained. I'll try it again later tonight. If things work properly, I'll be sure to report that here. Otherwise, assume it's still not right.


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## jimlevitt (Sep 19, 2019)

davidedric said:


> I'm guessing the OP is on Windows 1903, which I have heard is still causing some glitches


Yes, that's correct: 1903


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## jimlevitt (Sep 19, 2019)

Finally! Backup worked tonight, though it took a looooonnnnnnggggg time.


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## Umberto Cocca (Sep 19, 2019)

Could that be the 1st signs of a corrupted catalog? Or a drive that starts to fail? Just asking here... 

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