# Lightroom Catalog corrupt. Can't be repaired.



## RRRize (Dec 18, 2007)

I had a power outage (I think) while using Lightroom.  I restarted the computer and relaunched Lightroom and was confronted with the following message:

*Lightroom encountered an error and needs to quit.  There was a problem reading one of the Lightroom catalogs.*

I clicked OK.  3 seconds later I was confronted with the follwing messgae:

*The last time Lightroom ran, it shut down prematurely due to a problem reading the catalog.  Lightroom must now check the catalog before proceeding*

I clicked OK.  5 seconds later I was confronted with the following message:

*The Lightroom catalog "Lightroom Catalog" is corrupt and cannot be used or backed up until it is repaired.  The repair operation may take several minutes to complete and should not be interrupted while in progress.  A message with further instructions will be displayed when the repair process is complete.*

I clicked on REPAIR CATALOG.  A progress bar appeared but only went a quarter of the way before stopping and I got the following and final message: 

*The catalog "Lightroom Catalog" is corrupt and cannot be repaired at this time.  Please use a recent backup copy of this catalog..."*

Does anyone have a clue as to how I can go about fixing my catalog because therein lies a gigantic amount of edits that are not in my most recent backup copy of the catalog.  HELP!

Thanks in advance.


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## DonRicklin (Dec 18, 2007)

Contact Dan Tull of Adobe at dantull_at_gmail_dot_com and make arrangements to ship your catalog to him He is researching catalogs for Adobe on why and how they fail. He has also had very excellent luck with repairing Catalogs. 

Do lets us know how it goes. And mention who sent you, from where.



Don


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## Mark Sirota (Dec 18, 2007)

Is this LR version 1.3.1?  If not, upgrade and then try again -- there were some improved catalog repair tools included with 1.3.

If this is 1.3.1, then that's a bit of a bummer...  I don't have any good suggestions.


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## DonRicklin (Dec 18, 2007)

That reminds me, RRRize, please fill in your Signature by going under CP User above and list your OS, System and gear, for future refence.

Don


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## RRRize (Dec 18, 2007)

I have been tinkering with it for the past few hours and finally decided to do the following:

1. I opened Lightroom with my backup catalog.
2. I went to *FILE* --> *IMPORT FROM CATALOG*
3. Selected the corrupted catalog.

Surprisingly, it opened and revealed all the thumbnails, which reflected all the xmp updates.

3. I selected the ones I needed and clicked on the IMPORT button. It worked ALMOST seamlessly! A small few of my files could not be recovered, but the greater bulk of them imported over just fine!

So now, I set up Lightroom to backup every time I open Lightroom.  But here's my next question...

As it stands now, when I open Lightroom it opens up my backup catalog as if it were just the main catalog.  Obviously, this is not what I want.  So, should I do the following:

1. Copy the 3 files in the backup folder*
          -Lightroom Catalog.lrcat
          -Lightroom Catalog Previews.lrdata
          -Lightroom Catalog.lrcat.lock*

2. Put the copied files where the former corrupt versions of them resided.
3. Make Lightroom point to the newly placed *Lightroom Catalog.lrcat*

This seems to make the most sense to me, but I am wondering if there is a more "correct" way for me to create a replacement catalog for my old corrupt one.  Does the application itself have a way/process to do this?  I guess, what I want to know is, is there a more appropriate way to do this?


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## Mick Seymour (Dec 18, 2007)

RRRize;48'4 said:
			
		

> As it stands now, when I open Lightroom it opens up my backup catalog as if it were just the main catalog.  Obviously, this is not what I want.



Is this solely because it is running in your backup location rather than the live location on your drive? If that is the case then you can copy the catalog, previews and Lightroom's Backup folder to the live location. First, I would move the corrupt live catalog and previews folder somewhere else in case you ever want them again.

The .lock file is created by Lightroom when it is writing to the database and should not exist when you copy the files. Make sure Lightroom is closed and the lock file is gone.

Once that is done, hold down the Control key (Cmd on the Mac I believe) and start Lightroom. When presented with the Select Catalog dialog, let go of the control key. Make sure the catalog location is pointing to the (new) live catalog and check the "Always load ..." box. It would be a good idea to check the "Test integrity ..." box at this point too.


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## andrewyonda (Oct 19, 2008)

By the way RRRize, your workaround just recovered about 8 hours of work for me! Thank you so much!!!!!!!!!! And that's with Lightroom 2.'!


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## linguaphobe (Nov 3, 2008)

*Any hope for corrupt catalog with no XMP data?*

I was mortified to learn about corrupt catalogs this morning, the hard way. I did not have XMP data enabled, and the last backup does not have some VERY important work in it. Is there any hope whatsoever to recover or repair this catalog? I've tried importing it into another catalog; and I upgraded to 2.1 in the hopes there would be more robust repair tools available over 1.4. 

Can anyone advise me?


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## Victoria Bampton (Nov 3, 2008)

Hi linguaphone, welcome to the forum!

Sorry to hear it's a disaster that brings you to the forum.

Before you panic, there is a guy at Adobe who's had great success in rescuing corrupted catalogs.  I'll PM you his address in a second.

When you say you've tried importing into another catalog, did you try the whole catalog in one go, or doing it in small chunks.  Small chunks usually works best, if you haven't tried that already!


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## sphockey04 (Apr 11, 2009)

*Corrupt!*

Unfortunately, I am about to the forum by similar disaster.  Lightroom catalogue corruption - was importing images to my external HD when a power failure hit and that did the trick apparently.

Have their been any advances in solving this issue?  I'm downloading version 2.3, anyone out there had any luck fixing their catalogue?


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## Kiwigeoff (Apr 11, 2009)

Welcome.
Can you give a little more info please like which version of LR was the catalog created with?
IIf you PM me I will respond with the email address of the expert at Adobe, although they are off for the next week so we may need to see what we can do to help.
*MAKE A COPY TO WORK FROM FIRST WITH YOUR OS*!!


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## Ant (May 27, 2009)

RRRize... thanks for the helpful method - however when attempting to import the corrupt catalogue - it hangs on "checking for duplicate photos"
Does anyone have any ideas how you can get round this?

Cheers, 

A.


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## Brad Snyder (May 27, 2009)

Ant, check your Private Messages, here at the forum.


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## Braders (Jun 13, 2009)

Interesting

I had the exact same corruption that the original poster had, last week. My first in 2 years, so i can't winge too much (i had backed up!!! see i learn), but scared the crap out of me!

Few interesting things happened in the process.

Firstly, the corruption happend instantantly the moment I removed the CF card from the computer, while LR was 1/2 way rendering the previews. As LR had ejected the card following import, i did not think would be an issue while rendering, but alas it seems as though it was.

Secondly, i got a critical error message that this corrupt catalogue was potentially fatal to my computer and that i needed to remove it.

Third, LR would not let me revove the lrcat. In the directory (external HD) where all the images are, 3 things were immovable
1. Lrcat
2. Lrcat.lock
3. Lrcat.journal

No matter what i tried i could not delete them off the HD. When i removed the HD, rebooted the computer and attached the HD again, then panic set in as all folders and files on the ext HD appeared missing!

I had to attach the HD to my wifes computer to find all was intact, i then cut and paste the corrupt little ^%#$ers into a folder of there own.

Only then could i re-attech the HD to my computer, and start a new Lrcat with the back up.


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## Victoria Bampton (Jun 14, 2009)

That is truly bizarre Brad!!!!!


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## IMAGESBYAIDA (Jun 23, 2009)

*Please update information for LR2.3*

I am getting the "catalog corruption error message" and see that these posts are older LR versions, does this apply to 2.3 as well and is there a way to fix through my time machine backups?


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## Brad Snyder (Jun 24, 2009)

Aida, welcome. I'm a Windows user, so not familiar with Time Machine.

In theory, you'll want to locate the most recent *.lrcat file, in the backup location. The actual filename should represent the name you've given the catalog, by default Lightroom 2 Catalog.lrcat

Once you locate the file, you can simply double-click it to open it in Lr.  If it's recent enough, there you go. It's possible that the most recent backups are also corrupt, since Time Machine just backs up the files (I presume). If there are chronological backups, work your way back til you find one that works.

Using the double-click method to open the file has a hidden gotcha'. Since Lr is usually set to open the most recently used catalog, your backup file becomes the most recently used. If/when, you're satisfied the backup is OK, make sure to copy the functioning backup copy to your normal Lr catalog location. 

If you're on the verge of losing lots of work, let us know, and we can likely steer you to someone who may be able to repair the catalog.


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## IMAGESBYAIDA (Jun 26, 2009)

Thanks for your fast reply, having problems still.
So basically, I was working in Lighroom editting in CS4 when we had power outtage.
got the message on Catalog Corruption error, I have tried restoring the catalog through Time Machine, then importing it to LR, but catalog is not showing any thumbnails. 
Is there a Step-by Step guide I can follow to try and fix it? Has anybody had this problem lately and with the the same equipment?


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## Brad Snyder (Jun 27, 2009)

If it's the *.lrcat file, you don't import it. You open it. Just double click on it in Finder, or navigate to it from Lr's File > Open Catalog menu.

If that's not it, I think we'll need to ask more detailed questions.


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## Victoria Bampton (Jun 27, 2009)

I'd go with Brad on this too.

If that's not it, are there any question marks in the corners of the thumbnails?


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## IMAGESBYAIDA (Jun 28, 2009)

*trying to correct corrupt catalog*

I have tried what you suggested and no luck. I went to finder and located the original catalog which brings me to that message of corruption and when I click on repair now it comes back saying corrupt and can not be repaired at this time.
I do have significantly days of work that I would like to avoid.
Any other suggestions?
Please help:(


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## Brad Snyder (Jun 28, 2009)

Aida, check your Private Messages, here at the forum.


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## IMAGESBYAIDA (Jun 30, 2009)

I was able to fix my problem by restoring my catalog from the prior date backups on Time machine and then openned Lightroom, open catalog that I restored and like Magic it worked.
Thanks and good luck to ya'll that find themselves in that same corruption.
Remember not to dismiss/skip those dreaded yet important catalog backups!


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## Kiwigeoff (Jun 30, 2009)

That is good to hear Aida, another happy result!!:lol:


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## kismet (Sep 16, 2009)

I just had this happen to me. Can someone send me the info about the person that knows how to repair or retrieve the files?
Any help would be welcomed.
Thanks


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## RRRize (Dec 18, 2007)

I had a power outage (I think) while using Lightroom.  I restarted the computer and relaunched Lightroom and was confronted with the following message:

*Lightroom encountered an error and needs to quit.  There was a problem reading one of the Lightroom catalogs.*

I clicked OK.  3 seconds later I was confronted with the follwing messgae:

*The last time Lightroom ran, it shut down prematurely due to a problem reading the catalog.  Lightroom must now check the catalog before proceeding*

I clicked OK.  5 seconds later I was confronted with the following message:

*The Lightroom catalog "Lightroom Catalog" is corrupt and cannot be used or backed up until it is repaired.  The repair operation may take several minutes to complete and should not be interrupted while in progress.  A message with further instructions will be displayed when the repair process is complete.*

I clicked on REPAIR CATALOG.  A progress bar appeared but only went a quarter of the way before stopping and I got the following and final message: 

*The catalog "Lightroom Catalog" is corrupt and cannot be repaired at this time.  Please use a recent backup copy of this catalog..."*

Does anyone have a clue as to how I can go about fixing my catalog because therein lies a gigantic amount of edits that are not in my most recent backup copy of the catalog.  HELP!

Thanks in advance.


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## MarkNicholas (Sep 16, 2009)

My god there is a sudden epidemic !!!!  
Better take my medicine and back-up quickly


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## Victoria Bampton (Sep 16, 2009)

Hi kismet, welcome to the forum!

Can you tell us a bit more about what's happened? And do you have any backups?


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