Lightroom Catalog Won't Optimize - Corrupted?

[sas21896048]

Hi,

I'm using Lightroom 4. I haven't backed up my LR in a few months (yes, I know). I'm trying to back up and I get the following error message:

"Lightroom was unable to back up the catalog named ___. Please check your folder permissions, and make sure that you have available space on your backup drive."

I have tons of space free on all my HDs. I also check all my folder permissions, and that's not the problem.

If I try to run a backup and don't click optimize and don't click check integrity, it WILL successfully complete the backup.

If I try to optimize the catalog, it doesn't seem to do anything. I go to File > Optimize and click Optimize. It says "Optimizing Catalog... This may take several minutes." Then it says "Your catalog was not optimized and Lightroom must restart. Lightroom will check the catalog for damage when it resumes." I click OK. Lightroom restarts. A window comes up quickly and says "Now checking the integrity of __________." And then Lightroom opens as normal.

The catalog doesn't become optimized (the date in Preferences > Catalog Settings remains the same). It also never gives me an error message that the optimization failed, or that the catalog is corrupt.

I can carry on and use LR as normal with my catalog, but I'm very concerned that I'm working on a corrupt catalog.

I also tried the "SQL" trick I read about on these forums using sqlite3. It took my .lrcat file down from 980MB to 968MB which isn't major. I tried getting the new catalog to backup or optimize, and nothing has changed.

Your help is very much appreciated. Thank you.

[Just Shoot Me]

Have you checked the folder permissions on the folder LR is trying to save the backup to? It may not be the same folder as where the catalog is stored.

[sas21896048]

Yes, I've checked the permissions on the backup folder. I've also tried moving the backup folder the other drive. I even created a copy of the catalog and moved it to other drive. None of this worked. Thanks for responding, and please advise what else to try.

[sas21896048]

Also, I tried to open up an old catalog in my backup folder that I know is not corrupted.... and then Import from another catalog. I selected the new catalog to import from. I get the following error:

"Can not import from this catalog at this time. Unexpected error when creating temporary working copy of the catalog"

I can import from other older catalogs.

At this point, I'm thinking the catalog has to be corrupted.

[dj_paige]

This doesn't sound like a corrupted catalog to me. If it was corrupted, it wouldn't even open at all.

I suggest you search the forum for other instances of being unable to back up the catalog, and look for solutions there.

[sas21896048]

>>This doesn't sound like a corrupted catalog to me. If it was corrupted, it wouldn't even open at all.

I don't know if the catalog is corrupted, but the fact that it won't optimize and can't be imported into a different catalog suggests something is wrong.

>>I suggest you search the forum for other instances of being unable to back up the catalog, and look for solutions there.

As stated, I am able to back up the catalog if I turn off the optimization option before running the back-up. I have searched the forum, and the known solutions for being unable to backup are not enough disk space, permissions wrong, and trying a different backup drive. None of those worked.

[sas21896048 · Accepted solution]

I figured it out. My catalog is not corrupt after all. The problem is that my Windows Temp directory is a separate partition that is only 1 GB in size. The catalog is about 1 GB. I guess the windows temp directory was causing problems for the optimization. I increased the Temp directory to 3GB and it optimized.

[Rogue_Nurse]

I'm having this same issue. How did you increase the temp directory?