Corrupt Lightroom Catalog

[jessbei]

I was recently working on a Lightroom 4 catalog that was saved on a G-Drive when the hard drive failed. I was able to recover the catalog using data recovery software, but now when I try to open it, Lightroom says it's unable to open due to an unexpected error. I've tried renaming the catalog, importing from a new catalogue, and opening various ways, but nothing works. The catalog seems corrupt. Help! Is there any way to recover the catalog?

[web-weaver]

The message you are getting could be caused by the presence of the so-called lock-file. The purpose of the lock file is to prevent that a catalog file can be opened twice at the same time.

Therefore it should be present when a catalog has been opened with/by Lr. But the lock-file should be deleted (automatically) when the catalog has been closed by Lr. It happens sometimes that on closing of a catalog, the lock-file is not deleted, particularly when Lr does not close down but is interrupted by a crash or hardware failure. The lock-file then prevents any further opening of this catalog and Lr sends the message you are getting.

With Lr closed check in Mac Finder / Win Explorer if you can find a lock-file. The lock file sits directly besides (i.e. in the same folder) the catalog file in question.

The catalog is a file with the extension <  .lrcat>; the lock-file has the extension <  .lrcat.lock>

If - for instance - you have a catalog file named <123xyz.lrcat>, the lock-file would have the name <123xyz.lrcat.lock>.

If, while Lr is closed, you see a lock-file, delete it, i.e. send it to the Trash Can / Recycle Bin.

[jessbei]

I tried moving the .lock file to the trash, but still no luck. I get the attached prompts when trying to launch the catalog.

There's also a .lrcat-journal file, which I know Lightroom writes to while it opens. I'm assuming this is there because Lightroom was open when my hard drive crashed. Could this be causing the problem? Any other suggestions?

[Geoff the kiwi]

You could try moving the journal file to another location and attempt to open the catalog. If not do you have a recnet back up? If none of those report back and we can pass you on to an engineer who MAY be able to assist.

[jessbei]

Moving the journal file doesn't work, unfortunately. When I try that, I get a dialogue that says the catalog can't be opened due to an unexpected error. Also a bummer - I don't have a recent enough back up of this catalog, so if it isn't fixable, I'll be losing a lot of work. Any help would be much appreciated!

[Geoff the kiwi]

I'll point the team to this thread. Current back ups are important!!

[StrayCats]

The method of deleting the .lock file located directly next to the catalog file worked perfectly for me. Thank you so much

[paul_kleczka]

jessbei-

I sent you a private message.  I would like to take a look at your catalog to see if we can recover any of it.  See the private message for details.

Thanks!

-paul

Paul Kleczka

Lightroom

[Geoff the kiwi]

Thank you Paul!!!

[pixchick89]

Paul is there anyway you could look at mine and tell me if it's recoverable?!? I have a bunch of weddings I JUST finished and now it won't open PLEASE HELP I'm Panicing!!!!

Brie

www.blmphoto.com

briemorrissey@gmail.com

[paul_kleczka]

Hi Brie-

I sent an email to the address you had listed.  I can't promise anything but I am certainly willing to take a look.

-paul

[michele_mikey_s_mom]

paul I am having the same issues with a corruted catalog.  I have my catalog on a removable harddrive that I take between my desk top and my laptop.  I was using it on the laptop and but the comuter into hybernation mode.  Then when I tried to open the removal hard drive with my desktop and light room I got the catalog corrution error as described earlier in this string.  I found the lock file and deleated it and still I had the same problem.  Have you been able to come up with a fix for this?

[Jenabean4]

Hi all - I am having a similar problem.  Was anyone able to fix their catalogues? 

Paul is there anyway you can try to help me out too?  I have contacted Adobe twice and have gotten nowhere!  HELP!

[paul_kleczka]

Hi Jenna-

I sent you a private message.  I can take a look to see if I can help- see the pm for details.

-paul

[cookymonster2000]

Hi Paul,

same deal here - corrupt catalogue after a drive went down. Now it won't open. Any chance you can help? The files are super important...

Best

Tom

[paul_kleczka]

Hi CookyMonster2000-

I sent you a private message as well- I would like to help if I'm able.  See the PM for details.

Thanks!

-paul

[kristim]

Hi Paul!!  I am having a similar issue!  I was exporting images to my external hard drive (also where my catalog was) and my catlog is saying the same thing. Tried to repair and got the try again and nothing happens.  Do you have any suggestions??  Thank you so much!!! 

[kristim]

Are there any LR experts that can help with this???  I waited on the phone for 3 and 1/2 hours!!  And there was still NO ANSWER!!!  PLEASE HELP!!!  THANK YOU!!!

[Geoff the kiwi]

Kristin, sorry you are having to wait....

You could try creating a new catalog and attempting to inport from the corrupted one.  I am assuming you didn't have a current back up one that you could use?

[kristim]

Hi Geoff!  No, unfortunately, I didn't make a back up.  I just recent created it and forgot to do a backup.  How would I import from the corrupted one?  How would I get the images that were already edited and ready to be exported?

[kristim]

I had read somewhere about using SQlite but that is all very technical to me.  I had just finished a wedding and needed to get it exported so if anyone could help me, I would truly appreciate it!!  I had sent Paul a PM but I'm not sure if he is still active or not.  Thank you so much Geoff for your help!!  After waiting for 3.5 hrs on the phone with no answer, you can imagine I'm a little frustrated/worried!!  THANK YOU!!

[Geoff the kiwi]

Open Lightroom with the alt/option key pressed and you will get the menu allowing to create a new catalog. Do that and then got to File>Import from Another Catalog and navigate to the corrupt one... try to import. Sometimes it works. I have pinged Paul about the posts here too so hopefully he may pop in soon as well.

[kristim]

I tried that but it says it can't import from that catalog...The catalog does not appear to be a valid Lightroom catalog.

[Geoff the kiwi]

Ok, that is the end of my knowledge am afraid.

[Geoff the kiwi]

How big is the catalog file (mb's)??