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Catalogs Can't open catalog after restore of files after hard disk failure

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tracyclayton

New Member
Joined
Apr 15, 2019
Messages
7
Lightroom Version Number
Lightroom Classic 11.5
Operating System
  1. Windows 10
Hi - hope someone can help.

The inevitable happened last week and my hard disk failed. Originals were all backed up and I have restored (most of) the files including the latest .lrcat file. However, Lightroom Classic is not opening this file. I have deleted the 'lock' file mentioned in other threads, but the catalog will still not open.

I have tried uninstalling (to then reinstall) from Creative Cloud but get a dialog box saying

Conflict uninstalling Lightroom Classic
Save your work and close the following programs before continuing. Learn more
- Adobe Lightroom Classic

There are two buttons - 'Cancel' and 'Continue' - pressing continue just brings up the dialog box again stuck in a loop.

Hoping someone has the answer - thank you!
 
Sorry to hear about your hard disk crash. What is the current installation status of Classic - installed, uninstalled, or partially un/installed? If installed and operating, are you able to open any other catalogs or create a new catalog?

--Ken
 
Could you have had more than one catalog? If so, perhaps there is another *.lock file that needs to be deleted.
 
Thanks Ken and John. LrC just wouldn't open. I found advice in another thread to check Task Manager, which had several versions 'open' of LrC, ended those, but it made no difference to being able to open the catalog. It did however allow me to uninstall and then reinstall LrC from Creative Cloud, but the it still didn't open - with my existing catalog or a new one - just no response from the program.

I spent a while on the Adobe support chat yesterday. They got LrC working again with a new catalog after modifying some Microsoft Visual C++ files (?!) but have said that my catalog is corrupted. They're hopefully going to be able to restore it, have said they'll come back to me with an update on Tuesday. Fingers crossed.
 
Ouch! Let us know how you get on.
 
Thanks Ken and John. LrC just wouldn't open. I found advice in another thread to check Task Manager, which had several versions 'open' of LrC, ended those, but it made no difference to being able to open the catalog. It did however allow me to uninstall and then reinstall LrC from Creative Cloud, but the it still didn't open - with my existing catalog or a new one - just no response from the program.

I spent a while on the Adobe support chat yesterday. They got LrC working again with a new catalog after modifying some Microsoft Visual C++ files (?!) but have said that my catalog is corrupted. They're hopefully going to be able to restore it, have said they'll come back to me with an update on Tuesday. Fingers crossed.
So sorry for you LR issues. Hopefully they can get your catalog back in order. Report back if you can when you know more.

Good luck,

--Ken
 
Thought you'd all like an update! Not a good experience with Adobe support and certainly not good news...

Firstly the Adobe support call booked for Tuesday 20 Sept didn't materialise. I was away for a few days, so my case was closed because I hadn't responded, despite the transcript of the original support chat saying "I am escalating this case to a senior tech and they will be repairing this catalog" - the back up of the catalog had been copied to my Creative Cloud for them to do this.

New case opened yesterday - the agent first of all said the link I gave them to the catalog file wasn't the right one (it was), so I shared it again. Today I got this message

"We tried repairing the corrupt catalog at our end, but unfortunately the catalog is beyond repair. This can happen due to many reasons.

We suggest you to please look for any old backup so that you may find any recent backup for this catalog. "

Fortunately I have other older back ups to try - I guess I start with the newest and work through in order until I find one that works? Wish me luck...
 
Oh dear, so sorry to hear they weren't wonderfully helpful. Unfortunately my contact at Adobe will use the same tool to try to restore the catalog, so it is backup time.
 
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