Continual Lightroom was unable to back up the catalog named “Lightroom Catalog-v13-3” error

[josephajibadephotography]

Lightroom Version Number

15.0.1

Operating System

1. macOS 15 Sequoia

Hi,

I keep getting error message "Lightroom was unable to back up the catalog named “Lightroom Catalog-v13-3” when backing up LrC catalog. I have tried to change locations and create one on a different location to the catalog, allowed all permissions and ensured the SSD is allows read-write. The external SSD still has over half memory available as does the Mac SD which I tried to save to as a new location. Does anyone know of a fix or best way to solve this please? Haven't backed my catalog up this month and had a few new projects.
Looks like it may be time for a brand new catalog altogether.

Thanks,

Joseph

Joseph Ajibade Photography

 

[clee01l]

Hi,

I keep getting error message "Lightroom was unable to back up the catalog named “Lightroom Catalog-v13-3” when backing up LrC catalog. I have tried to change locations and create one on a different location to the catalog, allowed all permissions and ensured the SSD is allows read-write. The external SSD still has over half memory available as does the Mac SD which I tried to save to as a new location. Does anyone know of a fix or best way to solve this please? Haven't backed my catalog up this month and had a few new projects.
Looks like it may be time for a brand new catalog altogether.

Thanks,

Joseph

Joseph Ajibade Photography

Please post a screen shoot of the Finder dialog showing the destination folder and another screen shot of the “GetInfo” dialog of that folder.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[Johan Elzenga]

This is a known issue and usually caused by catalog corruption. What you could try is this (so far this worked for everyone who tried it): Create a brand new catalog and choose 'File - Import from Another Catalog'. Select your old catalog to import. In the import dialog choose to import all photos, but do not move them. This will create an exact copy of your old catalog, but usually without the corruption. The only thing that won't come across is any publishing services you may have. You will have to recreate those. If you synced your catalog then you will have to enable sync for the new catalog. There are some reports that this could cause a problem. Here’s how to solve that: https://www.danhartfordphoto.com/bl...problems-caused-by-switching-the-sync-catalog

 

[josephajibadephotography]

Please post a screen shoot of the Finder dialog showing the destination folder and another screen shot of the “GetInfo” dialog of that folder.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[josephajibadephotography]

Please post a screen shoot of the Finder dialog showing the destination folder and another screen shot of the “GetInfo” dialog of that folder.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I have replied with the screenshots as images. I tried to create the backup to be on my MacBook internal SSD hoping that worked, and deleted all older backups, but still no luck.

 

[josephajibadephotography]

This is a known issue and usually caused by catalog corruption. What you could try is this (so far this worked for everyone who tried it): Create a brand new catalog and choose 'File - Import from Another Catalog'. Select your old catalog to import. In the import dialog choose to import all photos, but do not move them. This will create an exact copy of your old catalog, but usually without the corruption. The only thing that won't come across is any publishing services you may have. You will have to recreate those. If you synced your catalog then you will have to enable sync for the new catalog. There are some reports that this could cause a problem. Here’s how to solve that: https://www.danhartfordphoto.com/bl...problems-caused-by-switching-the-sync-catalog

Hi Johan,

Thanks I may give this a try. There is defitinely a need for me to refresh my catalog and archive old old projects so this could be the way forward. Is there a way to select catalogs by year?

Looking forward to hearing other suggestions too.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Thanks I may give this a try. There is defitinely a need for me to refresh my catalog and archive old old projects so this could be the way forward. Is there a way to select catalogs by year?

That depends how they are organized, but ‘Export as catalog’ will usually also get rid of the corruption, so that is what you could do. Select all images of a certain year, and export them as a new catalog (do not include the ‘negatives’, because that would duplicate the images). Then check if this new catalog can be backed up.

 

[clee01l]

Is there a way to select catalogs by year?

You should only have one master catalog. You are going to replace it with a new (clean) copy by following Johan's instructions.

 

[Johan Elzenga]

I agree with Clee that it’s better to have a single catalog, but in the end that choice is obviously yours.

 

[josephajibadephotography]

Did the screenshots give an indication of what I need to fix? I see there is agreement with the way forward being Johan's solution. It is currently 1 single catalog. Will I lose what is there now given I haven't backed up in a while (obviously my fault).
I will also be changing naming convention now.

Thanks both

 

[josephajibadephotography]

Does it have anything to do with me not running the latest MacOS?

 

[Johan Elzenga]

Does it have anything to do with me not running the latest MacOS?

No, it’s a problem with the catalog. It has nothing to do with MacOS (it can happen on Windows as well).