Lightroom Fails to open with....

[PatrickC]

....message:

Database "H:\Lightroom\LR2Catalogue\LR2Catalogue.lrcat": column absolutePath is not unique
Statement: INSERT INTO AgLibraryRootFolder( id_local, id_global, absolutePath, name, relativePathFromCatalog ) VALUES( ?, ?, ?, ?, ? );
​

in a dialogue box. Click once, it reappears; click again and LR opens but with no images.

I'm in the process of upgrading my system, the first step being to rationalise my storage with a new 1.5 Tb Seagate FreeAgent XTreme external drive. I copied all of our digital originated images to the new drive, disconnected the old ones and re-connected the folders to the new ones on the XTreme. This proceeded normally.

I then attempted to import the images from our latest expedition, from a 2.5" drive and the LR-exported catalog generated from the Mac laptop. I copied the image pixel files to the new drive, then imported the catalog. It failed to import part way through with the helpful message "An unknown error occurred".

When I tried to open LR again, I got the message above. I tried 're-launch and optimise', which appeared to proceed normally, but the same message appeared. I tried backing up the catalog in the hope that the backup would pick up and fix whatever corruption had happened; again, it proceeded normally but with the same result.

I have now imported the old catalog to a new catalog, which seems to have worked OK (there are about 4'k images in the catalog, so it took a while). I am importing the new images from the expedition, having for the moment de-selected one folder which has the same name as one that already exists in the target folder, just in case this is what's causing the problem. This is about 1/3 through and it's late so I'm off to bed now.

But if anyone knows what is the cause of this cryptic error message I'd be very interested to hear.

Edit:

This strategy worked and I now have my whole catalogue working with my new drive. I'm still curious about the error though.

Patrick Cunningham

 

[fware]

This is a DB error (SQL) message.

As it seems LR as tried to insert a value into the column "absolutePath" that is already there. As it seems "absolutePath" can only be there once, if you have two it is an error.

Normally LR should see that the path exists and should not add it again. Instead you have to use "update folder" from the folder list right klick menue..

To fix that I fear you have to use sqlite DB tools and some SQL to get the entry removed. BUT this is "open heart surgery" on the Lightromm DB. Always do it on a copy of the .lrcat file an test if it has worked or do not do it at all.

This is a matter for Adobe, as my knowledge of the DB structure is only based on the "select ..." paly I had with a DB file and sqlite tools.

 

[Brad Snyder]

Patrick, check your forum private messages.

 

[fware]

H Brad,

why is the answer privat ?
It may be usefull for others too.

 

[PatrickC]

fware:

The answer was in fact not an answer, just an offer to forward the info to Adobe.

The answer is in the original post; the steps I took did solve the problem, albeit probably in a crude way. No doubt it could have been solved more elegantly (and more quickly) by someone with more SQL experience than I. But the self-help steps I took did the job with relatively little pain. It's reassuring that LR is robust enough to be able to reconstruct a damaged database in this straightforward way, without losing data.

Patrick Cunningham