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Repair of corrupted catalogs

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Tomiron

New Member
Joined
May 28, 2012
Messages
3
Location
Sweden
Lightroom Experience
Advanced
Trying to open a corrupt catalog of mine makes LR freeze forcing me to kill the actual LR-process to proceed. I also need to delete the preference files to start LR again. It is not possible to import any data from the corrupted catalog to a new one. (My latest backup catalog works just fine though, but lacks quite a few hours of work...)

Is there by any chance a way to check integrity or do any other kind of catalogue repair of corrupted catalogs that doesn't open in LR? If I'd been more of a tech-pro I'd might been successful in using sqlite3 or sqlite analyzer to check the database. Now is that not the case..

I'm aware of that holding down the Alt-key (on Win) or Opt-key (on Mac) while simultaneously clicking on the LR icon in the dock cause LR to open but not to open the default catalog. Instead it shows a dialog with a list of available catalogs and an option to create check integrity of each catalog. In my case - this doesn't work. If I choose my corrupted catalog following this procedure this will still cause LR to crash.

Working in LR 4, Win7 64 bit, 4GB RAM, accessing catalog and previews from an external drive, images stored on a multiHD-NAS.
 
Hi Victoria, I've tried the SQLite fix and am getting the same errors as some others:
Error: near line 747606: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 747607: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 747608: no such table: sqlite_stat4
etc.

May I zip and send you the file as well?
 
Yes, that's fine Sylvia. I should note that my database repair Adobe contact is out of the office this coming week, so there will be a delay in getting it back to you.
 
Hello. I appear to have a corrupted Catalog. I've followed the Holger YouTube video and I'm still running into issues.

My corrupted Catalog is 1.53GB in size. When I use the SQLite to create the temporary Catalog it's creating one approximately double in size - 3.1GB

When I attempt to run the second command in SQLite (the -init) it runs through and I get a bunch of errors "no such table: sqlite_stat4"

Any suggestions on what to do?

Thanks!
 
I'm happy to pass it on to my guy at Adobe to see if he can recover it, but it sounds like it might be toast. Do you not have a recent backup we can help you restore?
 
Thank you. I have a backup but unfortunately not all to recent so ideally I'd like to get this repaired.

I appreciate your offer. How should I get it to you?
 
Hi Victoria, I am new to the forum, I discovered your website researching how to fix a a corrupted Lightroom Catalog. I spent a ton of time with Adobe Support with no luck. and am hoping against hope your team might be able to help.

I tried using sqlite; I'm a photographer definitely not a person who can use a command line.

Thanks, Tom

[email protected]
 
Hi Tom, welcome to the forum! Happy to pass it on to my Adobe contact, although if Adobe Support have already had a go, the chances aren't great. Worth a try though, zip the lrcat bit and use Dropbox or www.wetransfer.com or similar to send it to me at [email protected]
 
Hi Tom, I got it. What was making you think it was corrupted? It opens fine and passes the integrity checks here.
 
The file has been constantly locking up, giving the message that "Lightroom must restart." Additionally, any images were processed would literally disappear from the catalog. Not a trace. To make matters worse, all of my keywording, poof. gone.

Kind of a unique problem. I am thinking about combining old versions of the catalog, then removing duplicates, in a search for missing processed images and keywords.
 
Ok, that's useful, it just gives me something to tell my contact to look for. Let me see if he can find any corruption.
 
Hello,

as you might notice, I'm also new to the forum. I registered as I have huge issues with my LR catalog.
As part of the new LR classic v9 releas, LR always tries to update my catalog and fails with the message "There was a problem updating the format of the Catalog file in Lightroom. This Catalog can not be used with this Lightroom version.".
In the LR classic v8 version, it opens, passes integrity check and everything is fine despite LR showing messages with "? indexing a NIL value"-messages. It just causes serious trouble when I try to create an new catalog and import the old one into it (I'm not sure how the optins is named in an English version, in German it is something like "Import from other catalog"). This fails with an error pointing to a faulty catalog.
I also tried to repair with the method of exporting to SQL-file and building a new one. That fails with messages as follows:
Code:
--- snip (approx 2000 lines in total) ---
Error: near line 4264453: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264454: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264455: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264456: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264457: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264458: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264459: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264460: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264461: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264462: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264463: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264464: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264465: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264466: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264467: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264468: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264469: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264470: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264471: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264472: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264473: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264474: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264475: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264476: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264477: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264478: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264479: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264480: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264481: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264482: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264483: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264484: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264485: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264486: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264487: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264488: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264489: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264490: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264491: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264492: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264493: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264494: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264495: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264496: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264497: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264498: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264499: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264500: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264501: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264502: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264503: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264504: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264505: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264506: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264507: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264508: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264509: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264510: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264511: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264512: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264513: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264514: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264515: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264516: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264517: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264518: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264519: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264520: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264521: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264522: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264523: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264524: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264525: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264526: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264527: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264528: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264529: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264530: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264531: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264532: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264533: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264534: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264535: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264536: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264537: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264538: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264539: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264540: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264541: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264542: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264543: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264544: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264545: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264546: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264547: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264548: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264549: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264550: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264551: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264552: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264553: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264554: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264555: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264556: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264557: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264558: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264559: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264560: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264561: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264562: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264563: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264564: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264565: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264566: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264567: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264568: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264569: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264570: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264571: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264572: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264573: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264574: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264575: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264576: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264577: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264578: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264579: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264580: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264581: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264582: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264583: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264584: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264585: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264586: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264587: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264588: no such table: sqlite_stat4
Error: near line 4264589: no such table: sqlite_stat4
--- snip (approx 2000 lines in total) ---

Do you have any proposal to solve this issue and enable me to use the new LR version without creating a new catalog?
Doing so, I run into serious trouble with all the video files that don't get and metadata stored to the drive but only being maintained in the database.

Thanks a lot and best regards,
Matthias
 
Hello,

as you might notice, I'm also new to the forum. I registered as I have huge issues with my LR catalog.
As part of the new LR classic v9 release, LR always tries to update my catalog and fails with the message "There was a problem updating the format of the Catalog file in Lightroom. This Catalog can not be used with this Lightroom version.".
In the LR classic v8 version, it opens, passes integrity check and everything is fine despite LR showing messages with "? indexing a NIL value"-messages. It just causes serious trouble when I try to create a new catalog and import the old one into it (I'm not sure how the options is named in an English version, in German it is something like "Import from other catalog"). This fails with an error pointing to a faulty catalog.
Hi Matthias

Welcome to the Forum! Catalog does sound corrupted, hence the inability to convert. One thing that would be interesting would be, instead of trying to import it to a new catalog, open it, select all your photos and Export to new catalog instead. Then try opening and see how it looks. Let us know how you go.
 
Hi Paul,

thank a lot for your quick reply!
I just checked the proposal with the following result:
  • The Export itself (without negatives, previews, ...) worked as far as I can see; at least, it did not show any error and created a new file with the ending ".lrcat", filesize 288MB, original catalog file from which the new catalog was 291MB
  • When I tried to import this newly created catalog into a new empty one, LR shows me an error again (translation from German and therefore not fully accurate: "Lightroom was not able to import this catalog. Unknown error."
Best regards,
Matthias
 
Hi matmielke, welcome to the forum! Zip up the original catalog (just the lrcat bit) and use www.wetransfer.com or similar to send it to [email protected] and I'll pass it on to a contact at Adobe to see if he can fix it. There might be a delay as he's out of the office at the Adobe Max conference this week.
 
Hi Victoria,

the file is on the way. Thanks a lot for the support on this topic!
It would be great to get it working again.

Best regards,
Matthias
 
Hi Victoria,

thank for your support on this problem and for sending the catalog back to me.
I tried to use the new one and went through the same steps like before. Unfortunately, it still doesn't work and produces the same errors:
- upgrade to LR v9 --> fails when upgrading catalog
- in latest v8.x: import from this catalog to a new one --> also fails.

Is there anything else I could do?

Thanks and best regards,
Matthias
 
Hi Matthias

I've managed to get it upgraded for you, that's on its way back. It still fails to import from catalog, and I'd like to get to the bottom of why. Where are you seeing the ? nil value messages?
 
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