P: Prevent loss of Edit Histories when Reimporting Photos

Forum|Forum|15 years ago
April 7, 2011
66 replies
2513 views

When importing DNGs with stored edits (included XMP data) then the history of the photo just shows "Imported..." instead of the list of edits.

I have a corrupt catalogue. (I did nothing to cause the correction :()
The catalogue contains photos which are not associated to folders in the library module. When I choose "Got to folder in Library module" from the context menu for such photos, nothing happens. I imported them just like any other photos, but somehow the corresponding library folder wasn't created or lost.

I tried synchroning the parent folder but the missing subfolders are not created again.

That's why I decided the only way forward is to create a new catalogue. However, the new catalogue doesn't have any of the edit history. The rendering is OK and I can reset it to see the original version of the photos but I cannot see the edit history anymore.

Why is the edit history not recreated? The essence of it must be available because otherwise the correct final rendering could not be created.

I believe edit histories should be available for JPGs, RAW and DNG files. When I decided to use DNG files vs RAW files with sidecar (XMP) files, I didn't know that I'd lose the history with a fresh import of a DNG file. I suppose that if I had XMP files, I could copy these and still had my edit histories.

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F

FeedbackCommunityMemberAuthor

Inspiring

Unfortunately, the corrupt catalogue passed and passes the integrity test. If it is just an SQLite integrity check then it wouldn't mind about orphan photos (photos who lost their direct folder association), would it?

I'd be happy to send the catalogue to Adobe but won't do it unsolicited. I seem to remember some bug like this being discussed in the U2U forums.
IIRC, such corruption can occur when you move folders within LR. Seems that moving them with the OS and then finding them again in LR is safer. But the latter issue could be a separate one to what I was experiencing because some of the missing folders were never moved; just imported "into a subfolder" as I always do.

areohbee

Legend

TK,

John's suggestion may just fix you right up. If not, if you send me both catalogs + a list of missing info, I'll transfer what I can, which may be nothing...

R

john beardsworth

Community Expert

One idea is to create a new catalogue, and then use File > Import as Catalog to import the corrupt catalogue. As someone who has almost deliberately corrupted catalogues (eg by running SQL) I've found that importing into a clean catalogue can purge awkward problems. A nice bloke at Adobe sometimes helps fix serious cases of catalogue corruption too. Have you posted elsewhere about the corruption?

Overall, I am not blindly against saving history steps to XMP - though XMP does have the adjustment settings so you're only losing the "route". I do think there should be an option (haven't we had this conversation before?) to save history to XMP, but it should include other Lightroom work that isn't currently saved out. So I'd like it to be my choice whether to save stacking info, assignment to collections, virtual copies etc.

On the other hand, I wouldn't want Adobe to see this as anything more than a very secondary level of backup.

John

areohbee

Legend

TK said: "Also note that I didn't notice the corruption a long time. I went back to multiple catalogue backups and they didn't help."

Whoa. Yeah, people act as if backups are a panacea, but that assumes your backups aren't wonky.

I've known that edit history is only in the catalog for a long time, so it wouldn't have been a surprise, but it was a surprise the first time... - I feel for ya.

So, I take it the catalog integrity check that I assume you were smart enough to perform before the backups (if not, I've heard confession is good for the soul...) was passing, despite the problem? I hope you've sent the funky catalog to Adobe for inspection(?)

Anyway, if the catalog is mostly OK, it may be possible to reconstruct the missing pieces using an SQL client. Or at least someone at Adobe maybe could, I'm not sure I know enough, or you...

F

FeedbackCommunityMemberAuthor

Inspiring

I see your point and concede that if the catalogue corruption would not have occurred, I would not have reported the lack of edit histories. However, now with a corrupt catalogue, I'm left between a rock and a hard place. Either I use the corrupt catalogue and cannot access some of the images in it properly, or lose all edit histories.

Note that some people may prefer to have all information that is needed to recreate a LR catalogue in DNG or RAW+XMP files. That would alleviate the problem of having to backup catalogues separately.

Also note that I didn't notice the corruption a long time. I went back to multiple catalogue backups and they didn't help. I guess LR never added the library folders properly (just added the photos to the catalogue as orphans) and hence there is no "good" version. The only option would be to go back to an intact but incomplete catalogue and try to build it up again. I'd rather prefer a synchronise or repair operation to succeed.

john beardsworth

Community Expert

Edit history isn't in the XMP because plenty of people - me included - simply wouldn't want it there.

If catalogue corruption is the real problem, it's that problem that needs to be resolved. eg by the user using a backup (which contains edit history), or by Lightroom's backup being smaller (ie a transaction log allowing rollback/forward)

John

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