Participant

Question

Backups are corrupt

Forum|Forum|4 months ago
January 20, 2026
3 replies
98 views

Bonjour,

A chaque fois que je quitte LightRoom, je demande une sauvegarde de mon catalogue et j'obtiens dans mon répertoire backup un fichier zip qui contient normalement 2 fichiers, Lightroom catalog ... lrcat et Lightroom catalog ... lrcat-data (un dossier en fait).

Depuis quelque temps, j'ai 2 fichiers supplémentaires .lrcat-shm et .lrcat-wal dans le fichier zip ; ce sont des fichiers temporaires qui sont "normalement" supprimés quand on ferme LightRoom ; et bien sûr, quand je ré utilise cette sauvegarde sur un autre Mac, ça plante : le catalogue est corrompu !

Didier6C15_1-1768929064724.png

Tout se passe comme si la création de l'archive (backup) se faisait avant la fermeture complète des ficheirs de LightRoom ... Un nouveau gadget apporté par la dernière version de Mac OS Tahoe ???

Merci pour votre support

Cordialement

Didier L

macOS

GoldingD

Legend

hmm, perhaps a more complete screenshot would help. One missing bit being what is in that zip folder. The other being what else is in the folder shown (scroll down)

One observation, is that you appear to be keeping your backup on the same hard drive as your working catalog, in the same parent folder as well. Bad backup strategy.

Another observation, and this is why I am curious to see what is in that zip folder, is the .wal file (for one) is in the folder with your working catalog, as would be expected, catalog opened or closed, is that the .wal file you are referring to, or is their another .wal file in the zip folder?

D

Didier6C15Author

Participant

Background : I use LrC on 2 Mac mini (2 different locations). LrC catalog is located on internal drive of Mac but photos and LrC backups are on an external drive.

I have discovered trouble on LrC catalog when I tried to use a backup from 1srt Mac, named Mac M4 on the other Mac (Mac M1) …

Backup catalog could not be restore; zip file contains 4 elements (.lrcat, .lrcat-data, .lrcat-shm,.lrcat-data-wall) ; Lrc cannot open this catalog
All backup files (zip) made on Mac M4 since January 9th contain these 2 additional files (shm & wall),

I come back to Mac M4 and I check catalog folder : even if LrC software is close, these 2 additional files (shm & wall) are présent (and perhaps .lock file)

In fact, it should not be a backup problem. Trouble appears at the end of LrC process : temp files (shm and wall) are not deleted. It could be a computer problem.

I’m surprise LrC makes a backup even if LrC software cannot shut down process properly.

dj_paige

Legend

Backup catalog could not be restore

How are you trying to do the restore? Please tell us the steps. What happens when you try? Please describe in detail. If there is an error message, please quote the exact complete word-for-word error message, even if it is not in English.

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

I don't see this and I also use MacOS Tahoe, so I don't think MacOS is to blame for this. It does indeed look like the backup is made when the catalog is not yet closed correctly. I have no idea how that happens and how to solve it, but it does not have to create your next problem. You say you want to use the backup on another Mac. Why? If you want to copy your catalog to another Mac, you can simply copy your current catalog folder (or just the two files you mention). No reason to use a backup for this. If fact, you could try to see if the other Mac does make a correct backup of that catalog...

-- Johan W. Elzenga

dj_paige

Legend

Translation to English

For some time now, I have 2 additional files .lrcat-shm and .lrcat-wal in the zip file; these are temporary files that are "normally" deleted when you close LightRoom; and of course, when I reuse this backup on another Mac, it crashes: the catalog is corrupted!

I'm having trouble following this sentence, the temporary files are mentioned and then you jump to crashes happen on another Mac. I don't see the connection. Could you please explain further?

When the English translation says "it crashes" do you mean the entire computer crashes and has to be restarted, or do you mean Lightroom Classic crashes? If you mean Lightroom Classic crashes, please describe in detail exactly what happens and what LrC task precedes the crash. Are there error messages? If so please quote the exact word-for-word error messages.

D

Didier6C15Author

Participant

Additional information :

I use two Mac mini on 2 different locations : Mac M4 and Mac M1.

on Mac M4, all backup files seem correct until 2026/01/06 : there are 2 elements in zip files with extension .lrcat and .lrcat-data
on Mac M4, since 2026/01/09, backups files contain 2 aditionnal files .lrcat-shm and .lrcat-wal ...

Would you believe ! Surprise ... I did Mac OS migration on january the 9th ...

When I try to replace current catalog by a new backup (after 2026/01/09) , Lighroom displays a windows "The catalog is corrupted ...)

Lrc bug.jpg

dj_paige

Legend

I think the temporary files in the .zip file have thrown you off the necessary path; the temporary files are not the cause of your problem. File corruption could occur when you moved the catalog to another disk. It can also happen because of disk malfunction.

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