Skip to main content
T
Teemu_1976
Participant
November 8, 2017
Question

Lightroom backups become randomly corrupted

  • November 8, 2017
  • 2 replies
  • 511 views

I have used lately several Lightroom CC versions (2015.12, 2015.13 and some Classic CC version). I almost lost all of my work done within last few months. I just built new PC and tried to transfer my five catalogs from external hard drive backup to a new PC. Backups where originally created to internal hard drive of old PC and then synced from there to external hard drive. Latest versions of three biggest catalogs did not open with in any Lightroom version I tried (2015 CC versions and Classic CC 7.01). I luckily had working copies of those catalogs in my old PC. I transferred those catalog files with USB stick to new computer. They opened in new computer with Lightroom CC 2015 and after catalog conversion in Lightroom Classic CC. However there are big issues in backup generation in Lightroom.

I have tried backing up same catalog 10 times by closing Lightroom. Roughly half of those backups become corrupted. This is really annoying and I am becoming desperate. Manual copy and compression of catalog files with 7-ZIP work just fine and catalog files do not become corrupted. I tried to optimize working copy catalog without doing simultaneous back up. That also works without corrupting the working copy catalog.

My biggest catalog contains roughly 50000 images. That catalog is for timelapse photography. Backup target and working catalog location has some effect for probability of catalog backup corruption. I have not been able to find any solution which works all the time. I need to backup and ZIP manually until Adobe fixes Lightroom's internal backup procedure.

This topic has been closed for replies.

2 replies

T
Teemu_1976Author
Participant
November 10, 2017

I used default CPU voltage in (AUTO mode). I tried to select stock CPU core speeds. Intel does not tell multi core default clock speeds anymore so I had to made some educated guessing according information got from Anandtech hardware web site. I have Intel i7-8700K processor. Asus Z370-E Gaming motherboard uses only 4GHz as default speed for processor. That is way under specified single core turbo speed of 4.7GHz.


I tried two methods for creating backups

1. Switchinf between five different catalogs five times per catalog with "Open recent" functionality. Almost 20 percent of bacups became corrupted

2. Opening and closing same catalog several times and doing back up on exit. Success rate was generally better but for one particular catalog I had only 20 percent success rate.

I got lots of crashes of Lightroom during testing.

I am quite sure that there is Lightroom has bug related to handling of catalog backupping. It somehow feels like catalag is still under some modification while it is being put to backup ZIP-file. Maybe it is some kind of semaphore or mutex issue.

dj_paige
dj_paige
Legend
November 8, 2017

This could be a bug in Lightroom. I don't know. It also could be hardware malfunction (hard disk or memory). You should run diagnostics on your hardware.

    T
    Teemu_1976Author
    Participant
    November 8, 2017

    I can not entirely exclude possibility for hardware malfunction. I have run Prime95 processor torture test without issues. Maybe I still need to download also some other software to perform further diagnostics. Successfully backed up catalogs open every time and opening of corrupted catalogs always fails. We need to remember that most of backups generated by my old machine also fail to open in new machine. If it is hardware issue then I have hardware issue in both computers.

    Biggest probability for encountering my issue seems to exist when I switch between catalogs by using "Open recent catalog" function when Lightroom is already open. "Switch from" catalog gets backed up while "switch to" catalogs is opened.

    Could this be some kind of timing issue? Could optimization of working copy catalog partially take place during compression? That could explain corruption of compressed file. Is it possible to disable compression somehow for testing purposes or even for permanent solution? Manual compression of catalog and copying always works correctly outside Lightroom.

    All of my software is installed to 0.5TB + 0,5TB = 1TB Raid-0 Samsung 960 EVO NVMe memory. Pictures are located in 2TB + 3TB hard disks. I have tried to locate working copy catalog and backups both to NVMe memory and hard disk in different combinations to debug the issue.

    T
    Teemu_1976Author
    Participant
    November 9, 2017

    I found out with another Prime95 test which tests both CPU and memory that my system is not stable. CPU voltage was too low. I raised CPU voltage and Prime95 torture blend test became stable. Motherboards default voltage was way too high so that is why I had lowered the CPU voltage in first place. CPU temperature under full 6 core load was too high. Now I am using some sort of compromise between test failing low voltage value and way too high automatic voltage value.

    I have had no time to test catalog compression behaviour with new CPU voltage settings yet. I will inform when that has been done.

    Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement
    Using the community Terms of use Privacy Cookie preferences Do not sell or share my personal information ad choicesAdChoices