Lightroom Classic catalogue corruption — 10,925 photo records still present, repair reduces catalogue to 153 photos

Hi @resourceful_Flower79db,

Thanks for the detailed information, and thanks @Califdan2 for mentioning the backup option.

Before we go further, do you have a Lightroom Classic catalog backup from before the corruption occurred? If so, please keep that backup untouched as well. Restoring a known-good backup is generally the safest recovery option, particularly if it contains most of your recent work.

Since you’ve already exhausted Lightroom Classic’s normal catalog repair/integrity process, I’d also like to take the original affected catalog to the Lightroom Classic team for further investigation.

Please upload the following to Google Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox, WeTransfer, or a similar file-sharing service:

• The original corrupted .lrcat file, not the repaired version containing only 153 photos.

• The corresponding .lrcat-data folder, since you mentioned extensive AI edits.

• If practical, the most recent known-good catalog backup from before the corruption.

Please do not post the download link publicly. Send it to me privately using Send Message on my Community profile.

Also, could you please confirm:

• Your Lightroom Classic version and operating system/version.

• What happened immediately before the catalog became corrupted (crash, system restart, storage disconnect, update, etc.), if known.

• Whether the catalog or its .lrcat-data folder was stored in or synchronized by OneDrive, Dropbox, iCloud, Google Drive, or another sync/backup service.

• Whether you use any third-party Lightroom plug-ins or AI editing services with this catalog.

• Whether you still have the original affected .lrcat and .lrcat-data in their untouched state.

Please don’t run another repair, Optimize Catalog, or make any changes to those preserved originals for now.

Once I have the files, I’ll take the case forward with the product team for further investigation.

Best,
Anshul Saini

Sometimes Adobe will have you send a corrupt catalog to them for “repair” but in my experience with myself and clients who have done this, the sucess rate is rather poor.  

Grasping at straws, you can try resetting your Preferences file (extremely long shot but rather simple and quick to try (see https://www.lightroomqueen.com/how-do-i-reset-lightrooms-preferences/ ).

However, I think your best choice at this point is to restore your catalog from a backup.  This could be the two files copied in one of the ‘on exit’ LrC backups, Time Machine (if on a Mac) or File History (if on a PC), BackBlaze, CCC, CrashPlan, GoodSynce, Macrium Reflect or any number of other backup tools/services you may use.   Do you have any such backups from before the corruption occured?