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KE_DP
KE_DP
Inspiring
October 18, 2023
Question

Regularly/Repeatedly getting corrupt .lrcat catalogs

  • October 18, 2023
  • 2 replies
  • 287 views

I've been getting an ever increasing amount of corrupt catalogs many which can't be repaired.  Sometimes just a day after creating an entirely new one (which I do frequently as every client job I start, gets an entirely new catalog to keep their info/data separate, consolidated, and independent in dedicated client/job folders)

 

It's gotten to the point where I have backups set to every time LR exits because I now KNOW there's a high probablity of a corrupt catalog encounter on reopening.
(side question - is there a way to turn on "backup set to every time LR exits" for all catalogs past and future without having to set it up over and over each time I create new catalogs?)

I need to figure out why all my catalogs are getting corrupt.  I'm booting an iMac from external SSD where the program resides (root/application folder) - and saving everything LR related on external HDDs (synced/redundant) in each individual client folder - while the RAW files go on the boot SSD (for speed/access).  The combination of using different drives for .lrcat and RAW might be a suspect cause?   It's not caused by bad HDDs as no other program or saved data on these drives has issues.  Drive health checks show no fragmentation or issues.

 

When the corrupt catalog issue shows up now at least I can unzip the backup and have a working catalog again - this works out well - but I have to do it nearly all the time.  Any ideas?

LR Classic 12.5
MacOS 11.7.10 (so upgrading to LR 13 isn't an option yet until I update the Mac.)

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    2 replies

    T
    Thor Egil Leirtrø
    Known Participant
    October 18, 2023

    Don't put your catalog on an external drive. It is a heavily used database where everything you do is written constantly. One slight bump on the connection can be enough to crash your catalogue database.

    Thor Egil LeirtrøFreelance concert photographer - thoregilphoto.com
      dj_paige
      dj_paige
      Legend
      October 18, 2023

      As a diagnostic tool, as well as a short term solution, putting the catalog file on an external drive is probably the best path forward until the internal drive gets fixed. It is not really the long term solution, which is to fix the internal drive and put the catalog there.

       

      Making regular backups is still required, in case the problem happens as described by @Thor Egil Leirtrø or if the problem happens for other reasons.

       

      I have, and many people have, put catalogs on external drives for various reasons, without terrible consequences. But yes it is good to be careful with external drives and the cable that connects them to the computer.

      dj_paige
      dj_paige
      Legend
      October 18, 2023

      Your hard disk is malfunctioning and probably needs to be replaced. For now, please try putting the catalog file on a different disk, and working with it from there.

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