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Inspiring
Dec 11, 2020 5:07 PM UTC
Question

repair corrupted files (dng)

Hi, among several thousand images that I have imported into LR (NEF => .dng) several single files are corrupted. LR cannot open them. The NEF files are ok, imported . dng-files are corrupted. File names and Metadata are ok, the development protocol is greyed.

How can I repair the corrupted files?

Is there any program to find single corrupted files among thousands of images?

Thanks!

Robert, Vienna

Windows 10 Prof, latest version, LR Classic latest vesion

19 replies

Participating Frequently
Apr 17, 2025 5:24 AM UTC

When you ran “Check DNG” and found those 2 invalid files, were you able to open the original NEFs outside Lightroom? Just wondering if those are intact or maybe partially corrupted too.

Also, not sure if anyone’s mentioned this already, but have you tried checking those problem files with any jpeg repair software (just in case the embedded previews are causing the hiccup)? Might sound odd since it’s DNG, but sometimes those previews get corrupted and throw weird errors.

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Community Expert
Apr 17, 2025 6:37 AM UTC

@alan_7530 This thread is approx. 5 years old and it's unlikely that this will still be read.

 

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My System: Intel i7-8700K - 64GB RAM - NVidia Geforce RTX 3060 - Windows 11 Pro 26H2 -- LR-Classic 15 - Photoshop 27 - Nik Collection 9 - PureRAW 6 - Topaz Photo AI
ManiacJoe
Inspiring
Dec 12, 2020 2:57 AM UTC

After you get the image files restored from backup, make sure you do a deep scan of the hard drive for bad sectors.

 

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GoldingD
Legend
Dec 11, 2020 8:30 PM UTC

How do you know that the RAW files, the NEF files are not corrupt?

If you inspect them in camera, you are not seeing the RAW data, you are seeing an embedded JPEG.

 

If you inspect them in a file manager, you are looking at the embedded JPEG not the RAW data

 

If you look at them in the Import screen in LrC, you are seeing the embedded JPEG, You will not see a translation until after previews are created

 

If you look at them in Adobe Camera RAW, you are looking at the embedded JPEG, you will see an issue when you convert.

 

 

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Inspiring
Dec 11, 2020 8:41 PM UTC

I copied the NEFs from the memory card to the PC, where they are still sitting, LR catalog  and DNGs on an external HDD..... Ok, and how can I come to terms with that problem? Just converting them into DNG, what I did? Mostly successfully, I hope...

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Inspiring
Dec 11, 2020 8:44 PM UTC

The size of the corrupted files is the same as that of the neighboring files....

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Ian Lyons
Community Expert
Community Expert
Dec 11, 2020 7:22 PM UTC

I can't recall when it was added, but you can use the 'Validate DNG Files' (see Library module Library menu) to find any others that may be corrupt. When you find the files you'll likley need to convert the original NEF files to DNG, then subsitute them back into the folder containing the damaged DNGs. Remember, that the new DNGs must have the same file name ans the damaged files. If you copy/paste using OS tools the original metadata and edits stored in catalog can be saved back to the new DNGs. 

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Inspiring
Dec 11, 2020 8:18 PM UTC

Thanks for your advice! You are very patient... I am posting from Austria, so please write a less elaborate English....

'Validate DNG Files' - I'm using LR in German....  - "Searching missing photos" is the command that you have meant?  LR says:  "No missing photos - All photos in the catalog are available" -  But 2 images in the folder are missing...

 

Command "Check DNG" => 2 invalid DNG files => "Show in the library"  => 2 files are shown => What to do next?  Delete the photos from LR and new import? If I do this, name and metadata and development are kept and applied again?

Best regards

Robert, Vienna

 

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dj_paige
Legend
Dec 11, 2020 11:13 PM UTC

While I cannot speak for Ian Lyons, I think this is what he means

 

  1. Find original RAW
  2. Convert it to DNG again (use the Adobe DNG Converter)
  3. Using your operating system, copy the new DNG to the folder where the corrupted DNG is, overwriting the corrupted DNG

 

At no time should you Import. At no time should you synchronize folders. NO IMPORTING. NO SYNCHRONIZING FOLDERS.

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dj_paige
Legend
Dec 11, 2020 5:45 PM UTC

Restore the photos from backups.

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Inspiring
Dec 11, 2020 6:20 PM UTC

The images I am referring to are from 2014, 2014 December was the last time these file were touched. I wonder if I can single out specific images out of the Backup. I still have backups created by LR 5.7.  But if I touch them LR 10.1 wants to import this catalogue....

The problem that files are corrupted can happen in any folder... I've got 68.000 images. :-(((

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Inspiring
Dec 11, 2020 7:16 PM UTC
 

You suggested in 2017 to import the original a 2nd time.

 

 LR says It might be a duplicate, which is already in the catalog.

 If I

 If I uncheck "no import of possible duplicate", LR asks 2nd import to a different location/ the same location? I do not want to confuse the catalog...

Thanks for your advice

 

 

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