Inspiring

Answered

Backup corrupted please i need help to fix it.

Forum|Forum|9 months ago
October 13, 2025
3 replies
1119 views

Hi!

Since 29/9 i can't backup my system because of a damaged file.

How can i fix it? I've tried the help and import the latest working one and import the missing folders but when i quit it and it asks for backup it fails after a while.

Windows

Correct answer ToddeSwe

Hi @ToddeSwe! Thank you for reaching out! Sorry for being late to the conversation. I'm checking in to see if the issue is resolved for you. Have you tried JohanElzenga's suggestion?

Let us know how it's going for you.

Thanks!

Hi! Sorry for not returning here.

The problem is solved, the support made a new clean profile and imported the old .lrccat i think. Tehn it worked to make backup again.

N

NotThatBobJames

Participant

I expereinced this today.

The error is catalog-specific, not programatic.

The corrupted file is in the .lrcat-data file.

FIX
Move the .LCAT file to its own, non-cloud folder. Double-click. It will give you an error message about missing previews. Click continue. It will generate all new support files.
Close LR. Now delete all the files in your original folder, except, optionally, Previews and Smart Previews. Now move all LCAT and the newly generated files into your original LR folder.

Now it should work.

GoldingD

Legend

Inquiry's

:

What drive is your catalog on?
The hard drive that your catalog is on. How large is that drive, and how much free space remains? Looking for at least 20% free, some say 25%
What drive is your backup on?
The hard drive you are backing up to. How large is that drive, and how much free space?
How large (file space) is the catalog?

ToddeSweAuthor

Inspiring

My Lightroom is on C:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Lightroom Classic that's a SSD 1 TB with 665 free space.

My Lightroom backup catalog?! Is on H: and it's a 1.36 TB with 759 free space available.

5. what catalog do you mean? The backup catalog is 194 GB

JohanElzenga

Community Expert

Aha! Something has happened out of itself. I have not made any changes. 😞

If you still see this error when you selected a normal destination folder, then this could be catalog corruption. There are several reports in this forum about this backup problem, which seems to occur more in 14.5 than in earlier versions. What usually works is this: Create a brand new catalog and choose 'File - Import from Another Catalog'. Select your old catalog to import. In the import dialog choose to import all photos, but do not move them. This will create an exact copy of your old catalog, but usually without the corruption. The only thing that won't come across is any publishing services you may have. You will have to recreate those. If you synced your catalog then you will have to enable sync for the new catalog. There are some reports that this could cause a problem. Here’s how to solve that: https://www.danhartfordphoto.com/blog/2025/1/lr026-fixing-sync-problems-caused-by-switching-the-sync-catalog

If Lightroom Classic 14.5 does not allow you to import your existing catalog saying it is corrupted or something like that, then what you can do is temporarily downgrade to 14.4 and do the import with that version. If that works (it normally does) and you have a new catalog that backs up correctly, then you can update to 14.5 again.

-- Johan W. Elzenga

dj_paige

Legend

Are you talking about Lightroom Classic? What version NUMBER?

What is the exact wording of the error message?

ToddeSweAuthor

Inspiring

Thanks for the reply. It's Classiv 14.5.1 and it says:

Failed to back up directory Lightroom2-2-v13-4.
Check folder permissions and make sure you have enough space on the backup and main directory drives.

I do have 760 GB free space where i have my backups. What does main directory drives means?

dj_paige

Legend

Check folder permissions and make sure you have enough space on the backup and main directory drives.

Main drive is the drive where your Lightroom Classic catalog is stored. Also, did you check the permissions on these folders?

From that error message, the file is not corrupted or damaged.

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