Edit history gone after repairing catalog

Report · Nov 15, 2024

Hello,

A few days ago, I noticed that all edit history in my catalog is gone. It looks like this is somewhat related to the upgrade to LrC 14. My last v13 catalog has the history still intact. Just after updating to v.14 on doing the backup the integrity check failed and LrC told me that the catalog must be repaired. The repaired catalog seems to work, but it is missing the entire edit history of all photos. Also the file size has shrunk from 9.5 to 5.6 GB. I now have two catalog versions with edit history: one from before the upgrade to v.14 and one after. I have tried restoring both of them in LrC 14.0.1. This initially seems to work, but when doing the backup, the integrity check always fails. LrC then repairs the catalog and the next integrity check fails again. After the second repair the catalog size shrinks to 5.6 GB and the edit history is lost again.

I now don't know how to proceed without a) losing my entire edit history and b) losing the edits I have made since mid-October.

I have not tried reverting to v13.5 yet, but I suppose that doing that would not allow me to reimport into the v13 catalog the edits I already did in v14.

I would appreciate any help on that. Instead of editing my photos I have only been trying to fix this for a few days already.

Best regards

Alex

[moved from bugs to discussions according to the community rules - Mod.]

Report · Nov 20, 2024

Hey, @Alessio Banezzi. Welcome to the Lightroom Classic community. I'll help you figure this out.

We'll attempt to recover the data in stages. For now, we'll refer to your original catalog (before the upgrade) as Catalog A & the v14 upgraded as Catalog B.

1 - Use Creative Cloud to roll back Lightroom Classic to v13

2 - Open Catalog A in Lightroom Classic v13 & make sure everything is in place.

3 - Go to File > New Catalog > Call it A-1.

4 - In the new blank Catalog > go to File > Import from catalog > target Catalog A. Proceed with merging Catalog A into the newly created Catalog A-1. For more help via video-based steps, check here. See https://adobe.ly/3NTC9Rv

5 - Upgrade Lightroom Classic back to v14.0.1 > target catalog A-1 & upgrade it to work with v14.

6 - Now, switch to Catalog B > group all your work in a collection as a group > right-click on the collection > export as catalog.

7 - Follow step 4 to merge the collection catalog with the newly upgraded catalog.

Let me know how it goes. Thanks!
Sameer K

(Use '@mention' to tag me when you reply)

Report · Nov 20, 2024

Hi @Sameer K ,

Thanks for your reply!

I think that I have found a way to solve the issue myself meanwhile: I tested a workaround that I found in a different thread (https://community.adobe.com/t5/lightroom-classic-bugs/p-subject-mask-from-previous-versions-are-requ...).

These were the steps:

1. Export the edits done in the working v14 catalog that misses all old edit history as catalogs.

2. Open the last v13 catalog in LrC 14 and let it update the catalog.

3. Directly close LrC 14 after the catalog update is finished without doing anything (!) else.

4. Reopen LrC 14.

5. Let LrC 14 do the backup of the catalog including the integrity check.

6. Import the catalogs exported in Step 1.

I haven't had any issues since then, and the file size of the catalog is still 9.5 GB and the edit history seems to be intact. So closing and reopening LrC after the catalog update solved it for me. Before, the integrity check would always fail.

Hope that this helps anyone running into similar issues.

Best regards

Alex