Lightroom Classic operates unstably after importing Apple ProRAW Photos

[H.28616239rsi2]

• Lightroom Classic Version: 12.2
• Camera Raw Version: 15.2
• OS: Windows 10 Pro Version 22H2
• Camera: IPhone 14 Pro, iOS Version 16.1.2, Apple ProRAW 48 MP

To reproduce the behavior:

Step 1: Transfer ProRAW Photos from IPhone to PC (via Creative cloud, Windows import, ITunes or another cloud service)

Step 2: Import ProRAW Photos into Lightroom Classic

Step 3: Organize and edit ProRAW Photos in Lightroom Classic

Expected result: Lightroom Classic operates as designed

Actual result: Sporadically, a photo is loaded indefinitely (infinite loop). This may happen at any process step (at import, at organization or at editing). When it happens, catalog backup also runs indefinitely. After closing (or if necessary killing) Lightroom, the catalog file is corrupted in about 80% of all cases. In about 10% of all cases, the catalog file is corrupted beyond repair. This happens only, if Apple ProRAW 48 MP photos are imported to the catalog. The same process steps work robustly e.g. with CR2 RAW photos of Canon EOS 6D.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

I have been using Apple 48 MP Pro Raw files on Windows 10 since October and have never experienced any of these issues. 

I suspect you have either a bad Lightroom install (assuming it hasn't happened across versions...) or an intermittent hardware failure. 

I would recommend a clean reinstall following this procedure:
Clean Lightroom Install Procedure

• Close Lightroom
• Restart the computer
• Use the Adobe Creative Cloud App to uninstall Lightroom
• Restart the computer
• Install Lightroom via the Creative Cloud App without launching any other programs.
• Restart the computer
• Launch Lightroom
• Wait 5 minutes

Followed by a This procedure works for both Lightroom Classic and Lightroom Desktop.

If you are using Lightroom Desktop it can change the location of your local storage. Please review this setting after resetting preferences. 

Reset Procedure:

1. Close Lightroom.

2. Hold down [Alt/Opt]+[Shift] while restarting Lightroom.

3. Overwrite the Preferences when prompted by the dialog.

4. Close Lightroom.

5. Restart Lightroom. 

Note a preference file reset survives an uninstall reinstall so it is essential that you do it afterwards.

There are no other reports I can find of this kind of behavior so I am leaning towards a machine-specific issue. 

[H.28616239rsi2 · Accepted solution]

Thank you for the reply.

Unfortunately, the reinstall didn’t solve the problem.

However, I may have found the solution:

My guess: The correlation to Apple ProRAW Photos was coincidental. The real problem was an automatic network synchronization and file versioning tool – Synology drive client, version 3.2.1 – that I used to back up the catalog files. After disabling the background synchronization, Lightroom has been operating stably for some time now.

[Rikk Flohr: Photography]

Thank you for letting us know your solution!