Time to say goodbye to Lightroom? forever?

[SeaKoast]

The latest LR 'update' corrupted my catalog.  I downgraded LR, created a new catalog attempted to import the photos back into LR, per chat help.  The import just failed.  This is getting so old.....I have On1Photo Raw Max and it looks like its time to just dump LR and go full time with On1.  It's too bad, I've been with LR since Version 1, and PS since 1993.  But with Adobe being sued by the DOJ and now a complete LR failure, it just seems like a good time to go to a more advanced, user friendly, and supportive company.  The chat people ended my chat 3 times and I had to explain everything  again and again.  This is rediculous. 

[dj_paige]

Software cannot corrupt a catalog. The only way catalogs get corrupted is via hardware malfunction, or by storing them in a folder that is "synched" with the cloud, like OneDrive or DropBox or similar. (And regardless, your 13.2 catalog is still sitting there on the disk, likely uncorrupted for you to use if you want).

So enjoy On1 Photo Raw, but don't place blame on Lightroom Classic for catalog corruption.

[SeaKoast]

Yes I have the LR 13.2.  The update to LR corrupted the file, split it and renamed it.  The new one does not work.  This  has happened before, and I have the proof-folders of corrupted catalogs created by Adobe support.  Even the downgraded version of LR will no open 13.2.  The files on on a new uncorrupted hard drive. 

[SeaKoast]

I do not store any files that are synched to the cloud, dropbox, or one drive.  And yes I do blame LR support for ending the support chat in the middle of a convo as I was 100% polite, factual, providing screen shots and performing the steps as told by adobe 'support'  Adobe can do better and should.

[GoldingD]

Looks like you got absolute rubbish from the Adobe Tech. The Tech asked you to go looking for a backup? Ok, that might be workable, but was not very likely related to the problem or solution. (hmm, and was that backup, an old one, or a new broken one)

During upgrades such as going to v13.3 (yes an update, but the SQLite database changed enough to require a upgrade of the database, the catalog) This issue often shows up in the community when upgrades are released.

I have never seen a documentation on the case for this, nor a proper fix, but the issue is LrC gets confused during the catalog upgrade and either upgrades the wrong catalog, or creates an entirely new catalog. I suspect a corrupt preference file may be involved (no proof)

What the Adobe Tech should have first asked, is for you to use Windows File Explorer to look for the proper pre upgrade catalog. You would then double click on it to launch it. And hopefully it will be properly upgraded.

Remember that during the catalog upgrade, the old catalog is copied and saved using the new database engine. The old catalog is not altered, it is not changed, etc.

This often occurs when in LrC ?Preferences/General/   the Default Catalog when opening is set to Most Recent.

• https://lightroomkillertips.com/updated-catalog-looks-wrong/

P.S. Most of your fellow community members are not Adobe employees, and most of us are none to happy with Adobe Techs either via chat or phone. So if I come off a bit argumentative concerning Tech support. Well you have had that first hand experience...

[SeaKoast]

Thanks and yes the 'support' was rubbish.  I backup my catalog regularly to a known location.  I downgraded LR and tried to open a previous catalog and get the same results.  i.e. Most folders have only a few images.   I did try to open an older catalog with the latest version of lightroom and actually tried several.  They do not work.  Yes with this upgrade LR created a new catalog, that's when everything went to garbage.

[Jao vdL]

In the upgrade, the entire previews folder gets converted and moved so if you go back to an older version and open the old catalog, all previews need to be recreated. It should not touch the actual older catalog. It just won't have previews anymore. This might be why you only see a few images rendered. Are the other images just empty rectangles?

Support unfortunately is not very knowledgeable and just goes by a script. So catalog problems are 'solved' by opening an older backup since that often fixes things. This seems to be the standard in the tech world nowadays unfortunately.