Unexpected error opening catalog - External Drive

[bjooz]

So I know this topic has been discussed numerous times. Recently I ran into an issue with attempting to open my Ircat files that are stored on an external harddrive. It gives me the "Unexpected error opening catalog" notification, and other times it freezes LR and forcing me to reboot my computer.

I ran a few test, and did a repair job on the external harddrive in an attempt to repair andy corrupt files. I should note that I'm using a MAC and running the latest Mojave OS 10.14.3. Previously I had High Sierra installed and LR and my external drive worked perfectly without issues.

After several attempts to repair the external drive and trying to open the Ircat files, the results were the same, error message and than LR freezing up.

My last effort was to test the my internal drive by copying one of my Ircat files and folders and transfer them over to my Desktop, so that it was running on my internal HD. After doing this, I found that the Ircat file worked just fine and opened in LR.

I'm trying to understand what may have gone wrong with the external Drive and what do I do to repair or correct the issue. I do have alot of LR files/photo images on this External HD, and would hate having to transfer all of it over to my internal HD since its only 1TB of space, not enough room.

Has anyone come across this problem and are there any known solutions?

[D.A.R]

It seems like the issue may well be Mojave related. However, if you let the catalogs reside on the computer you should be fine. Don't copy the assets, just the Lightroom catalogs and associated file (previews etc)

[bjooz]

Thanks for the response.

I did as suggested, I copied over Catalogs and associated files to my internal drive but keeping the actual asset folders on the external drive. The Ircat file opened and functioned properly without any issues.

So you suspect that the issue is Mojave related and not a case of a corrupt external HD?

There is one bit of information I did not included in my original post. I have 3 External HD's connected to my MAC. I do have Ircat files on two external HD's, one works fine the other which is mentioned in my original post causes the errors.

So if it is a Mojave issue, all of my external HD's would be have to be effectived, theoratically, but since only one of them is, perhaps it may still be an external HD problem, or are you confident it's still a Mojave problem?

Thanks again!

[D.A.R]

I wouldn't say Im confident that its a Mojave issue given that you have at least one drive that functions the way you want.

Next I would consider the catalog to be corrupt (despite it operating on the internal drive) and look for the latest backup to push back on to the external drive and try again.

Failing that I would create a new catalog and import from the catalog that will launch on the internal HD (the original in question). The goal being to keep any collections, changes etc you have already done.on the external drive and test its functionality.

Then, if all else fails. backup your assets and reformat the drive. put the assets back. put the catalog bag. And see if the reformatting fixed anything.

[dj_paige]

Sounds like a hard drive problem to me.

See also this thread: Unexpected Error Opening Catalog