Catalog corrupt and cannot be repaired

[jannikf65404115]

Windows 10, Lightroom 9 and tried various Lightroom 8 versions.

So when I try to open the catalog it gives me the "catalog is corrupted" error message, Trying to repair it just gives the "cannot be repaired" error message. Trying to import the catalog into a new one will try to upgrade the catalog in version 9 (which fails) or just gives a general error in version 8.

The catalog had been sitting in a folder which is also synched by dropbox, although I tried moving it to the desktop which also didn't work.

As far as I can see there are no "lock" files anywhere.

Unfortunately I have no backup. The catalog file still seems fine, same file size as before, hope someone can help!

[Just Shoot Me]

Sorry to say you may be SOL (Something Out Of Luck).

Why don't you have any backups? By default LR makes a weekly backup of the catalog file.

They are normally stored in the same folder as the catalog file in a subfolder called Backups. Have you looked fort that folder? The backups are ZIP files that you must first Un-ZIP (Expand) to use them.

[jannikf65404115]

It was a quite recent catalog that I used for a specific event and I left it open. When I got back to the PC Lieghtroom had crashed and the file was corrupted..

[Just Shoot Me]

Well there is a reason LR crashed. Whatever that was is the problem for the corrupted catalog.

It was some type of hardware fault that made that happen.

Do other catalogs open OK? Can you create a new catalog?

If LR crashed then a Lock file got left behind.

[jannikf65404115]

Everything else appears to work fine.. So I managed to rewind the file in dropbox, I will try that tomorrow, is there any way to see what version of lightroom I was using that catalog with? 

I think the file got corrupted before version 9.

[jannikf65404115]

It worked! I rolled back the file to the last time I closed it and now I can open it with version 8. Something in the process of crashing and updating to version 9 destroyed the file. 

[Just Shoot Me]

I also suggest you STOP storing your Working Catalog in the Drop box folder. If you want to make a COPY of it in that folder so it gets uploaded to Dropbox fine but to use it as the main storage location for your WORKING catalog is not a good idea, IMHO.