LrC library catalogues corrupting constantly. Have recently started using a Synolog NAS

[CHRIS_fotographik]

Hi, I have been using Lightroom for years, no problems. I have recently started using a Synology NAS to cloud sync my images and catalogues. Now I am having constant corruption of my LrC catalogues. Any ideas what could cause this?

[Just Shoot Me]

So people don't have to download the image you have attached to your post please Edit your post to remove the Attached screen shot and Include it in the body of the text of your post.

You do that by Clicking the "More..." link at the bottom of your post, Selecting "Edit Message" and then use the "Insert Photos" icon in the tool bar at the top of the Post/Reply/Edit dialog box like this.

If youcan't Edit your post with the More... button then include your image inline with the text of a reply to this discussion.

Thank you.

[Just Shoot Me]

The LrC catalog can NOT be on a Networked drive. Even having the catalog on a drive that then syncs with the internet in some way can cause problems.

Since your problem started after you started usingf the NAS then the answer is simple. The NAS, some way you are using the NAS, in some way the NAS is addressing your computer, is causing your problem.

Start by removing the catalog from the NAS and place it on a drive internal to your omputer and test.

[johnrellis]

"I have recently started using a Synology NAS to cloud sync my images and catalogues."

As Just Shoot Me mentioned, LR can't access catalog files stored on NAS (though it's fine with photos placed on NAS). So you must be doing something different with your catalog files -- e.g. are you using Dropbox to sync the catalog files from a local disk to the Dropbox cloud and then Synology Cloud Sync to sync from the Dropbox cloud to your Synology NAS? 

While many people successfully use Dropbox, Google Drive, etc. to sync their catalog files to the cloud, you have to be very careful in making sure that, after you exit LR, you wait for the catalog files fully sync to the cloud (and back down to another computer) before accessing them on that other computer.  Otherwise, you'll get corruption.  

So tell us in detail your configuration.

[Use the blue reply button under the first post to ensure replies sort properly.]

[nigelh72856175]

I'm having this problem too. I have my Lightroom catalog (and the images for that matter) on a local hard drive on my PC. Synology Drive runs, in the background, to sync that drive with a copy on the NAS; on the NAS itself, that copy is in turn backed up to cloud storage (but not vice versa, i.e. if the version on the cloud were to change that would not be copied back to the NAS). While in principle the local copy on my PC could be changed by Synology Drive if a change made on another synced device caused the NAS copy to change, in practice that can't happen (for me) because each of my computers has its own Lighroom catalog (and I'm never using Lightroom on more than one at a time). The link to the NAS is gigabit Ethernet so it takes a very short time for the NAS copy to update.

I've disabled syncing of the previews (xxx Previews.lrdata) and the catalog data (xxx.lrcat-data which seems to hold a lot of log files plus "CURRENT", "LOCK", "LOG", "MANIFEST-nnnnnn" and "OPTIONS-nnnnnn" - do all of these need to be kept?) to reduce NAS traffic, but until now I've allowed all other catalog files (xxx.lrcat.lock, xxx.lrcat-shm and xxx.lrcat-wal) to sync, and from time to time I find that the catalog gets corrupted although Lightroom always seems to be able to repair it. I try to remember to pause Synology Drive sync before I run Lightroom and that definitely helps, but it's easy to forget (or to forget to re-enable it afterwards). Just now I've also disabled syncing of the other temporary files mentioned above that only exist when Lightroom is running; it's too soon to know whether or not that will be a solution. I suspect disabling syncing of the catalog itself might fix the problem, but of course that would prevent me from using the "versioning" feature of Synology Drive to recover the catalog at a finer time resolution than my regular weekly catalog backups so I would regard it as a last resort..

[dj_paige]

The other major reason a catalog can get corrupted is hard disk malfunction somewhere. So if the synching issues don't seem to be the cause (but I don't think you have ruled this out as the cause), then you need to investigate hard disk malfunction. In fact, I would think you want to investigate both simultaneously.

[markwebbphoto]

I've been using Synology Drive for years without any issues, then all of the sudden I was getting corruption issues after I tried enabling On-demand Sync. So go to your Settings, disable On-demand Sync for any Lightroom catalogs and you should be good to go. You can leave this on for your photo and video files, it just does something to Lightroom that makes it not happy.