Lightroom: LR 2 catalog corrupted after power failure. Need help with recovery.

All I know to do is fetch a backup, then reimport new photos (if you've saved xmp, then edits will be intact, although you'll lose virtual copies...) If you haven't saved xmp, then hopefully you will from now on...

Others know more and can do more...

I can try to help. While my e-mail addresses are fairly broadly proliferated at this point (lots of people find me via Google searches and forum threads on this topic), I'll send you a private message with instructions.

DT

Lightroom catalog is highly vulnerable to this kind of corruption. Its a critical file that's constantly being written. I'm not sure how other apps handle this, or what can be done to alleviate in say Lr4, but some ideas for now:

1. Battery backup if you live in a place with intermittent power (or if you have extra money ;-}
2. Backup catalog each time Lightroom starts, or shuts down, (and/or after a large round of edits...).
3. Remember to also back up smart collections, presets, preferences, etc...
4. Periodically (or automatically) save xmp as you work (CustomMetadata will save custom metadata, xEmP will save virtual copies, for restoral in the future should the need arise).

Note: DNGs are also vulnerable when xmp is being written - if power lost while xmp is being updated, you may end up with a forever corrupt / unreadable / uneditable photo. This is one of the many reasons I prefer a sidecar for metadata that's constantly being written and re-written - worst case you have to re-save metadata or lose most recent edits, but you'll never lose the photo itself.

Keep us posted Kimberly - how're you getting on with this problem?

Rob

Hey, thanks guys. Sorry for the delay in reply, I came down with a cold. Dan, my plan is to email you my file and see if you can repair it. In the meantime, I'm using a backup from the prior week and moving ahead with work. Thanks for the information, Rob, on DNGs being vulnerable. I'll keep an eye on them, just in case. Right now it appears it's only the catalog that's broken.

I really appreciate the help you guys. Thanks.

Kim

Thanks for the heads up, Rob. Would it be advised to re-download the raws from my memory cards?

I use DNG for working, no backup on the RAWs at present (the memory cards act as a backup until I'm done processing, at which point I backup the DNGs to another drive).

Thanks for the tips. I'm pretty sure I just lost the catalog file. We are considering going to a battery backup at this point in time.

K

I generally recommend archiving the original raws, since one can always create a DNG from it, but not the other way around, and not all software supports DNG, and even software that *does* support DNG can't always read *converted* DNGs. But, its a personal thing I guess. In any case, I would definitely recommend keeping at least one backup of original raws or converted DNGs that are never touched, because of the previously mentioned possibilities - working DNGs being constantly re-written. If you backup a corrupt DNG (or any other type of file), then you have a corrupt backup too. Its one of the problems with catalog backups at present - many problems go undetected, so people end up with problem catalogs being backed up for weeks or months... - one of the reasons people want xmp and such to be as inclusive as possible - sometimes its a better option to rebuild a catalog from xmp, than to try to reconstitute a backed up catalog.

Cheers,
Rob

OMG my catalogue just got corrupted.. I use DNG files also. What do I do? I am screwed.. Can anyone help me. And, no.... I don't have a back up!

This same problem just happened to me. I use LR 2... and have a backup from the last time I started LR. Would you send me the step by step of how to fix? Thank you so much!

I guess I just lost the 7 hours of editing I did today? On a wedding edit that was due yesterday...

Thanks again!
Page

Do you have xmp saved (embedded in DNG/rgb files, or as sidecar)?

Note: if you have auto-write xmp enabled in Lightroom preferences, then xmp is saved, or if you saved it manually using Ctrl/Cmd-s, metadata menu, context menu...

If you *don't* have xmp saved, then you have indeed lost those 7 hours of editing, unless Dan Tull can revive your catalog or something.

If you *do* have xmp saved, then you've only lost edit-history and maybe a few other incidentals (like virtual copies, stacking, picks, new collections...), but all "real" edits at the time xmp was saved will be intact after re-importing into restored backup catalog.

Note: Many of us have been pleading with Adobe to include xmp for virtual copies, so that (among other things) they are not lost when this kind of thing happens, since often virtual copy settings are just as important as "real" copy settings. In the mean time, I recommend Lr3+xEmP for saving virtual copy settings and metadata in the future.

Thanks! Honestly I don't know if I am xmp saved, but guessing I do. Can you walk me through what to do? Restoring from my backup?

I'm not worried about virtual copies. I don't use DNG. I import raw files.

Thanks so much!
Page

Oh shoot! No, there are no .xmp files in my RAW folders. If only I had known!
I don't recall if the auto write changes into xmp was saved and can't access that now.

So I guess I have lost today's work.
Going forward now, what is the step by step?
Select "choose a different catalog" from the dialog box and choose my last backup? Anything else?

Also, I do have LR 3.0 purchased and downloaded but am not using it just because I wanted to wait til the end of wedding season to update so as not to loose anything. Probably silly. Should I start that up now using my lastest backup as the first catalog?

THANK YOU, THANK YOU!
Page

Thanks!

So, just to be sure, as I do NOT want to screw up this work, I will:
1. Rename my current catalog by adding name corrupt.
2. Copy the backup to this same location where the corrupt catalog is.
3. Open LR using this new catalog.
4. Nothing more to do now, correct? It will be like it is 6 AM again.

4. Then, when ready, export the catalog and open the new LR 3 by importing this catalog.

Yes?

Thanks again! I swear, this is my last reply :)
Page

Hi again :)

I've started up LR with the backup catalog in the new location.
It shows the files in the current wedding folder that I am working on to be offline or missing and only some thumbnails appear.
I tried clicking on the ? and locating the file, leaving checked the option to locate nearby files, hoping it will "find" the whole wedding folder. Unfortunately, during my edit today, I renamed the files I had in my final 2 star edit. Therefore, since this was done since my backup of this morning, the original filenames are different than the filenames in LR. Is there a way to solve other than going through and locating all 900 photos?

Thanks again,
Page

Two thirds of the photos I have edited (yesterday before the backup). About 600 photos. The whole folder, including those, have the question mark. Usually locating one folder works for the whole lot, but not this time since I have renamed in LR after the backup. Worst case I go one by one, searching for the corresponding image by looking at the thumbnail in Finder. But, wow, more time wasted. Any thoughts?