Cannot repair corrupted catalog.

My Mac crashed in the middle of editing images in Lightroom 5. It just completely froze (no keyboard lights, no cursor moving, etc.) and had to have a hard shut down. I didn't get the option to submit a crash report. When I reopened at first it said it couldn't write to the catalog because it was on an external drive, but the second time I opened the catalog it simply said that it cannot open due to an unexpected error. I looked online for solutions and I do not have a .lock file in the folder (so it's not that) and when I try to open it while checking for catalog integrity it says to repair it, but then says it is temporarily unable to repair corrupt catalog. I've tried copying the catalog to a new location to see if that would do the trick, but no dice. Does anyone have any suggestions!? I just lost a week's worth of work from my friends' wedding! Argh!

I presume you don't have a recent-enough catalog backup (?)
I bet you won't let that happen again..
Anyway, depending on what's wrong with the catalog, you may be able to recover develop settings (only) via a plugin called WreckHover (free, by me).
In addition to catalog, settings may be stored in:
* xmp if you've saved metadata (if not, I bet you won't let that happen again either) - recovered when importing new photos, or reading metadata (Library menu) of already-imported photos.
* exported versions (if exported with all metadata) - you can recover settings from those via the same plugin: WreckHover.
Note: you'll need to restore a backup catalog first, or start a new one if no backups (really?).
Good luck,
Rob

Similar Messages

Cannot Repair Corrupt Catalog

I just switched to Lightroom today, spent the entire day migrating 25,000 images from Aperture. Just as I finished, I got an error that said the catalog needs to be repaired, but when I tried to repair it, Lightroom gave a message that it is corrupt and cannot be repaired. What can I do to fix this? I moved the images, so they're not even in the original folders anymore -- everything is in the Lightroom catalog. Since I just did this today, I haven't made a manual backup. Does Lightroom create backup catalogs? If so, where can I find them?

I did the old shut-down-and-reboot a few times, but the third time it worked. I was able to repair the catalog. Frightening that Lightroom is so unstable that this would happen. I had (and still have -- not giving up) high hopes for my new photo cataloging program.

Temporarily unable to repair corrupt catalog

i'm running the current version of lightroom. it is giving me a dialog box that says:
temporarily unable to repair corrupt catalog
lightroom encountered problems reading or writing from disk when attempting to repair catalog
the operation may succeed in future attemps
if you wish to try again, please first check available disk space and close all other applications
each time i try, the same dialog box appears.
the corrupt catalog is located on a 1tb drive, 554gb used / 357gb free
what can i do to fix this?

I presume you don't have a recent-enough catalog backup (?)
I bet you won't let that happen again..
Anyway, depending on what's wrong with the catalog, you may be able to recover develop settings (only) via a plugin called WreckHover (free, by me).
In addition to catalog, settings may be stored in:
* xmp if you've saved metadata (if not, I bet you won't let that happen again either) - recovered when importing new photos, or reading metadata (Library menu) of already-imported photos.
* exported versions (if exported with all metadata) - you can recover settings from those via the same plugin: WreckHover.
Note: you'll need to restore a backup catalog first, or start a new one if no backups (really?).
Good luck,
Rob

I try to drag a photo folder into lightroom 4 on my MAC, lightroom fails to open and a 'Corrupt Catalog Detected' screen pops up. Clicking on 'repair catalog' does not work either. Any suggestions?

I try to drag a photo folder into lightroom 4 on my MAC, lightroom fails to open and a 'Corrupt Catalog Detected' screen pops up. Clicking on 'repair catalog' does not work either. Any suggestions?

I'll have to get a better instructor on deleting the preferences since when I've doen it in the past nothing is there when I open LR the catalog is gone. I assumed that was what was supposed to happen so I start importing all over again. But that is a different issue...
The problem has been happening since at least the beta of 3 came out and I saw other posts back then saying they had similar issues but I assume it was a beta thing... But since the full version came out and through each incremental change I haven't seen an improvement. If anything it has gotten a little worse with time.
I have to try to be careful to not be in a hurry and start clicking around in the catalog as it seems fragile until it has cataloged all the photos in the library. When starting you will see the numbers populate the folders very slowly and I try not to click on a folder that hasn't had the number of photos pop up yet. Also draging the slider down to see more of the cataloge can have the same affect and crash the system.
I wish I had more to go on.. I believe it may be a resources issue but as I went from 3-4 Gig I thought it would get better. I don't have big programs running but did have outlook and word running in the background along with firefox and chrome.
And yes it only happens on this HP desktop (it's 2+ yrs old) and may be showing it's age a bit. My laptop which has less resources doesn't have the issue.. I have them sharing the catalog. (not at the same time) just when I'm working in other places in the house.
Jeff

Can't tranfer pics from iPhoto to photo shop elements keep getting cant be completed because current catalog is corrupt attempt to repairing file- catalog...dialog

CCan anyone show me hoe to repair my catalog?

thnks Barbera I believe that's the problem ...every time I try to import the new pics I put in my iPhoto to my elements organizer
after it goes through all the pics to be impotred to the organizer ,it leaves me that message I stated earlier about a corupted file..I'm going to try what you told me about the repairing process and go from there ...I'll be in touch to let you know If that fix the problem....thx again....

Lightroom 4 Corrupt Catalog... Please Help!!!

Hello,
I recently tried to open lightroom 4 and I got an error message that states "The Lightroom catalog "Lightroom 4 Catalog" is corrupt and cannot be used or backed up until it is repaired". When I click "Repair catalog" Lightroom is unable to. I have tried renaming the catalog as was suggested in a similar fourum topic, but this did not work either. PLEASE HELP. I regretably have not backed up my catalog in a long time and there is a mountain of work I will have to redo if I can't fix this. Any other suggestions would be much appreciated.
Aloha,
David

Hi guys,
Thanks for responding. So I tried creating a new catalog and then importing from the currupt one and it did not work. It says "lightroom cannot import this catalog because of an unknown error".
So this whole thing happened when my external drive, containing my lightroom catalog, accidentally came unplugged from my computer while I was working on photos. I have not been able to open the catalog since. Any other suggestions?
Thank you for your help!!

Best way to restore corrupted catalog

The catalog apparently got corrupted in PSE 12 when I attempted to move some items from C to an external drive, and the program crashed during that process. The last backup in PSE was about 3 weeks ago. I also have an Acronis backup of C drive from a couple days before the failed "move" of files.
I discovered the problem when trying to run a new full backup: it got to 76% after 18 hours and created a partial backup that was 759 GB plus. The prior backup was only 309 GB. There have not been more that 2 GB of additions since the last backup. The only other change I know of is the failed "move" of files within PSE from C to the external drive where all of the other photo files reside.
Should I try to simply copy and paste the Acronis version of catalog and replace corrupted catalog? Or should I restore prior PSE backup?

The failed 'move' generally does not crash the organizer. What you can check is that a 'move' from the organizer first copies files to the destination drive or master folder, and creates a journal to update the database. If the copying process succeeds, then the original photos are deleted and the catalog updated. If the organizer does not crash, the result will be a partly copied library, but no change to the catalog. In your case, we cannot be sure what happened to the database. Since you were able to attempt a backup, the catalog was useable but there is a mystery about the 759 GB instead of 309. I suppose you already tried a 'repair anyway' for the catalog.
I would first check that the files you wanted to move have not really been moved, and that only a part of them has been copied to the destination drive.
If that's the case, I would delete the copies (or move them in a different locotion than your target location).
Restoring the catalog from the Acronis backup would be the next step. Remember that the catalog is the whole folder containing the database, catalog.pse12db. You can choose to restore to the original location or elsewhere. If elsewhere, double click on on the catalog.pse12db file to open the organizer with the Acronis catalog.
Report about your progress...

Help! Cannot Repair Disk??

Hello all. I was booting into Single User Mode (fsck) and then later booting from the G5 Install DVD, using Disk Utility:
Disk Utility failed to repair the disk
This is what it says in the dialog box:
(after the line)
Checking catalog file
illegal name in red
The volume xx could not be repaired
Error: The underlying task reported failure on exit
1 HFS volume checked
1 volume could not be repaired because of an error
Repair attempted on 1 volume
1 volume could not be repaired
Although there doesn't seem to be anything "wrong" with my G5 at the moment, everything seems to be running smoothly. I only found this out after Photoshop froze and I thought I wanted to restart and use fsck to repair the disk.
Should I start worrying? Do I need to erase and reformat the disk to reinstall??
Thanks and cheers
Background Info: PowerG5 Quad 2.5GHz, OS X 10.4.5

You need to buy and run DiskWarrior. No Mac user should be without it. It'll almost always repair corruption problems on a disk that Disk Utility can't. That said DU is great for most problems.
And as soon as it's done you need to start with a plan to backup your files.

I have a WD Passport HD attached to my Mac. When it was last connected it went into sleep mode and ran out of battery. Now I cannot find my HD in Finder and Disk Utilities is telling me it cannot repair the HD. Any ideas on how to recover my data?

I have a WD Passport HD attached to my Mac. When it was last connected it went into sleep mode and ran out of battery. Now I cannot find my HD in Finder and Disk Utilities is telling me it cannot repair the HD. I can see the HD but the volume part is greyed out. Any ideas on how to recover my data?

There are other methodologies of scanning a HD
which involve data extraction, but loss of metadata is often the result if the directory is corrupt.
Metadata is the info on what the data IS.
Like having all your papers thrown in the air, its all there, but just a giant mess.
This is why you always always must have several external HD redundancies of your data. One isnt enough, neither is two really.
see here, and dont let that happen again>
Methodology to protect your data. Backups vs. Archives. Long-term data protection
Was that your only copy of your priceless data? Just that one external HD?

Photoshop Elements 9 Organizer corrupts Catalog with program crash in offset 000253da

I have just installed Photoshop Elements 9 on a Windows PC (no previous version was installed) but when I try and load photos into the organizer either from a camera or photos already on hard disk I get the following error shortly after Organizer has generated the thumbnails :
Elements 9 Organizer has encountered a problem and needs to close
Error signature
AppName photosopelementsorganizer.exe AppVer 9.0.0.0 ModName tbb.ddll
ModVer 2.2.2009.1011 Offset 000253da
Following this error the program closes and the catalog is left in a corrupt state so that when Organizer is restarted it crashes again with the same error. The only way to get Organizer to start cleanly is by creating a new catalog in the Catalog Manager window by pressing [Ctrl] [Alt] and [Shift] in the Welcome Window when starting Organizer. Repairing the catalog does not resolve the corruption.
I have tried un-installing Photoshop Elements, then re-installing, downloading the latest updates from Adobe and then loading in just one photo from either my camera (Pentax k-x) or a file on the Hard Disk, but still get the same catalog corruption.
Can anyone help? The Organizer is unusable with this fault. My Windows XP operating system is at the latest fix level and all other software on this machine is extremely robust.
My system information is :
Elements Organizer 9.0.0.0
Core Version: 9.0 (20100905.m.9093)
Language Version: 9.0 (20100905.m.9093)
Current Catalog:
Catalog Name: Catalog Dave 6
Catalog Location: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Adobe\Elements Organizer\Catalogs\Catalog Dave 6
Catalog Size: 129KB
Catalog Cache Size: 25KB
System:
Operating System Name: XP
Operating System Version: 5.1 Service Pack 3
System Architecture: AMD CPU Family:6 Model:10 Stepping:0 with MMX, SSE Integer, SSE FP
Built-in Memory: 959.5MB
Free Memory: 230MB
Important Drivers / Plug-ins / Libraries:
Microsoft DirectX Version: 9.0
Apple QuickTime Version: 7.13
Adobe Reader Version: 9.3
Adobe Acrobat Version: Not installed
CD and DVD drives:
D: (DVD+RW RW5240 BUS: 1 ID: 1 Firmware: 1.19)

Try the solution here:
http://feedback.photoshop.com/photoshop_family/topics/photoshop_elements_9_cd_program_purc hased#reply_5626978

LR2 Experienced System Crash & Corrupted Catalog - Need Help!!!

We are using: Mac OS X Version 10.5.8
Background on Lightroom Use:
The size of the catalog in question is 296 MB.
Pictures on an 8GB smart card were being uploaded into lightroom and simultaneously moved into a folder on an external hard drive at the time of the crash. (During this download, the imac screen gave us a very scary...."Death Veil" that started at the top and slowly covered in a downward motion the entire screen, freezing up the computer completely.)
The error message said we needed to restart the computer using the restart option or shut the computer down using the on/off switch.
Since the computer was "frozen" we were unable to access the restart option so we hit the off switch, holding it down until the imac shut itself down.
After waiting for approximately a minute, we restarted the imac.
The imac started as it usually does, however, when we opened Lightroom2, the following message appeared:
After Selecting the "Repair Catalog" Option the following message appeared:
Other catalogs are operating properly in LIghtroom.
We have no available backup and are looking for someone who can assist with
perhaps fixing the corrupted catalog. (Literally, thousands of hours)
Mahalo Nui Lo

If you ever ran "Save" on a lot of images, you'll have all your edits and metadata for those images, and if you ran save recently on the whole catalog of images, you'll be pretty well off. In such a case, I'd start a brand new catalog, and Import in place all the images.
However, assuming the worst, that the above avenue won't yield much, one particular Adobe employee, Dan Tull, is a whiz at repairing catalogs, and you may get it done by sending the catalog to him. From a post long ago: Dan Tull can be contacted at dtull-at-adobe.com .. .. note that @ has been substitued with -at- in above email address .. I haven't seen Dan in this forum for a while, so it's not a for sure thing.
With best wishes,

Possibly Corrupt Catalog .Dat Files - A Serious Problem?

This question continues from http://forums.adobe.com/thread/804620?tstart=-1.
The three .dat files (backupCt.dat, collstatus.dat and tagstatus.dat) in one of our Adobe\Catalog Folders subfolders ("Paintings") may be corrupted. Whereas these files appear to be rewritten routinely, along with the thumb.5.cache file, each time Adobe Photoshop Elements is opened to one or another of our catalogs, the three files have not been rewritten for the Paintings catalog since 3/9/11, although that catalog has been opened almost every day. This situation came to my attention because the three files showed up in error messages in the Second Copy backup program I run every night, saying that the three files could not be copied because access is denied. In my previous post (referenced above), MichelBParis suggested that I could delete those files safely and that they would be rewritten when the catalog was next opened. However, I can't delete the files, rename them, or move them elsewhere because of the access denied status (I get an error message asking me to be sure that the disk is not full or write protected [which it is not] and that the files are not currently in use [which they are not, at least as far as I can tell -- Adobe Photoshop Elements has been closed when I have attempted all procedures, and I don't see any other applications or processes running, as per Task Manager, that I can immediately identify as belonging to Adobe). I have thought about restarting the computer in Safe Mode to see if I can delete the files then. However, I am a bit nervous about trying this, as the Paintings catalog in question is huge and of enormous importance to my wife -- I don't want to do something that might inadvertently make it impossible to access or use that catalog (as happened to us once before when we were using Adobe Photoshop Album Starter Edition 3.2, and the catalog became corrupted).
My questions:
(1) Does anyone know what these three .dat files actually do? I've not so far been able to find this information via Google.
(2) If these files remain in their present state (access denied and non-rewritten), do we run the risk of ending up with a serious problem down the road and loss of our ability to access the catalog (or some other loss of functionality)?
(3) Would it be safe for me in fact to delete these three files if I can find a way to do so (e.g., in Safe Mode)?
(4) If it would, indeed, be safe for me to delete the files, and if that would seem to be a next step to try, are there any suggestions for how I could go about doing so?
(5) Any other suggestions about how I can get the Paintings catalog back in proper shape?
Thanks for any help anyone can provide!

Most likely the files are not corrupt if your basis is that the backup program cannot open the files. However, I would be concerned about the security settings in the files if multiple users need to access the same catalog. This might be why you aren't seeing any changes to the time/date because one of the user doesn't have rights to modify the file.
Please tell me what OS you are running and what version of PsE?
For PsE 9 (and I think 8), you can modify the media-analysis options from the Organizer...
Menu 'Edit->Preferences->Media-Analysis'
Uncheck either checkbox as shown in the red circles
After hitting 'OK', exit the organzier and reboot.
See if you can access the .Dat files.
Instead of copying the catalog, I would just create a new empty catalog. This can be done as follows...
Menu 'File->Catalog...'
Make sure you note where the current catalog is located before you continue. The name of the current catalog is found in the box at the bottom of the dialog with [Current] added to the end of the name. Now...
Click on 'New...'
Enter the new catalog name.
Click on 'OK'
The organizer will use the new catalog. You will now see nothing is in the organzier.
See if you can access the .dat files. You may need to reboot.
You can select the previous catalog as follows...
Menu 'File->Catalog...'
Click on the previous catalog name
Click 'Open'
There is something not right with the security settings especially if you want multiple users to be able and access the catalog. As far as how things got messed up -- I have no idea. Some possible options are that one user has more rights than another user. The one with more rights created the files just fine but the other user has no way to read the files. Or someone was messing with the security settings.
Security settings in Windows can get very complex very fast. I hesitate attempting to walk through this can be done because there could be many factors which has caused this issue. You could have specific security settings on the files which override parent directory security settings. Or the parent directory security setting could simply be wrong.
You first need to determine if both users need write access to the catalog. If this is the case and they are not administrators, I would go ahead and set the security settings on the folder containing the catalog. You do need to be careful so you don't remove security settings such that you cannot even make changes to the security settings. Make sure you give full control to "This folder, subfolders, and files" in the Permission Entry dialog.
I would encourage you to look at the effective permissions on all files in the catalog after making any changes and before you start up PsE again. I have no idea what would happen if the security setting was wrong on a single file. This could cause a corrupted catalog depending on how PsE is written.

Corrupt Catalog Files. Can anyone help please?

My computer shut down unexpectedly, and now Lightroom 5 is giving me and message stating Corrupt Catalog Files. When I try to repair as suggested it says it has encountered problems reading or writing from discs when attempting to repair. Can anyone help please?

How recent is your backup?

Lightroom 5.5 corrupt catalog detected

LR 5.5 has corrupted my entire catalog. LR will not open. It appears to have occurred after I sorted my database by number of stars. Is there a tool or precedure to fix this?
Thank you.

Hello,
I managed to recover my broken catalog and recovered (most) of my development. I described it in my blog, but it is only availible in german language (google translate may help you) right now. http://mein-lightroom-tag.blogspot.de/2014/02/einen-katalog-reparieren-welchen.html
If you have a lot of developments you might try to repair your catalog... Good Luck!

Lightroom Corrupt Catalog problems- Help!

Lightroom Corrupt Catalog problems reading/writing from disk when attempting to repair - Help! I have my LR box in hand and my product keys and license info but can't find the disk. I'm assuming this is the only way to repair. Suggestions, Comments are welcome and appreciated.
Thanks in advance!!!

Corrupt catalog will not be fixed by re-installing the Lightroom software (although if I were you, I'd still find that disk!)
If I were you, I would first check a recent backup of your catalog file, and see if that will open (double-click on it in your operating system). If that opens properly, I would just use that file.
If it doesn't open properly, then one trick that sometimes works is to open a blank catalog in Lightroom, then File->Import from Another Catalog and point to the catalog file.
And if that doesn't work, please write back with a lot more details, including operating system, version of Lightroom, and much more detail abou

Cannot repair corrupted catalog.

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