Lightroom 3.6 catalog corrupt

I've been using Lightroom 3.6 on the same computer since august and haven't had any problem until now. I'm running Windows 7, with lightroom 3.6 64bit. Earlier today I was able to import, edit, export photos no problem, now when I try to open lightroom it says the catalog is corrupt.
When I try to repair the catalog, it can not repair it
I have had no problems running lightroom 3 which I did not upgrade to 3.6 on another computer, and have used it for a year now with absolutely no problems.
Should I uninstall then reinstall and not upgrade to 3.6 this time? I have not lost any photos, but for now I can't use lightroom.

The catalog is stored on my computer's internal hard drive, and I do have recent backups, it backs up weekly.
Update: Just realized how to use the backups made to restore the catalog, and have restored it without losing anything. How could I prevent this from happening again?

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