TechNote

Catalog corruption error message (Photoshop Lightroom)

What does this error mean?

Adobe Photoshop Lightroom stores data about your photos in a catalog file. If you use Photoshop Lightroom 1.0, or you upgrade to Photoshop Lightroom 1.1 and one of these error messages displays:

The catalog "catalogname.lrdb" appears to be corrupt and cannot be used.
The catalog "catalogname.lrcat" appears to be corrupt and cannot be upgraded.

then your catalog file's structure has been compromised and some of its data may no longer be accessible.

Before Photoshop Lightroom 1.1 was released, a data corruption issue was discovered and fixed in SQLite, the third-party database implementation used in Photoshop Lightroom. Changes to Photoshop Lightroom 1.1 make it less vulnerable to this and other corruption problems.

Why has this happened?

Corrupted catalogs can occur for a variety of reasons:

In Photoshop Lightroom 1.0, when you import thousands of images and Photoshop Lightroom crashes.
When the operating system crashes or the computer is turned off while Photoshop Lightroom is running.
When you pull the plug on an external hard disk while using a catalog stored on that drive.
When you open the catalog from two copies of Photoshop Lightroom (multiple user switching on Windows XP). (Measures to prevent this kind of corruption were added to Photoshop Lightroom 1.1.)
When you move a catalog without moving its accompanying -journal file, and then you open that catalog in Photoshop Lightroom.
When you delete a catalog's -journal file, and then you open the catalog in Photoshop Lightroom.
Data isn't written correctly to a hard disk due to faulty RAM or hard disk.
Certain kinds of bugs in Lightroom itself can potentially cause corruption to occur.

For more technical details from the author of SQLite, see this document on the SQLite website: www.sqlite.org/lockingv3.html#how_to_corrupt.

What should I do now?

Do not try to continue to use the corrupted catalog, as continued use may cause further damage. If possible, make a copy of the catalog file on a different computer or hard disk, as corruption can be caused by hardware problems.
Please file a report: www.adobe.com/cfusion/mmform/index.cfm?name=wishform

Include in the report that you've received the corrupt database error message and add any clues as to what may have led to your corrupt catalog, including:
- Crashes in Photoshop Lightroom or the operating system.
- What you were doing when the corruption was detected.
- Whether you had a power outage or if a forced reboot occurred.
- Whether your catalog is on an internal or external hard disk.
- Whether your catalog is on a volume using disk encryption like FileVault.
Check the Adobe User to User Photoshop Lightroom forum, the Support Knowledgebase, and the Photoshop Lightroom product page for any updates to Photoshop Lightroom.
Use a back-up library or catalog in the default location to access your preview cache and preferences.
1. Navigate to Photoshop Lightroom's default location for its library/catalog: Users/[Username]Pictures//Lightroom (Mac OS) or Documents and Settings/[Username]/My Documents/My Pictures/Lightroom (Windows).
2. Move the Lightroom Database.lrdb (Photoshop Lightroom 1.0) or the Lightroom Database.lrcat (Photoshop Lightroom 1.1) file to a new folder outside of the Lightroom folder.
3. Locate the appropriate backup you want to use in the Users/[Username]Pictures//Lightroom/Backups/[date folder] (Mac OS) or Documents and Settings/[Username]/My Documents/My Pictures/Lightroom/Backups[date folder] (Windows) folder.
4. Move or copy the Lightroom Database.lrdb (Photoshop Lightroom 1.0) or the Lightroom Database.lrcat (Photoshop Lightroom 1.1) file to the default location (see Step 1).
5. Use the Select Database function when you open Photoshop Lightroom, by holding the Option key (Mac OS) or the Ctrl key (Windows) during launch. Make sure you choose the library or catalog in the default location.
Note: If you get one of the above error messages when you try to open a backup database or catalog, choose a different database or catalog to work with.

What should I do in the future?

Make regular backups of the catalog and run the integrity check. Database corruption is rare, but hardware and system software do sometimes fail, so a solid backup strategy is a critical part of managing your digital assets.

Save XMP metadata for your important photos. Not all of the data used by Photoshop Lightroom is represented in XMP, but the develop adjustments, snapshots (in 1.1), ratings, IPTC, and keywords can all be preserved this way so that if re-imported, the data is preserved.