Lightroom Tip - Recover Corrupt Catalog
No problem, just return to recent backup you say. Well, yes, but I had pruned my backups, and my last two backups had the same problem.
I tried relaunching and optimizing in Lightroom but it did not fix the problem either.
So how did I get out of this mess?
First I made sure that I could not use any of my backups.
I then tried resynchronizing the top level folder; that did not work either.
Then I created a new empty Catalog and then imported my folder structure using the File menu item
Import Photos from Disk.
I expected to have to re-rate and re-edit hundreds of images. I did not have to!
The reason being that I had retained my previous ratings and edits was because I had selected Automatically write changes to XMP in my catalog settings.
The primary purpose of
Auto writing XMP changes is to keep in sync other XMP
compatible software such as Bridge. However, it also
writes all the rating and editing information as well
into the XMP file. So when my import was completed I
was in good shape.
The only data I have lost are my Collections.
Keywords and keyword tagged images are fine. All my
Develop Module edits are intact. Collections are not
hard to re-create.
So make sure you turn on that XMP setting as well as
keep backing up.
Let me know if this tip helps you.
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