So, WHAT are the most common causes of these databases becoming corrupted? And even more to the point what things can I do as a user to minimize the chance of it happening?
Thanks!
What Causes Databases to become...
And when I get the ''corrupt database'' message, exactly what steps am I supposed to take to make use of the most recent backup? Do I copy it a move it into the LR folder and restart LR as usual?
Thanks
What Causes Databases to become...
No takers on this question?
I have seen a few more threads on database corruption and am getting a bit concerned about how unstable the database structure is and how easily something can happen to make it unusable.
File corruption mostly occurs when a power outage shuts off your computer or your system freezes up completely so you have to cold start (hard reset). Then every file that you system had open for write access at that moment COULD become corrupted. This applies to the LR database as well as to any other file.
Alexander.
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Well, that is one of many causes. Hardware failures, including drive degradation, can also cause it, as can bugs in software.
Bottom line is, if you are using LR (or any other database-dependent program) for serious work, you need to back up the DB. This is just the same situation as backing up your Word files if you use Word for serious work.
Joseph - to recover, simply copy the backup into the LR folder using the same name you were using before, and restart LR. It's that simple.
Thanks for the replies. It would seem that the best preventives would be regular hardware testing and such common sense practices as keeping desktops on a UPS. As well as the obvious backups.
It would also seem that if one does experience an abort of any sort he should be careful to do a database integrity check the next time he starts LR.
So, a followup question: I haven't experienced a situation yet where LR did not close correctly. But I do remember other software programs (the old WordPerfect comes to mind) that kept track of whether they did close correctly, and if not, offered to start up with the automatically saved backup file. Does anyone know if LR has code in it that keeps track of whether or not the program clossed smoothly?
I can envision LR starting after an incomplete closure with a notice that the program did not close correctly last time and asking the user if he would like to do a test of the integrity of the database.
Disk fragmentation is probably high on the list of causes for DB failure. In these cases redundency on some other volume is still your best protection.
Dumb integrity check: One can set LR to check the integrity of a DB upon starting up. This might add several minutes to the startup time, but is the only current early warning option - other than DB failure.
Smart integrity check: There are ways to checksum proper closure upon exit, however this goes hand in hand with building a much more robust--but costly-- DB capability. That might be challenging for this lightweight, fleet footed, and inexpensive variety of LR to deliver.
%26gt;So, WHAT are the most common causes of these databases becoming corrupted? And even more to the point what things can I do as a user to minimize the chance of it happening?
Do not concern yourself with these issues. Only concern yourself with ensuring that a regular backup of the database is taken. How often you backup should be a function of how much work you are willing to loose. A heavy user might backup daily, and a casual user might backup once a week.
It would be also be useful if Lr could allow identifying a backup with a comment (''Italy edits - Folders May2-May10''). Having Lr perform a point in time backup via a menu command would also be useful.
In short, it's all about the backup (and placing copies of the backup on alternate media). Also, the Lr database contains only metadata information; backup of images must also be methodically performed.
Ok, I just got the error. What do I do?
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