Large LR3 import stalled or hung - exceeded limit?

[andyptak]

I'm importing about 3500 24mpx files and converting to DNG - or trying to, nothing has happened for hours.

I'm using a Dell with 64 bit OS, i7-920 quad core and 12 gigs of RAM. The data is on an external Sans Digital box with 8TB of drives at RAID 10 connected by eSata.

Because this is a large number of files, I expected this may take an awfully long time. I started the initial import and let it run overnight. Halfway through the following morning it finished and started rendering high quality 1:1 previews. By the time I went to bed last night the counter said it had reached 2031 of 3577 and as of this morning it hasn't moved. The vast majority of the previews that I can see look awful, as if they are badly corrupted, but I have a feeling (hope?) that this is not the case and that it is just a display issue because of the load being put on the system.

Anybody know if I should just leave it, or am I screwed? I'm in no rush and if it takes another day or so, I really don't care, but I'd hate to wait that long and find it's just been a waste of time. Thanks.

[Steve Weldon]

I don't know if you're screwed or not.. but it's hung on somewhere for sure.

I have a similar machine and 3500 24mp files should take roughly 60-90 minutes to import and build previews.. tops.

Try resetting and trying again.  Whatever is imported won't be re-imported if you select that option from the import dialog box.

[andyptak]

Steve - thanks for the reply.

I've considered just rebooting the machine to clear everything from cache and memory and starting again, but was unsure if I'd corrupt anything by doing so?

If it doesn't, I understand that it won't re-import anything that's already there, but what about the previews - will it just start again or will I have a bunch of corrupted previiews? If the previews are corrupted, how would I have that process start again from the beginning?

Regards

[Steve Weldon]

It's hard to predict.. but the LR database is fairly robust.

If these 3500 images are your only images so far.. you can simply delete a corrupted library and start over.  Delete the Lightroom folder, LR will make a new one.

Personally I don't think you'll have any issues with corruption you can't easily handle.  I'd be far more worried about what made it hang in the first place.  Try to fix that first.  I'd start with noting your CPU temperature and making sure it's not too high.. LR can put a lot of demand on system resources and if you're overclocked without adequate cooling, or your cooling is corrupted because filters are dirty, fans not running, etc.. it will hang.  You might want to do a disk check on your storage drives, consider not running other programs, or whatever you think might have caused the hang in the first place.  I wouldn't assume it's a LR induced error, instead I'd assume it's an error that hung LR..

I hope this helps.

[andyptak]

Well Steve, more screwed that I feared.

Turns out that the Sans Digital box has become corrupted (firmware?) and can't be read at all. Windows Explorer shows no data at all and the format has changed from NTFS to RAW.

Gulp!

[Steve Weldon]

Well Steve, more screwed that I feared.

Turns out that the Sans Digital box has become corrupted (firmware?) and can't be read at all. Windows Explorer shows no data at all and the format has changed from NTFS to RAW.

Gulp!

This isn't good.  Are you using the SCSI interface?

I can't picture LR causing this, nor the RAID.. so I'm thinking compatibility of the interface.

Hopefully you have a backup for any other data.. you'll need to restore and try again.. I'd read your event logs on both your RAID and Win7 and look for clues.

[john beardsworth]

....and the format has changed from NTFS to RAW.

You'd better explain what you mean by this. I agree with Steve - this sounds like a system problem.

John

[degrub]

if you haven't already, contact Sans Digital. It sounds like the FAT is corrupted. 

Frank