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This highly annoying bug "catalogue is used by another user" still not fixed ?

Ivo Sedlacek

It is really annoying "feature" - you want to open a catalogue, get an error message that it cannot be opened since it is "used by another user". You have to open the package content and erase the "writelock". I wonder why this nonsense was not removed long time ago ? 

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Comments

9 comments

Date Votes
  • Permanently deleted user

    Hi,

    It works fine with me. Don't you have, by chance, two versions opened at the same time ?

    Robert

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  • Ian Wilson
    Moderator
    Top Commenter

    If the catalog genuinely isn't in use by another user, then the usual reason for the writelock file having to be deleted is that Capture One or the catalog for some reason didn't close clearly last time. Normally, Capture One removes the writelock file when the catalog is closed.

    Ian

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  • Ivo Sedlacek

    I am the only user (and even if more users would like to open it - so what ?) and it is opened only once ... It mostly happens when I want to open it as a catalogue saved on an external disk.

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  • Ian Wilson
    Moderator
    Top Commenter

    If two users were to open a catalog at the same time, it could get corrupted by two instances of Capture One trying to write adjustments to the catalog (even if that was only you from two different computers).

    Although you are the only user of the catalog it still needs to protect against that possibility, which is why the writelock file is used to prevent two simultaneous users opening the catalog. So it's not nonsense that should have been fixed, but an important safeguard. The question is, why isn't the writelock file being erased automatically on exit?

    You say that it mainly happens with catalogs on an external disk. Do you mean that the catalog file itself is on the external disk, or just the referenced images? It's usually better for performance to have at least the catalog on an internal drive, even if the images are elsewhere. And if you have a catalog on an external disk, that may have something to do with the writelock file not being cleared on exit. It's possible, for instance, that it takes Capture One longer to tidy things up on exit. So it might need you give it some time after exit before closing the computer down, perhaps. 

    Do you access the same catalog from more than one computer?

    So it's not nonsense that should have been fixed, but an important safeguard. The question is, why isn't the writelock file being erased automatically on exit? (And if anything needs to be fixed, it's more likely to be in the area of how well Capture One works with external drives. Is the external drive a local drive (for instance attached by USB) or a NAS drive. is it a spinning disk drive, or an SSD, etc.)

    Ian

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  • Ivo Sedlacek
    • Edited

    I have some catalogues moved on the external disk (but it is an SSD disk so there in no difference in speed). And these are the cases when it regularly happens. And I use only one Macbook Pro.

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  • Ralph Howald

    There is a simple solution to this: Delete the writelock file.
    https://photojoseph.com/tips/2015/4/1/unlocking-locked-capture-one-catalog#.YXzuJC8Rr-Q

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  • Ivo Sedlacek

    Simple solution ? Every time instead of opening the catalogue to go to the folder, looking for that file and delete it ? And again ? This is stupid solution, sorry. Simple solution would be not to trouble users with such a nonsense.

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  • Ian Wilson
    Moderator
    Top Commenter

    Well, the thing is that normally this does NOT have to be done. I never have to do it. So there must be some reason why on your set-up the writelock file does not get deleted automatically when the catalog is closed. 

    Perhaps we can help you solve it? Where is your catalog file located? (Internal drive, or an external drive?) Where are the image files located? (I see that on your post from a year ago you said that it was catalogs on an external SSD. Is that still the case, and does it ONLY happen with those catalogs?) Presumably you close it with Alt-Q, or Quit on the Capture One menu? Have you tried closing the catalog first (Cmd-W, or the red button) and then closing Capture One with Alt-Q afterwards? 

    Have you raised a support case with Capture One and supplied log files to them?

    Ian

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  • Ralph Howald

    In my case it only happened when I moved a catalogue to an external drive and forgot to close it before I copied it over. Therefore, I only needed to delete the file once to get the catalogue to work again properly. That's why I called it a simple solution as it was simple for my problem.

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