There are only two times I have seen db corruption. One was when I was running file sync software similar to Dropbox which would try to write the db file while MM was writing to it. The other is when a hard drive was dying and the corruption was caused by drive failure.

I recommend running chkdsk and a SMART test on your drive.
https://hddguardian.codeplex.com/wikipa ... umentation

Try a backup then a full library maintenance

This morning when I started MMW it inexplicably opened the DB and started up. Took over two minutes of thrashing my SSD C: drive at 100% before anything appeared on the screen. Then it was "reading files" slowly in tiny blocks of 100-200. Took 12 minutes for MMW to become fully usable. C: drive activity was driven to the ceiling the whole time.

I was doing a wi-fi sync and I inadvertently closed MMW. No warning message appeared as I did.

A bit later I noticed MMA said incomplete or failed sync.

When I tried to reopen MMW, I got the message the DB was unopenable.

This kind of human activity should be adequately protected by code. It's not like I popped the hood and loaded a bunch of plug-ins and tweaks or something.

MMW really needs a way to store layout templates that can be loaded onto any window displaying part of the music library. I need it as an individual and the radio station where I do my show can't consider MMW for their software unless simple displays can be locked to the same column format every time MMW is opened. Otherwise the programmers will freak out every time the display looks slightly different. I love the customizable aspects of MMW, but there are a lot of reasons to be able to rein that in.

journal is the temp file where transactions are store before they're committed to the database.

What exact error did you get when the database failed to open. I've seen database locked errors, but they don't prevent the database from being used in the end.

My database file is 514 MB for ~160,000 songs.

When I opened the folder with MM.DB, today it contains a file called MM.DB-journal. This file has never been there before. It is 0 KB.

I am using the full current version.

And today I just received the message that the database could not be opened. So I'm faced with a rebuild again.

This time I have a month old backup of the database and current backups of my playlists, so it will be less painful. I haven't started the restoration yet. Do you want me to send the corrupted database via Dropbox or do anything else?

I will need to restore MMW this weekend so I can start to prepare for my radio next week.

I assume you are not using Portable version of MMW?

I have no plug-ins installed.

What Addons/plugins you use? Any of them directly Manipulate MM.DB?

That has always been one of my frustrations as well.

Every time I have to re-configure from scratch I get more irritated with the columns behavior when I setup a new collection.

I wish there was a way to standardize the arrangement of columns for all libraries and playlists. I use the same configuration on everything and wish I could fix it outside the database.

Just had to do my third recovery from a corrupted database by deleting mm.db (happens about once a year). Despite the notice that this "will not delete any of your... configurations", a recovery done by deleting mm.db wipes all the layout configurations I've arranged on all my libraries and playlists. Resetting all these individually is a real pain in the ass.