I moved to using a temp db in memory for various reasons …multiple machines running DT etc etc I would find myself with database issues…so I moved to that. So I am essentially always loading images/edits using side cars with no issues…
So Dave I think if you run DT with configdir switch pointing to a new directory then DT should load images using your sidecar files. Or you could try using a virtual library with the memory command line parameter…Either way if this works then I think DT is okay and it’s your databases…if there are further problems then it could be wider corruption