Aperture library references forgotten

I keep my Aperture library on a second internal disc drive. This has never posed a problem.
Recently, Aperture has started forgetting where the library is. About every other time I launch the app, it defaults to a new, empty library (in the photos folder). I go to prefs, reset the library location, quit and relaunch. Then, everything work fine... until the next time I launch Aperture. Then, it defaults to the empty library again.
Any ideas?
On a possibly related note, I have seen a similar behavior with iTunes. I usually "unzoom" the large window (green button) to get the smaller control box. This zoom/unzoom used to place the smaller control box where I last left it. Now, it sometimes defaults to the center of the screen.
I have tried restarting and repairing permissions with no luck.

Go into "System Preferences" -> "Desktop & Screensaver" -> "Desktop"
Scroll down the list on the left. The top categories should be the Apple default desktop images that came with Snow Leopard. Below that you should see iPhoto and it's events, albums, etc. Below that you should see Aperture with your projects listed below that.
Do you at least see the projects listed or does Aperture not even appear? Or is the problem that you aren't able to select any of the images from a project?
If the latter I'm wondering if you're missing previews. You might go into "Aperture" -> "Preferences..." and pick the "Previews" category. Make sure the check boxes are selected for "New projects automatically generate previews" and "Use embedded JPEG from camera when possible" (if your camera shoots in RAW+JPEG mode then it'll use the JPEGs from the camera as the preview instead of building it's own.)
You can force it to update previews but note that since it normally wants to generate previews automatically the 'Update Preview(s)' isn't a global function... it only rebuilds the previews for images you have selected (which means you have to go into each project, select all images, and do a "Photos" -> "Update Previews"
Beyond this, you'd probably need to run Aperture first-aid to determine if there is some corruption in the Aperture library preventing it from being used.

Similar Messages

New to Aperture - Library vs Reference files

I'm coming to Aperture from Picasa, which replicated and managed my folder structure as it appeared on my hard-disc, which was nice.
Am I better off importing images into my Aperture Library, or managing the folder structure how I want and just having Aperture work with the reference files?
I'm not a pro-photographer, just a pretty basic user, so will not have loads of large raw image files. What's the benefit of using the Library over using Reference files? I've tried Google-ing but everything I've found just addresses folder/project management within Aperture.
If I use the reference option, can Aperture manage my photos on my hard-drive in the same way Picasa could (ie if I moved a photo from one folder to another in Picasa, it also moved on my drive)
Thanks

Hi TxH,
Welcome to the user-supported Aperture discussion group.
I'm coming to Aperture from Picasa, which replicated and managed my folder structure as it appeared on my hard-disc, which was nice.
If you use Aperture for even a little while, you'll realize that the structure of your photos in your hard drive is not as important as how you organize them in Aperture, especially when you start making albums, which merely contain a pointer to the image in your library. You can have a picture in many albums, but your library (and therefore hard drive) only contains it once.
Am I better off importing images into my Aperture Library, or managing the folder structure how I want and just having Aperture work with the reference files?
That's a matter of opinion. Some people are very opinionated that using referenced files is the only way to go, some are opinionated the other way. Sometimes there really is a better solution for you depending on what you are doing.
What's the benefit of using the Library over using Reference files? I
You will find loads of conversation if you search this discussion group for "managed" and "referenced".
You will always have a library. Your managed pictures will live in the library and you won't have direct access to them through Finder (and you should not want direct access to them for the most part). Your referenced pictures live wherever you tell Aperture to take them from, but the bookkeeping parts of the Aperture library/database are still stored in the Aperture library package.
Benefits of managed include: you don't worry about where the files are; Aperture backs them up if you use its vaults; they are always with you.
Benefits of referenced include: you know exactly where the files are; your Aperture library is significantly smaller than if all your photos were in the library; you can find them with Finder if that's important to you (and a lot of people think it's important to them but then realize they only think that because they're really not using Aperture to its full potential).
If I use the reference option, can Aperture manage my photos on my hard-drive in the same way Picasa could (ie if I moved a photo from one folder to another in Picasa, it also moved on my drive)
Yes. I've never used Picasa, but Aperture allows you to "relocate" your photos in order to manage their external directory structure. You can also choose to "relocate" a managed master to make it referenced.
nathan

I've moved my Aperture library to another computer, and masters are referencing an old path name. How can I update these references? Reloctating masters does not work in this case :(

I've moved my Aperture library from one computer to another using Finder.
I merged the library with one which was already on the computer.
Now, the photos I imported have reference to the old path name on my old computer.
How can I update these references as "Relocate Masters" does not work in this case?

Just one suggestion to be able to reconnect all at once:
Create a smart album containing the images with missing masters:
File -> New -> Smart Album, and add a rule: File Status is "Missing" (or File Status is "offline")
Then select the images in this album and go to the File menu:
and select: File -> Locate referenced File
If you are lucky, Aperture will reconnect all at once, if you point the first image version to its counterpart.

Using Reference Files - Aperture Library still larger than file storage

Still new to Aperture, and so far LOVE the metadata tagging functionality, but am troubled by the huge size of the Aperture library. Here's my stats so far, after a couple of days of importing, with no image management done so far other than assigning some metadata...
# photos managed as reference files=1175
Size of folder where reference files are stored=883MB
Size of Aperture library (.aplibrary)=1.44GB
My expectation would be that the ratio of Aperture library to reference file folder would be about 1/10. But 1.6/1 seems way out of whack. I selected all photos within Aperture and then selected "Manage Reference Files..." and all 1175 file references showed up. On that basis, I'm pretty confident that the jpegs aren't being copied into the Aperture library. But I cannot explain why the library continues to be 1.5+ times as large as the reference file folder.
This seems to defeat the purpose of keeping reference files external from Aperture.
Am I missing something, or is this to be expected? If these ratios hold, then it seems if I end up managing 10GB of photos I will incur another 15-16GB of storage requirement just for Aperture to do its thing.
What is Aperture doing with all that hard drive storage space?

By default, Aperture creates previews of all of your images. A preview is little more than a JPEG copy of the original. The size of these are determined by the settings in Aperture's preferences. When you're dealing with RAW images, the size of the previews are significantly smaller than the master image, but if you're working with JPEGs, then the previews can balloon the library to as large (large when you add up the thumbnails and duplicates) as the referenced files.
You can reduce the size of the previews, or delete them and turn them off all together if you're not sharing your photos with other iLife & iWork apps from Aperture. There are some other reasons you may find them beneficial, and this article will help you determine if they are right for you:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304499

Can I "reference" my aperture library?

I have a MacBook Pro and around 10,000 images--more than I want stored on my laptop hard drive. My aperture library is located on a 500Gb external hard drive.
My desire is to be able to review the images stored on the external hard drive when I'm traveling. (I'd prefer not to take the external drive with me.) I thought I could do this by creating a new library on my MacBook hard drive, and reference the photos from the 500Gb drive.
Is this possible?
MacBook Pro 17 Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Yes,setup the MacBook Pro library referencing the images to the remote drive and enable previews.
Jeff

Can I reference my Aperture Library on my desktop from my laptop?

I'd like to be able to bring all of my previews/thumbnails with me on my laptop wherever I go. Can I reference my entire Aperture Library on my desktop from my laptop? Also, if I make any adjustments or new versions on my laptop, will they automatically be synchronized to my Aperture Library on my desktop when I reconnect to the network?
Thanks

You can make a copy of your library and move it to your laptop. If your desktop library has previews enabled then your notebook will be setup with previews. I don't know of any way to have your desktop and notebook share a library that's internal to the desktop. You can have a networked drive that houses your masters and they can be common. I keep a second library on a portable drive and update it weekly so my notebook is upto date. It has been established as the library for the notebook.
Jeff

Changing reference images into the aperture library

Hi,
I got a large external HD for aperture. How can I move the referenced images from a different HD into the aperture library? These images are already organized into albums and projects in aperture.
Thanks

select the images and then choose
file -> consolidate masters ...
structure shall remain ...

ITunes doesn't see Aperture Library - iMovie doesn't see Aperture Library

Issues:
Nearly all of my videos in the Aperture/iPhoto library do not show up when I select iPhoto library option in iMovie and iMovie is unable to locate them in any other way. Sometimes the option to select the iPhoto library is completely missing.
iTunes does not recognize my Aperture library, and I get the following message:
"Your Aperture Library could not be found. Open the preferences window in Aperture and enable the preference to share previews with other applications." After reading through forums and multiple Genius Bar appointments here is most of what I have done:
Created multiple new Aperture libraries, selected them in Aperture, rebooted, switched back and forth - Note: iTunes DID recognize the new blank libraries
Booted Aperture with the Command + Option keys and run all three options to repair permssions and even rebuilt the database
Booted Aperture with the Option key and selected the library I was using all along (this worked for someone in a forum)
Opened iPhoto (not Aperture) and selected an option to share photos
Run "Verify Disk Permissions" many times under Disk Utility
Run "Repair Disk Permissions" many times under Disk Utility
Reinstalled OSX
Reinstalled Aperture
Reinstalled iTunes
Reinstalled iMovie
Run a virus and malware scan (no issues)
Verified that Aperture was set to share previews and had a Genius go through all of my options to ensure they were correct in iTunes, Aperture, and iPhoto
Have ran "Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs" from the Command + Option + R recovery partition multiple times. Each time it just hangs for hours, the latest attempt ran for over 24 hours before I finally stopped it.
Oh yes, and I found and deleted the file com.apple.iApps.plist
None of these things fixed either of my issues. According the the Genius at my last appointment, now I have to call Apple Care and pay to get support. I must have misunderstood what the Genius Bar was about when I bought my Mac and why I purchased the One to One training. Before I call Apple Care, I was hoping someone might have run across this and can help me.
I asked the Genius if I now need to just create a new Aperture Library and move all of my content to it (that was the last resort for someone in a forum); however, he was concerned that even if this might work that I probably have deeper permission and/or other issues that need to be addressed and that doing so would not fix the root cause.
Thanks for taking the time to read through this issue.

Understood. I thought perhaps the period meant that I was finished and just needed to call Apple Care and fork out the fee.
The formats are primarily .MOV straight from the iPhone. Since going to a Mac, I have pretty much given up on using my Sony Handycam for family videos due to the pains of having to locate, identify, convert, and export AVCHD video to watch on Apple TV. It is just too easy to take video with my iPhone and import it and immediately watch it, although the quality is nothing close to a dedicated video camera, especially indoors and in lower light. All of the video formats in Aperture are supported and most all of my older home videos and Sony Handycam videos are sitting on an external drive (hoping that one day I will have the time to figure out a decent workflow to access them after I work all of the bugs out of iMovie). Great thought though.
All my content is managed. After a handful of One-to-One sessions at the Apple Store, I finally learned that you could not reference videos in iMovie and had to either have them in the iMovie Events directory or in iPhoto (at least that was what she said). Their solution was to import the videos into iPhoto so they could be easily accessed in iMovie. After I had issues mentioned in this post their solution was for me to purchase Aperture that could handle larger libraries. This was supposed to fix the issue and allow iMovie to see my videos. When that didn't work they said that I needed to purchase Final Cut Pro. I'm just a Dad who wants to make a few memorable home movies for his family and I don't think that I should have to purchase a $300 application, especially after paying a premium for my Mac and the iLife software, which I am deeply regretting. But I digress.
I have repaired permissions again and am in the process of repairing the library and will rebuild it again if that doesn't work. It is taking longer so I won't be able to post the results until a later time. Definitely worth a shot to try this again.
If this doesn't work I will take the time to create a new Aperture library. Like I previously mentioned, this was the last resort for another gentlemen who had a similar issue. After doing this it might explain why the "Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs" from the Command + Option + R recovery partition is getting hung up and not working. I'll post the results at a later date. If I could save just one person the time, gas, and stress I've experienced it would be worth it.
One additional question? I read a gentlemen's post that passionately argued against ever using iPhoto, Aperture, or iMovie to ever manage video files. He suggested using folders and a file naming system similar to what I used when I was on a PC using Adobe Elements. Do you have any thoughts on that?
For my situation, I have two concerns:
I'm afraid this would not allow me to watch the videos on Apple TV as simply as I can now (although I don't know this to be the case for certain). If the videos aren't in my photo library, I'm not sure how I would be able to access them through Apple TV.
Since I'm a proud Dad I have hundreds of video files spanning many years, so I also don't want to lose the ability to quickly peruse my event library and find content that I want to import into a project in iMovie. At one point I imported some video files to edit that weren't stored in iMovie, and I could only see the file name and date and had to guess if there was content on it that I wanted. When you have hundreds of clips like I do that isn't practical.
He argued that these programs were never meant to manage content and worked much more efficiently using this method. I'd be very interested to hear your thoughts.
Thanks again.

Sharing Aperture library with another user on the same mac

Hi
I just upgraded to Aperture 3.3, on a MBP running Lion (10.7.4) - I am trying to share the library with my wife so that each of us can retain our separate accounts and preferences and be able to edit/print/add pictures to the library
I've seen some other posts, suggesting creating a separate directory outside of /Users which I've done: I've created /ApertureLib and moved the library there. I made sure I set permissions for owner, group and others to read/write/execute
When i try opening the library through my wife's account it tells me that "the library is being used by (null), you must first quit (null) to use this library"
I added sticky bits, tried to set ACLs, no dice...
any suggestions?
Thanks!
PS: all of the image files are actually stored on a NAS box and mounted via AFP. I tried moving the Aperture library to the NAS box but the performance was atrocious. so I kept the library on Macintosh HD and just reference the picture files from the NAS share.

PS: all of the image files are actually stored on a NAS box and mounted via AFP. I tried moving the Aperture library to the NAS box but the performance was atrocious. so I kept the library on Macintosh HD and just reference the picture files from the NAS share.
That is the safest solution. The Aperture library should reside on a local volume, MacOS X extended formatted. Your NAS probably is neither local nor formatted MacOS X extended, see
Aperture: Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library
I am trying to share the library with my wife so that each of us can retain our separate accounts and preferences and be able to edit/print/add pictures to the library
Aperture is a single User program. Only one of you can use Aperture at a time. So you hvae to quit Aperture in your account, before your wife can launch it from her account. Also make sure that iPhoto is not using the library.
One big problem with sharing a Library are permissions and ownerships. When you make changes to an Aperture Library and add images, you are the owner of the added images. The safest way to share a library therefore would be to put it on an external volume or onto a separate partition of your hard drive. Then you can set the "Ignore ownership on this volume" flag and share the data with out permission problems. To set this flag on a volume, select it in the Finder and use "File > Get info" from the Finder's main menu bar (or press cmd-I).
Regards
Léonie

Question about Aperture library size

I am storing my photos on a secondary drive. However, my Aperture library is just as large as the original source folder even though I am not copying the images into the library.
Shouldn't the library be smaller since it only references the images from another location?

If you changed the size and quality of your preview settings, it's not enough to just "Update Previews". You will have to DELETE the old previews and generate new ones.
(That's what my findings where)
To my understanding, previews are used
- if you use the Aperture "Quick Previews" functionality
- for synching with your e.g. iPhone
- in the Media browser dialog of e.g. iWork applications
(am I correct and complete?)
In my first days of Aperture 2 I increased the size to unlimited and the quality to 12, since "of course" I wanted to see the best possible quality of my pictures.
Now I learned that previews are not used in normal Aperture workflows, so I reduced the size to the lowest possible value of 1280 and the quality to 12.
This way I reduced the size of my library (30k JPEG photos, all referenced) from 108 GB to 33 GB.

Aperture library consolidation - newbie question

I am pretty new to Aperture. Previously I have been using iPhoto for a long time, so I have quite a big iPhoto library on my internal HDD, most of them with adjustments etc.
When I installed Aperture a few months ago I imported the iPhoto library without copying the files physically. It means all the "old" photos are still in the iPhoto library and only referenced to in the Aperture library.
After Aperture installation I do everything differently - I import photos into the Aperture library leaving the originals on a external FW HDD. So I have in the Aperture library now some photos referencing to my internal HDD iPhoto originals and some photos referencing to my external HDD.
I still use iPhoto but only for slideshows and managing of older online galleries, I published in the past from iPhoto.
My question: what is the best way to get some order into it and have everything in one place?
My plan is:
- first consolidate masters from the iPhoto library into Aperture library with the Copy option checked to bring all referenced masters into the Aperture library
- then relocate masters from the Aperture library to the external HDD with the Move option checked
- clean my iPhoto library from within iPhoto
Is the result of these steps what I am expecting to get? Is there a better way? Am I doing anything wrong?
Thanks for suggestions.
Tonden

You plan seams to be alright.
1) Consolidate (copy) masters into Aperture library.
2) Relocate masters to external harddisk.
You are writing that you "imported your iPhoto library" into Aperture by reference, and here is my question. Did you import both the original (masters) AND adjusted images (versions) into Aperture?
If you want to use Aperture for all your image adjustment then you should consider to delete all the versions you imported into Aperture (they are now masters in Aperture) and then make adjustments to all the masters you imported from iPhoto.
All the original masters files you have imported from iPhoto all have the keyword "Original from iPhoto", so they are easy to find.
Karsten

Aperture library file size ?

Hello,
I have all my pictures on a specific drive. I don't want aperture to import the files into this aperture library, i only want the files to be referenced. So when i import the pictures from the drive, i select "Store in Current Location". And it seems to be ok (meaning when i click on a file and say show in finder, it shows the drive in question), only my aperture library (even when i import files as referenced) ... increases it's size drastically, no matter whether the files are stored in the library itself or if they are only referenced ... how come? I want to avoid a 100GB aperture library file!!
Can someone explain to me how this works?
regards,
k
(i just bought aperture 3)
Message was edited by: whateveraliasidontcare

K,
Aperture stores many little JPG files for every photo that is in your library (whether referenced or managed). There are thumbnails and previews for every photo unless you run out of space or turn off previews.
Your library should not increase by the *same size* if you store a photo *by reference* as if you store managed. For a managed photo, Aperture will have your original (master) plus the thumbnails and previews. The referenced will have only thumbnails and previews. You can browse your Aperture library by right-clicking and viewing the package contents. You can then look (*but don't ever touch!!!*) at what exactly Aperture is managing. You will see pictures with the same and/or similar names are your original, but you will see they are different sizes. If you see your original, then something is out of whack.
I hope your "100GB" library was just an example. If you store by reference, you would need a LOT of photos to make the thumbnails and previews take 100 GB.
nathan

Help in managing Aperture library

Thanks for your time.
I think I am getting too many photos on my Mac. I'd like to be able to effectively manage the images there but I am having a hard time figuring out where to get help.
Is there a way to see what images are using the most space? There are some I have worked in external editors and I notice they are coming back into Aperture as much larger files, i.e., 1.5 MB before and 27.5 MB after.
And is there a good FAQ someplace about general dusting and cleaning and deleting of unneeded files?
Thanks!

Modern digicam workflows require increasing amounts of mass storage. Sorting/deleting IMO only provide limited benefit. Bottom line is image handlers need lots of scalable mass storage.
Single-drive computers are limiting to the volume handling of modern digicam image files. Those of us with single-internal-drive computers like laptops or iMacs IMO should use a Referenced-Masters Library. If you are not using Referenced Masters now is the time to set up with Referenced Masters rather than Managed.
External drives that are not eSATA decrease speed, so your Library should stay on the internal drive. Use external drives to relocate data from your internal drive so that there is room for a (Referenced-Masters) Library there.
When using Referenced Masters the Library does not actually hold the large Master images themselves. That way even a laptop drive can hold an Aperture Library of 100,000 images by referencing Master images that live on external drives.
To store Master images by "Reference," when you go to Import on the right hand side of the import window you must select "Store files in their current location." Obviously at some point referenced Masters must be on external drives to keep from overfilling any single internal drive.
In general IMO graphics users do not give enough attention to hard drives setup that really is very important for graphics performance optimization. A few comments:
• Aperture users' mass storage needs tend to increase very quickly.
• The location, size/speed/fullness and connection method of hard drives can have a huge impact on performance within any given specific setup. Internal better than external; with external eSATA better than FW800 which is better than FW400, and USB2 unacceptable except for backup-only.
• Hard drives slow as they fill. A good rule of thumb is not to fill any drive more than 70%, and for best speed keep important drives no more than 50% full. Drives will operate more full but at a performance cost.
• Without careful management a single internal laptop hard drive will become overfilled.
• Your laptop allows up to 500 GB internal drive size. Since drives slow as they fill, an option is to replace the internal HD with a 500 GB drive and keep it less than half full to optimize operation.
Some of the reasons that I prefer Referenced Masters to Managed Masters are
• The much smaller Library is easy to keep on a faster underfilled drive.
• Vaults are much smaller; hence easier and more likely that multiple Vaults will be created.
• An infinite number of Masters and originals can be stored on as many drives as necessary and backed up ad nauseam using the Finder, backup software, Time Machine, whatever. Using Referenced Masters, Aperture (and any anomalies that a complex app like Aperture might introduce) are not in the Masters backup loop.
-Allen Wicks

Help - can't see Aperture library in iPhoto

I'm following the directions outlined on
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304446
but not seeing the Aperture library.
Sharing is turned on in Aperture, and I have the latest versions of both software.
A follow-on (probably answered when I get this worked out):
I am assuming I can create a Photocast in iPhoto of files I have modified in Aperture (not the masters). If that happens and I continue to tweak the modified photo within Aperture, will that automatically update the iPhoto Photocast?
Or does iPhoto in essence import a file from Aperture, so its not really dynamic? (or just reference the master or the top of the stack)?
Thanks so much!

Answering the second question first: You get a media browser with Aperture photos - if you use them in iPhoto you'll have imported them and thus created copies, so no, the changes won't go through to the photocast.
In addition to turning on sharing, you might have to force previews to be generated for your Aperture library. I don't have Aperture but I believe the steps were to hold down Option and choose Generate Previews, forcing Aperture to create previews. I read this on a discussion that was in essence complaining about how slow Aperture is to generate previews - I guess if you didn't notice, then no previews were actually created. I think the preference you set might have been to apply it to newly imported photos, not existing ones.
There's a task progress window or something that tells you it's generating previews. I'm not sure if it appears automatically or you have to bring it up.

Transfering aperture library via vault to new comp

I apologize in advance if my question already have been answered in another thread. But I couldn't find any threads matching my problems.
I recently bought the new iMac after my old 24" could not handle the pressure anymore. I wanted to move my aperture library from the old to the new. And ofcourse I wanted all info (adjustment changes and so on) to come with in the move. After reading a few threads on the subject I created a "Vault" that I later opened up in the new comp. At a fist glance everything looks great in aperture but when opening up a picture to make adjustments it says "image offline".
On my old comp I can see (where my pics are stored) two aperture files:
Aperture Library
Aperture Library_original
…so far so good.
But then that are tons (well, many) folders named like my projects in aperture. And not folders within the aperture library file but stand alone…if that makes any sense.
What am I doing wrong? I get all the pics over to my new comp with the help of Vault but can't edit any of my pics from a few months back (when for some reason aperture started to create folders outside the library file)
On my new iMac i have 2 files
Aperture Library
Aperture Library_old
...so no folders got transfered
/Jonatan, sweden

It looks like your Aperture library were a referenced library. When you imported your image files you did not import the originals into the Aperture library, but stored them in folders outside the library. That are folders named like your projects that you are seeing. When Aperture needs to access the originals to render edited versions, it will reference the image files in those folders, see this section in the Aperture 3 User Manual: Aperture 3 User Manual: Working with Referenced Images
When you create a vault, Aperture will only include images that you imported into the library, not the originals you stored outside. You need to copy the folders with projects as well to your new mac and reconnect them to the image versions, otherwise you will not be able to edit your images.
But it looks like you did create these folders outside accidentally and did not intend to use referenced original files. If that is so, I'd suggest to repair this, by consolidating your library.
Select the "Photos" view in the source list of your Aperture Library and select all your images at once.
Then use the command "File > Consolidate Originals" from the main menu bar. This will move (or copy) all referenced images from the folders outside into your Aperture library.
When you now create a vault, it will contain all images. Use this new vault to recreate your Aperture library on your new mac. You can also simply copy your Aperture library itself to your new mac. You do not need the detour using a vault.
BTW: Where Aperture will store the originals image files depends on the settings in the "Import" panel. Make sure the "Store Files" option is set to "In the Aperture Library".
Regards
Léonie

Aperture library references forgotten

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