Aperture Libraries and Disconnected Masters

Aperture is more mysterious every day! Somehow I ended up with two Libraries, one marked (original) which stopped as of 2-11-10. The other seemed to have everything.
The problem is that the original library was adding several hundred GBs to my hard drive. So I began deleting them since they seemed to remain in the other Library. BUT, when I tried to export photos from the remaining Library a note popped up that they could not be exported because the were disconnected from their masters.
Where did the masters go? How do I get them back?
Also, how can I get rid of the extra redundant Library with out this happening? Can they be combined or merged. (Merging info is only when there are two different computers.) Mine are are both on one computer.
Any help would be appreiated. Thanks.

If both libraries somehow pointed to the same masters, and you deleted the masters via one library, it's possible the masters are gone and the references the second library has now point to a file which no longer exists.
I can't say how you got in the state you did, but until you reconcile things, I wouldn't recommend you go around deleting things that you don't want to lose.

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Aperture 3 and Relocated Masters

Hi all,
I'm using Aperture 3 and I store my master files on NAS (external network drive)
When I try to delete all masters and versions from Trash, I'm having:
• You don’t have access to the System Trash on the master files’ volume.
This is very annoying. I have full RW access on my NAS, why Aperture can't delete it?
I've seen workarounds with Consolidating Masters (but I don't want to move big amounts of photos all the time when I want to delete masters - it is very slow through wi-fi)
Also I've seen AppleScript implementation - but not for me also - you have to delete masters with script, and then not forget to delete versions and previews with Aperture tools.
Maybe there are other advices?

If both libraries somehow pointed to the same masters, and you deleted the masters via one library, it's possible the masters are gone and the references the second library has now point to a file which no longer exists.
I can't say how you got in the state you did, but until you reconcile things, I wouldn't recommend you go around deleting things that you don't want to lose.

I have two Aperture Libraries and would like to sync specific folders from both of them to my iPad.

I have two Aperture libraries stored on an external hard drive. Using iTunes on my Mac Book Pro can I sync selected projects from both Libraries to the same iPad?

No you cannot. Each device can only be synced with one photo library - Aperture or iPhoto.
You could however merge the two libraries, if you need to sync with photos from both libraries.

What's the best way to merge, restore or reconstruct iPhoto and Aperture libraries to resolve images that are not found/offline?

Hey there, Apple Support Communities.
To start, I'm working on a MBP Retina 15" with a 2.3GHz i7 processor and 16 GB of RAM. 10GB free on a 256GB SS HD. Attached are two external HDs - one 1TB Western Digital portable drive from 2011, one 2TB Porsche LaCie non-portable drive from 2013; both connected via USB. All photo libraries in question are on the external drives.
I have Aperture 3.5.1 and iPhoto 9.5.1. I prefer to work in Aperture.
The Issue(s)
Over the years, I have accumulated a number of iPhoto libraries and Aperture libraries. At one point, I thought my WD drive was dying so I purchased the LaCie and copied all libraries over the the LaCie drive. (Turns out, there's probably an issue with my USB port reading drives, because I can once again see the WD drive and occasionally I can't see the LaCie drive.)
So now I have old version of some libraries on the WD drive, and new versions on the LaCie drive.
When I was moving things, I ran the software Gemini to de-dupe my iPhoto libraries. Not sure what effect that may have had on my issues.
In my main Aperture library and in some iPhoto libraries, I get the image-not-found badge or exclamation point. I've dug through the hidden Masters folders in various libraries to find the original image. In some cases, I have been able to find the original image, sometimes in a different version of the iPhoto library.
My Question(s)
1. For Aperture libraries that have missing originals, is there some magical way to find them, or have they just disappeared into the oblivion?
2. For iPhoto libraries that have missing originals and I have found the original in another iPhoto library, what is the best way to proceed?
3. Are there quirks to merging iPhoto and Aperture libraries (by using the Import->Library) feature that I should be aware of?
TL;DR: Too many iPhoto and Aperture libraries, and not all the original pictures can be found by the libraries anymore, though some originals still do exist in other libraries. Steps/process to fix?
Thank you! Let me know if you need add'l info to offer advice.
With appreciation,
Christie

That will not be an easy task, Christie.
I am afraid, your cleaning session with Gemini may have actually removed originals. I have never used this duplicate finder tool, but other posters here reported problems. Gemini seems to replace duplicate original files in photo libraries by links, and this way, deleting images can cause the references for other images to break. And Aperture does not follow symbolic links - at least, I could never get it to find original files this way, when I experimented with this.
1. For Aperture libraries that have missing originals, is there some magical way to find them, or have they just disappeared into the oblivion?
You have to find the originals yourself. If you can find them or restore them from a backup, Aperture can reconnect them. The reconnect panel can show you, where the originals are supposed to be, so youcan see the filename and make a Spotlight search.
For iPhoto libraries that have missing originals and I have found the original in another iPhoto library, what is the best way to proceed?
Make a copy of the missing original you found in a folder outside the iPhoto library. You can either open the iPhoto library in Aperture and use "File > Locate Referenced file" to reconnect the originals, or simply reimport them. Then Lift&Stamp all adjustments and metadata to the reimported version.
See this manual page on how to reconnect originals: Aperture 3 User Manual: Working with Referenced Images (the paragraph: Reconnecting Missing or Offline Referenced Images)
Are there quirks to merging iPhoto and Aperture libraries (by using the Import->Library) feature that I should be aware of?
References images will stay referenced, managed will remain managed. You need to unhide all hidden photos in iPhoto - this cannot be done in Aperture.
and not all the original pictures can be found by the libraries anymore, though some originals still do exist in other libraries. Steps/process to fix?
That is probably due to Gemini's replacing duplicate originals by links, and your best cause of action is to fix this before merging the libraries. Reconnecting can be done for your iPhoto libraries in Aperture.

Merge iPhoto and Aperture libraries?

I boght Aperture and as I was installing it, I made the wrong choice when it asked me if I wanted to merge the iPhoto library with the Aperture library. I can't figure out how to do that after the fact. Do I need to reinstall Aperture?

I can't figure out how to do that after the fact. Do I need to reinstall Aperture?
No, you don't. Aperture can now merge any iPhoto Library into the Aperture Library.
But do you really need to merge the Libraries? If you want, you can keep the libraries separate. iPhoto can now open Aperture libraries, and iPhoto can open Aperture Libraries. You can switch between Aperture and iPhoto any time from within Aperture.
But back to your question:
To merge the Libraries
open your iPhoto library at least once in iPhoto 9.4 to upgrade it. Quit iPhoto.
Open your Aperture Library in Aperture.
From Aperture's main menu bar use the command "File > Import > Library" and select your iPhoto.
When prompted if you want to "merge" or "add" duplicate library items, select "merge".
Good Luck
Léonie

How do I continue to have access to my various Aperture libraries (~1.5 TB) for future use?

I am a professional photographer and run a small business. I have used Aperture since its inception and now have ~1.5 TB of photos in various Aperture libraries spanning several years. How do I preserve all of this work so that i don't lose access to it when Aperture finally dies?
Brad Moore
Brad Moore Photography

Mac mini, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), Server
Which version of Aperture are you running? If you have upgraded to Aperture 3.6, you will be able to open all Aperture libraries with the new Photos.app. Aperture libraries and Iphoto Libraries can be migrated losslessly to Photos.
Aperture 3.6 will soon no longer be available for purchase. If you need to upgrade, do it soon.
Since Photos does not have all editing tools Aperture had, you may want to migrate to other professional applications, Lightroom, Capture One Pro. But there is no lossless migration path.

How to reload Aperture libraries?

hi:
I mistakenly deleted some Aperture 2.1 files which erased all the past projects.
Question - how to re-link the old libraries to the new install?
thanks for any advice
regards
Mark

Hello Mark,
could you please clarify your question a little bit? I am not sure I understand you fully.
What do you mean by "reload Aperture libraries"?
I mistakenly deleted some Aperture 2.1 files which erased all the past projects.
What kind of Aperture 2.1 files did you delete? Did you delete Aperture 2.1 library packages and now the projects inside these libraries are gone? Or did you delete your old Aperture 2.1 application? Or did you delete files that are referenced by your Aperture 2.1 libraries?
Question - how to re-link the old libraries to the new install?
If your problem ist that you restored older Aperture libraries and want to open them with a newer Aperture version, then the libraries need to be upgraded to the newer version. This usually can be done by double clicking the library to open it in the new version. After upgrading the older libraries cannot be read by the older Aperture version, however. Also upgrading may take some time.
How are you restoring your libraries or missing files? Do you have a vault or atime machine backup, or a backup on an exteral disk?
Post back, if I misunderstod your question.
Regards
Léonie

Consolidating Multiple Aperture Libraries

Hi there
I'm having one those "how did I let his happen" moments as I now have three (yep, 3) different Aperture library files on 3 different hard drives. Is there any easy(ier) way to consolidate them then doing a direct export out from 2 libraries and then importing those 2 into one to keep as a master library? I really need to to preserve folder infrastructure, and individually exporting albums and projects would be a huge pain.
thanks so much,
bret

Not an Apple sanctioned way, but the way I would do it.
Make sure you have all drives backed up.
Quit Aperture.
"Control Click" on the three Aperture Libraries and "Show Package Contents".
Drag the projects from the other 2 Libraries onto the 1 you want to keep.
Start Aperture on the 1 Keeper Library.
When Aperture starts it will ask you to rebuild, say yes.
Go grab a cup of coffee while Aperture works.....
One final thing. If you have albums etc. that you want to keep, move all of the projects, albums, etc. into a single folder within Aperture before moving them in the finder, and then in the finder move the folder containing everything over to the united Library.

Size of Aperture Libraries After Mt. Lion and Aperture 3.3.2

Has anyone else seen a major reduction in the size of the current Aperture library after updating to Mt. Lion and Aperture 3.3.2? Mine seems to be 1/3 the size of the old library. However, the other question is; does the old libarray need to be saved for the Updated Library to work propoerly? I found all of this out by doing a clean up. Was planning to throw the old Aperture libray out until I saw how different the sizes were. Not sure what to do. Any suggestions out there? I'm guessing I can get rid of the old labrary?

What version of Aperture are you comparing to?
How did you create the upgraded library from the previous library? Usually Aperture replaces the old library by the upgraded library in place, so I do not understand, why you now have an old and a new version?
Aperture 3.3 does no longer create previews for small original files, if there are no additional versions. That may account for a difference in library size. Also you may not yet have an iPhoto photo cache.
Other things to check:
Does your upgraded library contain the same number of images, or did you accidentally delete images?
Does the upgraded library contain missing images (you can check this by setting a filter on the Photos view - add a file status rule and look for images with the file status "Missing" or "Offline").
Compare the file sizes of the "Masters" folder inside the library packages: Ctrl-click the libraries and select "Show Package Contents"from the pop-up menu. Then do "File > Get Info" on the Masters folders. If the Masters folders do have a considerable discrepancy in size, then probably images are missing.
Whatver you do, before you delete the previous library version. make sure your backup of the library is in working condition.
Regards
Léonie

I have several iPhoto and aperture libraries... i want to get to one iPhoto library keeping only the latest photos. How can I do this?

Okay... I made the mistake of creating duplicate Aperture libraries because I decided I wanted to only use Aperture - then the news that Aperture is no longer going to be developed. I then confused myself and created duplicate iPhoto libraries (I can't even remember why anymore). At one point or another I have edited pictures in all of them and have no idea which pictures were edited. I just want to have one iPhoto library with the most recently edited photos and remove all the duplicates.
What is the best way to do this?
And... after doing all that, I need to keep backups of my photos on an external drive. What is the best way to do this?
iPhoto version 9.5.1
Thank you so much for any advice you can provide!

You can merge libraries into one with Aperture 3.3. or later.
Aperture 3.3: How to use Aperture to merge iPhoto libraries
In merge-mode it will only keep the photos from one of the libraries.
And you can use Aperture to export partial libraries containing only the selected albums, projects, etc.
If you need to keep projects (books, calendars, cards) when merging your libraries, use Aperture and not iPLM:

Add both iPhoto and Aperture libraries

Can I upload both my iPhoto and Aperture libraries to Photos (after the initial install). I found out after installation that I could have used the option key to import multiple libraries. But after initial install, I cannot seem to add a library, just individual photos.

Photos cannot merge libraries. It just can switch between libraries, when you hold down the options key while launching Photos.
You could use Aperture to merge your iPhoto Library into the Aperture Library (see Aperture 3.3: How to use Aperture to merge iPhoto libraries).
This would require compatible Aperture and iPhoto versions.
After merging both libraries with Aperture launch Photos with the alt/options key held down and select the merged library. Photos will create an upgraded copy of the library. Now you can delete the previous Photos library and enable the new library as Photos System Library in the Photos Preferences > General.
Are you using iCloud Photo Library with Photos? With enough storage you could try to merge the libraries in iCloud, but uploading from several libraries will not preserve the faces.

IPhoto and Aperture libraries coexisting?

Hi,
with the latest versions of Aperture and iPhoto, it is my understanding, that only one database exists and will be uses by both applications. Now, I still do have iPhoto AND Aperture libraries in parallel on my HD, but only one is updated, the other one shows an old date. Can I delete the elder version (it's an iPhoto library), and stay with the actual version of the library (it's actually the Aperture library)?
Thanks....

Can I delete the elder version (it's an iPhoto library), and stay with the actual version of the library (it's actually the Aperture library)?
Yes. Verify that the library you want to keep has all of your photos, including the latest ones, before deleting the other library.

Importing masters from iPhoto to Aperture 3 and saving as referenced files on external drive

I'm making the move from iPhoto to Aperture 3.I'm new to Aperture 3 and want o make sure I am importing and saving correctly. So far, I have imported my library of events from iphoto to Aperture 3. I understand that for the most part, it makes sense to house this library on an external drive as "referenced files" vs within Apeture as "managed files." I'm not clear on exactly how to accomplish this set-up. Is this something I should have set-up when doing the initial import or can I move the files now? Once this is done, when importing new files, how do I import to Aperture 3 but save on external drive?
Thanks in advance for your help!

A fabulous answer:
In the olden days ( ) when hobbyists made their own telescopes from kits, everyone wanted a six-inch lens, and the kit makers shipped six-inch lens blanks. Which the hobbyists used to learn lens grinding. Which is arduous and requires skill. Which the hobbyists didn't have until they'd ground that six-inch blank -- an expensive piece of high-quality material at the time -- into a lumpen flawed approximation of a good lens. Then the hobbyists would contact the kit makers and ask for another lens-blank, so they could build their telescope. At which point they would drop the project because the six-inch lens blank cost so much. And much calumny was rained on the kit manufacturers.
Now the kit manufacturers wanted to promote a hobby, and make, in addition to telescope kits, money (not calumny), so they together and separately hit upon the idea of supplying the hobbyist with _two_ lens blanks: a four-inch blank, and a six inch blank. Nobody wanted a four-inch telescope -- but that's not what the blank was for. The instructions read (I've shortened this part) "Grind the four-inch blank into the most perfect lens you can. Check it and re-check it. Now throw it out. You likely now have the skill to grind the six-inch blank into a useable lens."
Thus endeth our fable.
The point, of course, is: start small and gain skill before committing time and material to a task. Port just a small sub-set of you photos into Aperture. Experiment with it. Try different workflows. Think about how to best use the containers and organization tools Aperture provides. Develop a long-term naming convention for files and Projects. Work out a back-up strategy that is scalable and that you will stick with. My specific recommendation for beginners is: don't worry about Referenced v. Managed at first. Make all your Masters Managed. When you have your four-inch Aperture Library all smooth and even, put the entire thing in the system trash -- and then you can start working on an Aperture Library fit for your photos -- one that will allow you to see far, and clear, for years.
Good luck.

Find, mix and have several aperture libraries opened?

I had a harddisk break, so I am now with a new disk, same machine, but with backup files stored from Apple on my disk.
Problem, where to find my old aperture library. I did start at new when I had my new machine this year. January I think. And then I have an old library file too, from the older machine from 2008, that one I got. Afraid to do something wrong here, what to do?
Is it possible to mix two libraries in aperture? Its so sad if I have lost all the work with building the libraries from this last year. Think I will call in and ask where to find. Because its only showing the one library I had at first. Not the second. At least I can not find it on the backup search.
Thankfully I had backuped the photoes on an external harddisk. Put it up that way when I transfer the images to aperture.
Hope for some good ideas here.. thanks. And how should we backup aperture really? Hope the developers give us a good solution in next version:)
Tove

I had a harddisk break, so I am now with a new disk, same machine, but with backup files stored from Apple on my disk.
Tove, was your backup a full time machine backup? Or did you have parts of your system excluded from backup?
Problem, where to find my old aperture library. I did start at new when I had my new machine this year. January I think.
What is your Aperture version? The answer to your questions will depend on your system version and Aperture version.
Have you searched using the Finder? Open any Finder window and type ⌘F.
Then press the "+" button to add a search rule. Set it to "Kind" "Other" and enter "Aperture Library".
That should list all Aperture Libraries on your system, if you set the scope of the search to "This Mac".
This screenshot is done in Snow Leopard, it would look a bit different in Lion or Mt. Lion:
Do you remember, in which folder you stored your Aperture library? By default the libraries are located in your Pictures folder. Or did you have it on an external drive?
Is it possible to mix two libraries in aperture? Its so sad if I have lost all the work with building the libraries from this last year. Think I will call in and ask where to find. Because its only showing the one library I had at first. Not the second. At least I can not find it on the backup search.
You can merge two Aperture libraries by importing one into the other.
And how should we backup aperture really? Hope the developers give us a good solution in next version:)
Aperture Vaults will backup the library and create archival backups. Time Machine is very good now for backing up the current version, as long as you do not exclude the Aperture Library from the backup locations. A clone of the drive with the aperture library is a good backup. The important thing is to check the backups, if they are current and working, before something happens and to have more than one backup. I had it happen, that a power failure crashed my mac while I was doing the backup, and both - mac and backup drive were unusable afterwards.
Regards
Léonie

Show Aperture library and MULTIPLE aperture 3.0 libraries

In iPhoto'09 it is possible to File -> Show Aperture library. This seems to open the library most recently opened in Aperture 3.0. Is it possible to use "Show Aperture Library" and open a different library, if you have MULTIPLE aperture 3.0 libraries? If so, how? Thanks.

Thanks. I was afraid I might not be able to easily change this, but...
Which preference file are you referring to? I have several Macs on a home network with a NAS. What I am really trying to do is let other Macs on the network use their versions of iPhoto to browse an exported portion of my Aperture Library.
I am wondering... I can easily place an export of part of my Aperture 3 Library on the NAS. If I open that NAS Library in Aperture briefly to write the preference file. Then copy the path and preference file to the other Macs, before reverting Aperture back to its normal local Library (which is what I use). Would this:
1. Allow the other Macs on the network to find and browse the NAS Aperture Library Export?
2. Cause the non-Aperture Macs any problems. (They couldn't overwrite the Aperture preference file, as they do not have Aperture.)
3. Any other issues?
Thanks for your help.

Aperture Libraries and Disconnected Masters

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