Aperture Library permissions changed, deleted package contents

I was helping a friend move his Aperture setup from an iMac (10.4) to a Macbook Pro (10.5). He has set up a referenced system on external drives, and the Aperture Library is also kept on the same external drives. On the iMac, we set up permissions to only allow his account to access the Library and referenced masters, allowing read-only access to other users.
After connecting the external drives to the MBP (10.5, remember), I changed each drive to respect the permissions on each. Then I changed the permissions to be read and write for the current user. Aperture would not open the file, complaining about permissions access (I may have also changed the ownership as well, trying to get it to open).
Then the Aperture Library icon was grayed out; trying to "show package contents" became inaccessible, saying it was busy "moving or copying files." When it finished, the Library file went from 22.9 GB to 0 Kb. All the package contents had disappeared. Aperture still will not open the Library file because the permissions are "incorrect."
This was disastrous, to say the least (but we had a backup, though it was about a week old). The only "odd" thing that stands out was the username/owner was the same on each system (10.4 and 10.5).
Any idea why changing the permissions would cause the Library's contents to disappear? Any idea if I can recover the contents?

Well, yes, changing the external drive to "Ignore Permissions" would solve the problem in the short term. But it would be better to control access to the Library file on the new computer.
Would checking "Ignore Permissions" restore the Library package contents?

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Is it possible to Aperture Library by copying over the Contents?

Hi,
My new Drobo 5D is having issues, and i'm not able to copy the Aperture File Directly over directly as its 530GB and the hard drive keeps failing in the last 30GB or so.
so I was wondering is it possible to copy over the contents bit by bit by using the show contents folder and then somehow recreating the Aperture file from the folder of Contents copied over?
Otherwise, is there any other solution?
thanks!
Derrick

Read all this before doing anything.
You select the library in the Finder and right click it and do Show Package Contents. That will revel the inside of the library You would then copy the files/folders out to the other drive MAKING SURE you copy them so that they are in the same relation to each other as they are in the original.
On the destination drive create a new empty Aperture library. You'll probably have the easiest time of it if you have two finder windows open, one on the original library and on on the destination. Revel Package contents on both libraries and then copy from the source to the destination replacing the items in the destination library with items from the source. Make sure you go from source (old) to destination (new). It sounds silly to emphasis this but once you start copying it will be easy to get disoriented and go in the wrong direction. Do something to make sure the source Finder window stands out from the destination Finder window.
I wouldn't worry about copying the previews or thumbnails those will be recreated when Aperture opens the new library BUT don't do anything with the Dobro or previews until you are sure the new library opens. In a worst case scenario you could retrieve the previews and still salvage something from your library.
Of course the possibility exists that you will hit the file(s) that are causing the error that is keeping you from doing this in a normal fashion. If so mark the file(s) that are having problems (color label will work well) and continue with the rest of the library. It is possible that the file(s) that won't copy are not of major importance to Aperture and the new library will open anyway. If not then there may be some other way to work around it. By labeling the files you'll at least know what didn;t copy.
That should do it if you're unsure of anything post back before starting.
good luck
Ps. Read this post Re: New iMac, Pegasus & Aperture? from a recent thread on backups and RAID. In it I explain why RAID is not a backup replacement. Once you recover from this you will need to put a true backup procedure in place.
regards
BTW here is OS X's definiiton of an Error -36
Type -36 error (I/O Errors (bummers)
This file is having difficulty while either reading from the drive or writing to the drive. The file
may have been improperly written data to the drive or the hard drive or disk may be damaged.
This is almost always indicative of a media error (hard error on the disk). Sometimes (rarely) it is transient.
Solutions: Try copying the file to another drive. Use a disk recovery software, such as Disk First Aid to examine the disk. You can try rebooting with all extensions off. Once in a while this will allow you to read the data. The file in question should be restored from a backup that was stored on a different disk. Regular backups can reduce the time to recover from this error.
Message was edited by: Frank Caggiano

I have just imported Iphoto library into aperture library, can I delete now the Iphoto Library ?

Hi, I have juste imported Iphoto library into Aperture Library (did a copy) - can I delete my Iphoto library as I won't use Iphoto anymore ?
Thanks Hélème

Helene,
Both of those things you pointed out are mere *metadata*.
When you imported your iPhoto library, since you did a copy, your libraries are completely independent.
When I was in your situation, I moved my iPhoto library to an external disk and then went to the Aperture library to see how it behaved, even though i was 99.99% sure my iPhoto and Aperture libraries were separate.
nathan

Aperture library lost after deleting preferences/repair?

Hi:
I tried opening Aperture this morning and got an error message saying: "There was an error opening the database for the library <library_name>."
I found this article from Apple support (http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3805) on the problem. I wasn't able to use the "first aid" tools (even with Option/Cmd held down, Aperture refuses to open) so I deleted my user preferences.
I was able to reopen Aperture, but now EVERYTHING is gone. I use referenced files (apparently, a good thing in this case) so I know that the original RAW or TIFF files are there. I also verified this independently through Finder.
However, I'm not sure where all my projects are, or my keywords/tags on the photos. My fear is that this is all stored in the Aperture database, and that it's all gone at this point. Is that the case?
By the way - I tried a repair, and nothing happened. I'm guessing the library file is "zeroed out" at this point (everything gone) and so a repair job didn't have anything to repair.
Bottom line - how screwed am I at this point?
Jim

Hi Frank:
I really appreciate all your help, especially since I know you're doing this out of the kindness of your heart...
OK, answers:
All referenced files, nothing managed.
There's a backup (I think) of library from last month, I may end up reverting back to that.
RE: how the drive is formatted - I was pretty sure I'd formatted it OS X extended with journaling, but Disk Utilities show it's a Win NT filesystem.
Tried copying the library to my internal HDD, it won't even copy over (the copy function just says "Preparing to copy to desktop" but never completes).
I'll try the rebuild but since I (apparently) can't get Aperture to 'skip over' the new catalog it creates (as opposed to pointing it to the old catalog), then I don't know how the rebuild will turn out.
Been using it for a while, and there's enough work in it that it'll be a PITA to recreate - especially if I've lost my tags and my non-destructive edits. If those are all still there somehow, someway, in XML files or whatever, that's cool. Fortunately my file structure on the HDD is "/PHOTOS/<year>/<month/<shoot date and name>", and the structure for my projects is (was?) the same. So if all I have to do is recreate the projects, not a big deal.

Transferring images out of Aperture library

I recently acquired Aperture and plan to import my existing library into the Aperture library. My existing library consists of a lot of .nefs and almost as many jpgs. Once my existing library is imported I plan to let Aperture manage and backup the images in a vault, and delete my old library file structure (after waiting long enough to be confident everything is safe).
My question: is it possible to pull an old jpg out of the Aperture library and insert it into another program without opening Aperture? For example, if I want to put an image in a greeting card, is there any way I can go into the Aperture library through the Finder to locate and transfer the image?
Thanks!
Steve

Yes, but it isn't elegant.
Right click on the Aperture Library and select "Show package contents"
Pick the Project and again, right click and select "Show package contents"
Then, out of the list of folders, one per image, try and figure out what image you need (or Spotlight if you know the filename).
There again, launching Aperture and exporting the image isn't that slow after all.
Possible to do it with Automator/Applescript as well I believe. Unsure there is a script out there but quite likely.

Aperture: Can I backup my entire Aperture library at once?

Soon I will be backing up my my entire notebook to a portable external hard drive to be placed in a safety deposit box as an off site backup. For a general day to day back up I use Aperture's Vault system. But I am very hesitant to do so for a MASTER backup because I don't like the idea of being tied to Aperture if I ever needed to retrieve my data. So is there a way to just have aperture export my entire collection to the hard drive at once instead of going to each project and exporting project by project? Thanks!!

Well...
Note there is no way to export the adjustments you make (levels, retouching, definition, saturation adjustments, etc.) out of Aperture.
As far as your master backup, note you really aren't tied to Aperture if you need to retrieve your data. The masters are always accessible, even when they are inside the Aperture library. That's because the Aperture library is just a set of folders. They are what is called a "package," but if you want to check out what's in the Aperture library you can just right click the library and select "Show package contents..." All your masters are in there.
So as for exporting all your masters in one fell swoop, I don't know of a way to do it. You have to do it a project at a time (and you can elect to export XMP sidecars containing all your keywords, if you wish to read them from some other app that can read XMP files). But that's not how I'd do it if I wanted to access all my masters... here's what I'd do:
Right click my Aperture library and select "Show package contents..."
Once I was in there, I'd type a period in the Finder search box (all file names have a dot in them...)
I'd change the search scope to Aperture library
I'd click the plus below and select "Kind... images"
Voila... every image in your Aperture library will show up in the smart search... your master files, as well as any JPEG previews that Aperture has generated.
You can easily copy these wherever you want, at any time, without needing Aperture installed, so no reason to do the export IMO.

Accidental PS edit save to the Aperture Library / How to remove

In my haste I accidentally saved a ps edit to the aperture library instead of the desktop. Normally I wouldn't be concerned about it but it's meant to print to mural size and it's huge. I can see it in the save directory via PS but am otherwise unable to get to it via the finder.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Thanks

All this is a big help but...
I think he might be asking how to navigate the Aperture library via finder because he can't see the file in Aperture. Maybe not. In any case you can right click on the Aperture library and use show package contents to navigate within the library.
If you do be berry berry careful when hunting wabbits.
RB
Ps. Was that tactful enough or is someone gonna call me names?

Copying part of Library intact from Package contents?

We have a problem with one of our disks in a 2006 Mac Pro and want to copy parts of the "package Contents" using Finder to allow import into Aperture using older Clone to restore new content into Aperture.
1) What content from the "Package" should I copy in order to then import (? how?) in order to preserve the work done on some of the images such as ratings and cropping etc...?
2) Notice that imgaes deleted in Aperture still remained in the Package contents. Is that because Aperture was not closed down properly before this incident happened or is this normal... keeping deleted images in the Package Content that have been deleted?
Many thanks for help with this!

Pretty much all the files/folders in the Aperture library are needed.
It's not clear from your post just want the problem is. If the disk is bad how is that you are able to copy some of the library but not the whole thing? You should copy as mush as you can and see where you are after that.
You could ditch the Previews and Thumbnails folders. Possibly the Aperture.aplib folder. A few others. But in order to import the remaining data into another library you need the old recovered data in a library that Aperture can open. You can't manually merge the files into the other library.
You can try this: Create a new empty Library, then replace the Masters and Database folders in the new library with those folders from the old library, then start Aperture while holding down the option and comand keys and run Rebuild. If the library opens after that you should be OK.
good luck

Aperture library gets bigger when i delete photos?

I finally took some time to "spring clean" my aperture library, but after deleting a bunch of photos, my aperture-library grew from 136GB to 152 GB.
I don't get it.
Procedure:
Send photos from projects to aperture-trash
empty aperture trash
empty finder trash
badaboom +16BG
If i keep cleaning my HDD will be full in no time

The solution is to restore your iphone.
This is posted here every day.

While trying to recover an aperture library I get the following error "The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in "DSC_0435.NEF" can't be read or written (Error code - 36)".

I've managed to look at the folders inside of the library and have pinpointed the image that has the error, but I can't delete it while on time machine. How can I get rid of this picture so I can bring back the aperture library back to my laptop?

The Time Machines Backup is formated as Mac OS Extended (Case Sensitive, Journaled), my mac is formated as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
The names on the file are all Uppercase
When I try to copy the Aperture file, it copies about 70% of the file (it's about 33GB in size), and halfway through I get this error.
I'm able to copy 99.99% of all of the images if I open the Aperture Folder using the "show package contents" under the backups using finder (Time Machine Backups>Backups.backupdb>CQ Macbook Air>2012-04-30-070933>HD.....>Pictures>Aperture Library). The only file I can't copy is that picture, which I'm totally ok with deleting, but Finder won't delete it for me. If nothing else works, I could copy the individual masters and re-create the folders, however I'd hate to do this as I would have to go through 10,000+ pics

I have an iPhoto library with only Jpeg's in it. I just installed Aperture 3.5 and imported several RAW photos. Shouldn't I now have an Aperture library?

I have an iPhoto library with only Jpeg's in it. I just installed Aperture 3.5 and imported several RAW photos in Aperture. Shouldn't I now have an Aperture library?

Should I create an Aperture library and import all of my photos from iPhoto to the new Aperture library? Then delete my iPhoto library entirely? Just trying to get my library structure correct from the get-go as I plan to shoot only in RAW.
That is not an easy question. There are still a few glitches with the unified library approach. For example, the new iWork applications will not yet show the Aperture library in the Media Browser, only the current iPhoto library. If you are using iWork with your photolibrary, keep it an iPhoto library.
And it is unclear, what will happen, when Aperture or iPhoto will be upgraded to newer versions. Right now you need the latest iPhoto version to be able to upgrade older iPhoto libraries, if you want to open them in Aperture. So probably you will need to upgrade iPhoto as well, if you keep your library an iPhoto library, when both Aperture and iPhoto will be upgraded to Aperture 4 and iPhoto 12.0 or similar. In the long run it will be safer to convert the library to an Aperture library, if you do not want to keep updating iPhoto, but that can wait.
If you want to convert the iPhoto library to an Aperture library, back up your iPhoto library.
Then create a new Aperture library (with File > Switch to Library > Other/New ) and then import your iPhoto library into Aperture using the command "File > Import > Library" and select your iPhoto library.
You will need plenty of space on the drive with the new library. Merging a library into another one will temporarily a lot of working space and may take a long time - several hours for a large library, without visible progress.

Package Contents of iPhoto 08 shows Library6.iPhoto

When I right click on my "iPhoto Library 08" and "show package contents", I have the usual array of Originals folder, modified and data folders.
BUT, I also have 2 listings as follows:
1. Library.iPhoto 4 kb
2. Library6.iPhoto 15.9 MB
I'm a bit confused.
My iPhoto Library 08 is 7.2 GB
Any understanding on this would help.
Deb

2. Library6.iPhoto 15.9 MB
My iPhoto Library 08 is 7.2 GB
The Library6.iPhoto file is the database that iPhoto uses. It's got a lot of pointers and stuff that no one except the iPhoto engineers know how to interpret. There are several other folders and packages in your iPhoto library that contain all your data, and if you look (but don't touch!), you'll find there is gigabytes of data in them.
You probably found the 7.2 GB by hitting the little "i" while selecting your Events in iPhoto application. That is the total of the photos, if you exported the photos from iPhoto. That's a good representation of how much space you would need if you gave all of your pictures to someone else without actually sharing the iPhoto library itself.
nathan

Aperture will not open library - permissions not correct -- but they are

How do I get Aperture to open a library when I get an error message saying the permissions are not correct, but the permissions are correct, and other libraries open fine?
I was using Aperture current version with a library on an external drive connected via airport extreme. I imported about 15 images to an existing project in that library and was editing the images when Aperture closed suddenly. When I try to reopen the same library I get an error message that says Aperture does not have access to that library because the permissions are not correct. But the permissions are set to everyone read write. Aperture opens other libraries on the same drive with the same permission setting.
1. I ran disk utility repair permissions -- it says it fixed permissions on my laptop internal drive, but disk utility does not recognize the external drive so apparently it did nothing on that drive. Same error message on that library.
2. I deleted user name >> Library >> Preferences >> com.apple.Aperture.plist and tried opening the library again. Same error message.
3. I tried rebuilding the library using control command Aperture. Same error message.
4. I used "show package contents" on that library and moved the project I had been working on when Aperture crashed to another drive and created a new library and imported the project successfully. Works.
I read through existing topics and found suggestions like 1-4 but none work for me.
I would be grateful for any help!
Thanks.

Please tell me you aren't trying to do this wirelessly!?!
If you're wired to the Airport Extreme, that's better, but forget about running a remote Aperture library on a wireless connection! Even wireless 802.11n isn't fast enough, though I'm sure someone will argue that.
Still, the Airport Extreme only has a USB interface, which is painfully slow! Firewire 800 is supported on all the new MacBook Pros and on the 17" "gen1" MacBook Pros. I'd highly recommend a FireWire 800 external hard drive or even a eSATA interface if you're running Aperture libraries remotely!!
Depending on your total storage needs, just replace your internal MacBook Pro's hard drive. I've replaced a few in the past couple of weeks in some MacBook Pros to the 320GB WD Scorpio drive. Also buy a cheap (~$20) external USB enclosure for your old hard drive to repurpose your old internal drive and aid the restoration of your data. Next install the drives and use Migration Assistant to restore your data to precisely where you were before the hard drive upgrade. Pretty easy except for the actual install of the hard drive in the MacBook Pro, which can be tricky and requires special Torx tools; certainly more complicated than the standard MacBooks. Unless you know what you are doing here, pay someone skilled to do this for you.
Seriously, I'm sure part of your problem is the lousy transfer speeds for Aperture trying to read data, causing data corruption, especially when you force quit so often.

Rebuild Library with 'show package contents'

There is a more comprehensive way of rebuilding the library by deleting some items within the Aperture library. I have forgotten what they are and wonder if you remember.
Thank you,
Jeffrey

Chad
Sorry Chad, but
I think I have all of the pictures in thumbnail form, so is there a way to re-create the original quality photos from those.
No. If you try interpolate pixels - which apps like Photoshop can do, after adding about 3% it will all turn to rubbish.
If there is no way of acheiving the above, then is there any way to extract the photos from any of the "weird" files within the "show package contents" of the iphoto library?
Again no.
But look inside the Originals Folder in there. Are your pics inside that one?
Regards
TD

Aperture Library.aplibrary/Database/History/Changes/

Hello everyone, i've recently had some trouble with corrupted Aperture library. This has all been fixed now however in the process of trying to fix things up I stumbled accross Aperture Library.aplibrary/Database/History/Changes/ folder - I've been trying to clear some space from my HDD and notice that this folder is enourmous. Almost as large as the preview, master or thumbnail folders.
It measures over 40gb which accounts for over 20 per cent of my library size. What excectly does this folder do (Aperture Library.aplibrary/Database/History/Changes). There a hundreds of plist files measuring several 100mb each.
I know I can safely delete things like preview and thumbnail and rebuilt the database however have been hestitant to touch this folder as I don't know what it does. Can someone shed some light on the purpose of this folder. Google searches have just come up with threads about disk warrior reporting the folder as having errors but doesn't say what the folder does. Can I delete to save space? I'm concerned this folder contains the changes made to masters meaning i can't revered changes in the versions.

Just as a test I took one of my libraries that I do this sort of thing to and removed the Changes folder and ran Aperture on the library. Aperture worked fine. The library behaved just as expected.
I've never paid much attention to this folder before and it's not clear just what 'changes' they are referring to but I wouldn;t get to worked up about it. Just make sure you have good working backups (as you should have anyway) and remember the next time you run DiskWarrior you'll probably see these errors.
regards

Aperture Library permissions changed, deleted package contents

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