Formatted disk drive: How to rebuild Aperture library?

Last night I thought I was formatting a USB drive, and instead formatted my Drobo containing my entire Aperture library. Even now, 24 hours later, I break into a cold sweat thinking about it. 1.5Tb of images, my life's work, wiped.
I am going to Drive Savers on Monday, and believe based on my initial experiments that they will be able to recover at least some of the files. But I think that the drive structure is lost...
If this is the case, is there any way to reconstruct my Aperture data from the component files absent the directory structure and file names?
Please?

"Your life's work" in only one place without a backup? 'nuf said, now you know better. *Even redundant storage is no replacement for a proper backup!*
IF Drive Savers can salvage your data, they may also be able to save the structure (Aperture database). Hopefully, your initial experiments didn't write to the drive in question much. Once you noticed the foul-up, you should have ceased all writing to that disk immediately to preserve any chance of forensic salvage. If you can get enough of the Aperture database restored, you will likely need to rebuild the database (command-option and launch) on Aperture startup of your library.
Supposing that Drive Savers can't restore the Aperture database, you'll only likely be able to reconstruct your data by manually reverse-engineering the salvaged photos and available data elements (structure and extended attributes).
Do you happen to have a Time Machine backup anywhere?
I HIGHLY recommend investment into some online storage or other legitimate backup scheme when you have so much value in your data. NEVER in only one place, no matter how redundant. With a Mac Pro, you can fit up to FOUR hard drives internally, at least one should have had an Aperture vault or copy of the library.
HTH.

Similar Messages

Unable to format disk drive

My niece recently purchased a 80gb Ipod classic from a garage sale. I Tunes does not recognized the ipod. We have put it in disk mode and restored it to the factory setting. When it tries to open it tells us that we need to format the disk drive but when we try we get that there was an error and unable format disk drive.Can anyone help?

Quit DU, launch System Preferences->Time Machine->and disable or turn it off. Then, try again.

I forget the adm password im macmini without disk drive. how can i reset?

i forget the adm password im macmini without disk drive. how can i reset?

Hello,
Reset Password 10.7, 10.8...
http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-20087723-263/how-to-run-the-password-reset- utility-in-os-x-10.7-lion/
Then Reset your Keychain...
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1544

I paid for photoshop elements but i have no disk drive, how do i install it?

I paid for photoshop elements but i have no disk drive, how do i install it?

If you mean PSE 12, download the trial and enter your serial number into that.

How to Export Aperture Library for Use by Windows PC

Hello and thanks in advance for your help. I have recently returned to using a Mac after years of PC use. I'm using Parallels for some apps that are PC only, an astronomy program, TheSky6, for example. One of the first things I did was purchase Aperture and move my 40GB photo library into it. "Move" is the operative word; I didn't want to use up too much disk space so my photo library now exists only in Aperture. What I didn't realize, at the time I was happily deleting my Photoshop Album library, was that Aperture creates its own universe, and the actual photo files are no longer easily accessible, buried as they are, so to speak, within Aperture folders containing proprietary tags, etc.
Is there an easy way to recreate the folders with just the jpegs, tiffs, raws photo files and nothing else? I realize of course that I could do this photo-by-photo, but it would take an awfully long time. I have tried exporting the projects, but they just export as aperture projects, so that didn't work. I also tried using Photoshop Album (on the pc side), hoping that it would just import the photo files and ignore all the aperture stuff--that didn't work either. A wonderful Apple Script program called "Aperture iPhoto Sync" did work somewhat, but it kept giving me errors before it was finished, and I couldn't keep track of what had copied and what had not.
Learning from my mistake (the story of my life!), I have realized that I would like to keep the photo files accessible to a PC as well. I keep thinking I am missing something really simple here. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Karen
imac 24" Mac OS X (10.4.9) 2.15 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 2 GB ram

May I humbly and quietly suggest to read the manual before doing anything drastic.
It would have been better to import all your images as referenced masters. Images would have stayed in the location they were in and the Aperture library would only have contained links or references to them. This would not have used up extra hard drive space.
A good site for Aperture is the Bagelturf site.
Have a look at this article in which Bagelturf explains "relocate and consolidate" of images.
http://homepage.mac.com/bagelturf/aparticles/ref/refrecon/refrecon.html
Considering your objectives, using referenced masters is the best option for you.
success
Berend

Trying to rebuild aperture library using Masters

I have been having a problem with my photos for months now. Some have disapered and some have just gone crorupt. Made an appointment at the genuis bar and they told me i need to rebuild the library using the masters file on my back up drive. I attempted to do this and all it does is keeps on crashing. Does anyone have any tips as it is now doing my head in

then go in to my external hard drive and find the masters folder.
Is that a Time Machine backup or a copy of your Aperture library? Or a folder with the original master files?
If it is a Time Machine backup, did you restore the "Masters" folder from your backup or drag it over? A TimeMachine backup needs to be restored.
I have managed to import some photos into a newly created library but would like to get all my photos back.
I have then left it to move the Photos but nothing seems to happen and when you right click on the aperture icon on the desk top it says appliction not responing and has an option to force to quit.
This looks like something in the Masters folder cannot be processed.
If you have enough space on you internal drive, create two new Aperture libraries - one for testing and one as the final version.
Open the test version in iPhoto, if you have iPhoto, and the final version in Aperture, so you can have bth libraries open at the same time.
Import only small sets of images at once, 100 images or so.
First import the 100 images into the test library in iphoto, and if that succeeds without hanging, import them into your Aperture library.
Continue to test this way. If iPhoto starts to hang, try to identify the image or video that cannot be processed, and remove it.

How to rebuild iTunes library

Is there a way to rebuild iTunes's library? Preferably without moving files around, etc. It'd be great if there was something like in Aperture, all you need to do is hold the alt key while you double click on the aperture library. Then it asks you: "Do you want to rebuild, restore, etc your library?"
Thanks

that link refers to a dead article?!?
Might anyone else know how to do this?
I am haveing weird issues with my library.
Some TV shows are showing up with a different TV shows artwork.
Some TV shows don't even appear on my ipad shared library.
I will assume a rebuild might help this????
Thanks

How to migrate Aperture library from PowerMac to MacPro

I copied my Aperture library from my old PowerMac G5 (10.5.8) to my new MacPro (10.6.2) but Aperture on the MacPro could not display any of the images included in the the library. It properly displayes the previews but instead of an image in the main window it always shows the info unsupported image format. Only the images that are references to files outside the library can be displayed.
So what is the proper way to move an Aperture library from a PPC Mac to an Intel Mac?
Thanks in advance, Martin

If it's a managed library you can just copy it: It's that easy.
If it's a referenced library it's a lot trickier, as you can move the library and not the images.
Which do you have? It's probably easiest in the case of a referenced library to consolidate it, move it, and then move it back to referenced, if your library is of a moderate size.
But there are details on how to do this in the Aperture documentation; I suggest you have a read for the best practices on this.

How to view aperture library from another computer on network?

Hi,
I'd like to simply view (not edit) my aperture library from another computer on my home network. The aperture library resides on a mac pro, and I'd like to see the images on a macbook pro to show family members. On the surface, this seems like a simple concept - as Apple TV can do this with home sharing. Further, itunes can share it's library in this manner. Is this possible?
thank you,
T

You don't mention which OS you're using and I understand that Lion has changed some of the sharing features but what you are looking to do is doable.
Be warned that accessing an Aperture library over a network is slow and definitely not something you want to do if editing except in an emergency and you want to make triple sure that only one user is accessing the library at a time. But I regularly access libraries over wireless when I'm to lazy to walk across the house and need to check somthing out.
If you are using Snow Leopard go into System preferences->Sharing and tune on file sharing on the the Mac Pro. If you have the same user name on both systems you should have no problem accessing the library from the MBP.
If you're on Lion, you'l need to lok up how to enable file sharing. I haven't swithced so I can;r help you there.
good luck

How to import Aperture library into iPhoto 08?

Until recently I was an iphoto 08 user and decided to try Aperture 2.1. I exported the iphoto 08 library into aperture. I'm overwhelmed by Aperture and want to return to the simplicity of iphoto. My aperture library sits on an external drive.
Please help! Thanks

Hi Niel, thanks again. I reviewed the link. I must be dense;-)
I want to move the entire iphoto library off the external drive and back onto my laptop so I can run iphoto and not have to attach the external drive. So, I closed iphoto, went into finder, clicked iphoto library file on the external drive, and dragged it onto the iphoto folder in applications. This did not work.
Is there a simple way to do this?

Coin in disk drive - how to get it out?

Hi, my 3 year old son has put a coin in the disk drive and I'm struggling to get it out. When you turn the machine on you can hear it makes a rattling sound and sometimes the machine doesn't start up correctly. There are no obvious screws to get inside it. Any ideas how to get the coin out, or to take the mini apart?
Many thanks!
Matthew.

It sounds like the coin is in the Superdrive, so taking the mini apart will not help as you cannot take apart the Superdrive (you can, however, replace the Superdrive)
See if gravity can assist. Unplug everything and while holding the mini with the slot facing down, shake.
If this does not help, and you decide that you need to replace the Superdrive, instructions are at: http://www.ifixit.com/pdf/ifixit/guide1065en.pdf
These instructions tell you how to pop-open the mini. Maybe without the mini case in the way, the coin will fall out.
If you need a Superdrive, for 2009 and later, the mini uses a SATA Superdrive. You can get one here: http://www.logicsupply.com/products/uj875a
Good luck!

Not enough disk space to upgrade from Aperture Library

My Aperture library is about 140 GBs (I've also got an iPhoto library, which is about 40 GBs, and I don't know for sure if all the stuff in there is in my Aperture library.) I've got about 23 GBs free, and when I try to upgrade, Photos tells me it needs an additional estimated 29 GBs. What options do I have at this point? I'm wondering if this would work:
- Copy Aperture Library to an external drive.
- Delete the library from the internal drive (scary. Yes I have backups, but still scary).
- Open Photos, and point it to the library on the external drive.
Would that create a Photos library on my internal drive with all the contents of the external library? I'm worried that it would reference all the files on the external, and then I would always have to have the external drive connected to use Photos.

Okay, that's not an option. Does it need this 29 GBs just temporarily for the upgrade process? I was under the impression that the new Photos library simply references everything in the Aperture/iPhoto library, so shouldn't take up more space than what you had before. So I'm wondering if I delete some things to free up the 29 GBs, if I can run the upgrade, and then put the things back that I deleted. But if it really wants 29 GBs permanently, I'm in trouble.

New hard drive and my huge aperture library

I am updating my hardrive to a slightly smaller SSD drive. I have a 170GB aperture library that I want to consolidate into a smaller library on the new drive and then a remote library or at least pictures that are stored on my time capsule that I can access at home but do not take up much space.
As I am currently cloning my HDD to the SSD drive I have omitted the aperture library. Should I copy it accross to an external hardrive and then when I have booted up the new SSD after it is cloned then sort out the pictures?
What would you recommend?

I guess a follow up would be is Lightroom better at storing files, ie an easier file structure?

How to find aperture library and copy to dvd...

Hi, I know this is very basic but can someone tell me how to find my aperture library and what I do to copy it correctly onto a DVD? Then I have to install it on my desktop. All this is because I took over 1000 pictures at the coast recently and I need to transfer them to my desktop and would like to keep the changes I made... I would really appreciate anyone's help tonight if possible... thank you SO much in advance if you can help...

I didn't hear back from anyone but looked back at some other discussions and figured it out. All worked smoothly but I upload to zenfolio and now there is a problem with that. I don't think it has anything to do with apple... must be zenfolio's issue.

Formatting external drives - How do I do this?

I have a Segate external drive that I've used with my Windows machine for the past year. I'd like to start using it with my Mac but currently I can only read from the drive and can't write. I'm guessing this is because it was formatted using the FAT32 file system for Windows.
Is there a utility available on my Mac that will allow me to format the drive so it'll work with my Mac? Also is there a way for it to copy the data, format the drive and then copy the data back the way it found it?
Signed,
Lots of formatting questions.

I can only read from the drive and can't write. I'm guessing this is because it was formatted using the FAT32 file system for Windows.
Mac OS X should have no problems writing to a FAT32 drive; I do it all the time. Are you sure the drive isn't NTFS?
Is there a utility available on my Mac that will allow me to format the drive so it'll work with my Mac?
Disk utility. The "format" is the "erase" in Mac parlance.
Also is there a way for it to copy the data, format the drive and then copy the data back the way it found it?
The simplest way is to just drag the content to your internal hard drive, erase the external drive, and drag it back.

Formatted disk drive: How to rebuild Aperture library?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for