Problem restoring library with the vault

Question

I've had three disappointing experiences today with Aperture. Two are minor, but the third is a major issue. The first minor issue relates to an unexpected image size limit for export (see thread http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?threadID=340789&tstart=0 )
The second (minor) disappointment was an incomplete "undo" when I made a mistake while editing a book. In this case, I used a solid color as a background for captions (for highlight) on each photo. I imported this solid color as an image (in the image browser) and copied it to a photo placeholder located behind each caption. This was a 90 page book with ~150 captions. I accidentally deleted the color "image" and all the highlights disappeared in the book. I immediately completed the "undo" command, which returned the color "image" back to the browser. Unfortunately, it did not put the highlight colors back into each of the 150 captions, so I had to drag the color back into each placeholder box individually (not a big deal, but not much of an "undo" either!
The third (and far more serious issue) relates to restoring the project with the vault. After deleting the highlight color (described above), I thought the easiest solution would be to simply restore the project from the vault. I had just backed the project up minutes before making my error, so this seemed to be a good solution.
After first duplicating the Aperture Library (for safety), I used the vault to restore the Library as it was before I made the error. After restoring, I found my 90 page book was completely destroyed! All the text and pages had returned to the default template pages with no photos and with the default "latin" text! Curiously, I had previously made a duplicate copy of the book that appeared to be in good shape. Unfortunately, I had added considerable content since this earlier copy was made.
I deleted the "restored" Library and replaced it with the copy I had wisely made before the restoration. It worked and I was "happy" to fix the original problem by simply dragging the color background 150 times.
The question I now have is: Can I now trust the vault to restore my library? I don't think so! Has anybody else had problems using the vault to restore their library?
G5 2.5 GHz Quad, 6.5 GB RAM, NVIDA 7800 GT   Mac OS X (10.4.4)   Dual 500GB HD, 30" Display

Answer 1

There ought to be a FAQ about this, but there isn't, so here goes.
Yesterday, I tried to restore my Aperture Library from a Vault. But the process would not complete because one of the files would not copy. In my view, the Restore function should continue with all the other stuff in the Vault, but it just quits. So, in these circumstances, the Restore Library fails and the Vault becomes useless as a secure storage device.
After much trial and error, I discovered that it is possible to remove the offending file from the Vault. As follows:
1. Note down the message which identifies the problem file.
2. In the Finder, go to the Vault and Control-Click on it. This brings up a list of optional actions. Choose "Open Package Contents". Now you can see what is in the Vault. There are files, documents, and sub-packages.
3. Go to the Project (a sub-package) which contains the offending file (eg. in my case, it was one of the "Rolls" in the iPhoto Library which had been imported), again Control-Click and choose "Open Package Contents". Now you will have a pile of folders, and from the message which Aperture gave you when the Restore failed, you should be able to identify the folder which contains the offending file.
4. Open the folder, go to the offending file and remove it from the Vault. Leave the file on the desktop, because it is very likely that you can open the image in Preview and then save it again as a JPEG or TIFF to be reimported back into the Aperture Library, once the Aperture Library is restored.
5. Run Restore Library once again from the Vault. If there's another offending file, you will have to repeat the process until all the corrupted files are out of the Vault.
Without this procedure, it seems to me that the Vault becomes useless as a source for Restore Library, and if the Vault can't restore the Library, what's the point of having it. Apple has to change the Vault procedure to make it usable. A back-up is of no value if one corrupt file will cause the whole back-up to fail. The procedure can identify the offending file, and let you know at the end that it was unable to copy that file, but otherwise your restoration is complete.
An alternative altogether is to simply use a back-up program to back-up the Library to another disk, and then use the back-up program to reverse the procedure if the main Library becomes corrupted. I regularly back up my entire disk as a bootable back-up on three fire-wire drives.