Not able to restore my Aperture library

[Backpacker111ca]

I have backed up my Aperture 3 library (managed NOT referenced) which was ( 800GB) to Time machine as well as to an off site external HD. My problem is that since Safari crashed recently my Aperture program won’t open on my iMac (3TB) running Yosemite. Aperture works on my MBP also running Yosemite but it only has 320GB. I want to put my photos back into Aperture so that I can prepare them for export to LR stand alone version 6. Any ideas what I can do?

(First time posting here)

Shawn

 

[Fishrrman]

Not sure why a "Safari crash" would impact Aperture.

I'll try to offer some suggestions.

On the iMac, go into your home/preferences and locate
library/preferences/com.apple.aperture.plist

Move this file to the trash.
Now, REBOOT the iMac.
When you get back to the finder, EMPTY the trash.

Can you now open Aperture (yes, you'll have to re-set some things)?

Something else I would try:
This assumes the iMac still boots and runs ok.
BE AWARE that SOME 3tb iMacs (from 2012-13) have had defective 3tb hard drives. Could some sectors of your drive be "going bad" on you?

In any case:
You will need an external drive, 1tb or larger. It has to be able to hold the entire Aperture library.
I would next download CarbonCopyCloner from here:
http://www.bombich.com/download.html
CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days. Doing this costs you nothing.

Now... open CCC
Put your source (the internal 3tb drive) on the left.
Put your target (the external drive) in "the center spot".
Now... look in CCC's window to the left/center.
See "all files"?
Change that to "some files".
Now, you need to UNCHECK EVERYTHING with ONE EXCEPTION:
users/home/pictures/aperture library

This is the ONLY thing that should remain checked.

Now, turn CCC lose and let it clone ONLY the Aperture library to the external drive.

WHY you want to do this (instead of doing it with TM or the finder):
If the finder tries to copy a folder, and if it encounters even one "bad file", the ENTIRE copy process will be aborted.
I don't know how TM behaves, I refuse to touch it.
But with CCC, if it encounters one or more bad files during a clone, IT DOESN'T STOP the process. Instead, it makes note of the bad file(s) and keeps right on going.
What you end up with is a cloned backup with "all the good files", and a list of the files that wouldn't copy.

With as library of 800gb (I think this should have been "broken up", but too late now), there's almost certainly going to be some bad files in there somewhere.

If you do this, you should have "in hand" a "good copy" of the Aperture library as it exists on the iMac.
You -might- be able to open this on the MBP.

One other thing:
It's time to upgrade beyond Yosemite.
I'd suggest at least El Capitan, perhaps Low Sierra.

 

[Backpacker111ca]

Thanks Fishrmann for your suggestions. I tried deleting that file and rebooting but I still am not able to open aperture. When Safari crashed, apparently due to an apple update of iTunes, I tried to re-install my OS which was Yosemite. It worked for a while, both Aperture and Safari but stopped again and I have switched to Google Chrome now. I have kept Yosemite because I was still using Aperture and I was afraid to upgrade and not be able to continue using Aperture. My backups are good though my memory on my MBP can't hold the backup as it only has 320GM. Aperture opens without incident on my MBP running Yosemite. I haven't tried your other option as I am not comfortable doing that yet. I know that I need to upgrade my OS but wanted to transfer to LR first. This is the error message that I get when I click on the Aperture icon.

Thanks.
Shawn

Not sure why a "Safari crash" would impact Aperture.

I'll try to offer some suggestions.

On the iMac, go into your home/preferences and locate
library/preferences/com.apple.aperture.plist

Move this file to the trash.
Now, REBOOT the iMac.
When you get back to the finder, EMPTY the trash.

Can you now open Aperture (yes, you'll have to re-set some things)?

Something else I would try:
This assumes the iMac still boots and runs ok.
BE AWARE that SOME 3tb iMacs (from 2012-13) have had defective 3tb hard drives. Could some sectors of your drive be "going bad" on you?

In any case:
You will need an external drive, 1tb or larger. It has to be able to hold the entire Aperture library.
I would next download CarbonCopyCloner from here:
http://www.bombich.com/download.html
CCC is FREE to download and use for 30 days. Doing this costs you nothing.

Now... open CCC
Put your source (the internal 3tb drive) on the left.
Put your target (the external drive) in "the center spot".
Now... look in CCC's window to the left/center.
See "all files"?
Change that to "some files".
Now, you need to UNCHECK EVERYTHING with ONE EXCEPTION:
users/home/pictures/aperture library

This is the ONLY thing that should remain checked.

Now, turn CCC lose and let it clone ONLY the Aperture library to the external drive.

WHY you want to do this (instead of doing it with TM or the finder):
If the finder tries to copy a folder, and if it encounters even one "bad file", the ENTIRE copy process will be aborted.
I don't know how TM behaves, I refuse to touch it.
But with CCC, if it encounters one or more bad files during a clone, IT DOESN'T STOP the process. Instead, it makes note of the bad file(s) and keeps right on going.
What you end up with is a cloned backup with "all the good files", and a list of the files that wouldn't copy.

With as library of 800gb (I think this should have been "broken up", but too late now), there's almost certainly going to be some bad files in there somewhere.

If you do this, you should have "in hand" a "good copy" of the Aperture library as it exists on the iMac.
You -might- be able to open this on the MBP.

One other thing:
It's time to upgrade beyond Yosemite.
I'd suggest at least El Capitan, perhaps Low Sierra.

 

[r.harris1]

Shawn,
A few more options:

(1) On the troubleshooting side, it may worth opening the Console application and then trying to open Aperture and watch to see if there are any glaring messages that appear in the console window - something that points to a file or location or other issue. It's a lot of data because it's looking at messages from all processes on your machine, but might be worth a shot.

(2) I moved off of aperture some time ago, my library was referenced, and I moved to Photos+Extensions and ultimately to Capture 1, so I don't have direct experience BUT I believe LR will import the Aperture library if it's not corrupted so if all else fails you can try to do the import to make sure you can still maintain your images. Photos can do this too, I believe. I don't know about version compatibility between LR and Yosemite.

(3) I know a number of folks here are still doing their work in Aperture on versions of the OS up to and including Mojave. You may, if all else fails and given the error message you are seeing, consider upgrading the OS to a later version. Clone a bootable version of your existing hard drive first to an external drive or make sure you have a known recent time machine backup.

Thanks,
Ray

 

[Fishrrman]

OP:

What VERSION of Aperture is on the iMac?
You don't have to open Aperture to ascertain this.
Do this:
1. In the finder, open the applications folder
2. Click ONE TIME on the Aperture icon to select it.
3. Type "command-i" (eye) to bring up the get info box.
That should tell you the version.
Report it here.

(I have version 3.6, which I believe is "the last release")

I'm wondering if Aperture won't open because the version you have might be either "too new" OR "too old" for Yosemite.

 

[Backpacker111ca]

OP:

What VERSION of Aperture is on the iMac?
You don't have to open Aperture to ascertain this.
Do this:
1. In the finder, open the applications folder
2. Click ONE TIME on the Aperture icon to select it.
3. Type "command-i" (eye) to bring up the get info box.
That should tell you the version.
Report it here.

(I have version 3.6, which I believe is "the last release")

I'm wondering if Aperture won't open because the version you have might be either "too new" OR "too old" for Yosemite.

[doublepost=1550412523][/doublepost]Thanks everyone for your help. I have Aperture version 3.6. I ended up installing High Sierra on my iMac. Aperture is running fine so far. Bonus is that now my magic mouse can run!
I will migrate my photos to LR ASAP as I am not sure when this will happen again.