nmlilwood

Q: Aperture deleted.  Have tried 4 Recovery programs.  Is there anything else I can try?

Hi!  If anyone can throw me a life line, I'll be super grateful.  Long story short... Hubby trashed Aperture from Finder window, took back out of Trash but didn't know that links to masters would be severed by this mistake.  I cleared Trash.  Computer shut down.  Issue not noticed for a week or so.  I've run Photorec, and had a local shop run Data Rescue 3(plus Renee plus a Wondershare one).  Almost nothing was recovered.  I've lost  most of our family pictures from the last two years, since the last time I did a data backup.  It still makes me really upset to think about it. I feel like such a fool for not running backups regularly, but I can't change that now.  So the question is, is there anything else I can do?   Anything that doesn't cost thousands of dollars and lose me my working computer?  Thanks in advance, and if there's nothing else, maybe I can spare someone my heartache.  Aperture stores files differently from iPhoto, and *there's NO WARNING if you accidentally drag the icon to the Trash with other files*!  The link between the library and the Masters is severed, and you need to do damage control immediately.  I know I should have kept up with Time Machine, and I just learned about the Vault system, but I'm a busy mom, and you fill the day with the right priorities the best you can, and the end of the day, I didn't get around to it a thousand times.  Please Apple, if you read this, find a way to flash a warning on that one.  20,000-odd masters deleted with one mistake.  No warning.  Again, thanks in advance for any advice.         

Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jan 19, 2014 12:05 AM

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Q: Aperture deleted.  Have tried 4 Recovery programs.  Is there anything else I can try?

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  • by nmlilwood,

    nmlilwood nmlilwood Jan 21, 2014 9:04 AM in response to nmlilwood
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    Jan 21, 2014 9:04 AM in response to nmlilwood

    Okay, I've run the three options now, and Aperture is still saying that the Master is unavailable.  Is this the issue that Leonie was refering to, and because I opened the library through Time Machine, I need to restore the library through time Machine before it can be used?   

  • by Najinsky,

    Najinsky Najinsky Jan 21, 2014 9:23 AM in response to nmlilwood
    Level 3 (670 points)
    Jan 21, 2014 9:23 AM in response to nmlilwood

    I'm not sure about where time machine fits into this.

     

    When you ran the find command:

     

    It showed your library at:

     

    ./Pictures/Aperture Library.aplibrary

     

    This is in your Pictures folder, not in a time machine backup.

     

    And when we searched for image files it showed:

     

    ./Pictures/Aperture Library.aplibrary/Masters/2013/12/06/20131206-215634/DSC_0421.JPG

     

    Which shows an image file called DSC_0421.JPG was imported to this library on 6th December 2013 at 21:56:34 so I don't see how that could be there if your Time Machine backup was from January 2012.

     

    Is it possible you are looking at the time machine backup of an Aperture Library rather than the main Aperture Library in your Pictures folder?

     

    Try the following:

     

    Close Aperture.

    In finder, go to your Pictures folder on you local drive and double click the Aperture Library there.

    Search for your DSC_0421 image.

     

    Andy

  • by nmlilwood,

    nmlilwood nmlilwood Jan 21, 2014 10:17 AM in response to Najinsky
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    Jan 21, 2014 10:17 AM in response to Najinsky

    /volumes/raid/backups.backupdb/N*****

    ******************'s Imac/

    2012-01-15-093900/Macintosh HD/users/

    N**** ************ *****d/Pictures/Aperture

    Library.aplibrary

     

    When hover the mouse over  Aperture Library, under File > Switch to Library > , this pops up in a little yellow box. I'm guessing that the yellow box is detailing the Aperture library that is currently in use.  It is set to Default.  In the dialogue box for Switch to Library > Other/New, the default Library location shows as the Home > Pictures > Aperture library. I don't understand how this all fits together.  Is the little yellow box talking about the stucture of the default library?  When I open a project of missing masters in file list format (instead of thumbnail) the Badge column shows the tiny yellow triangle/exclaimation mark/bendy arrow badge.  I'm sure there's a real name for this; but I'm guessing it's refering to how the master it still disconnected.  I'll do another terminal window search, but I'll try to pick a file name that isn't as duplicated.  If the Master I tested was imported Dec.6, it was a part of a post deletion import. 

  • by nmlilwood,

    nmlilwood nmlilwood Jan 21, 2014 10:39 AM in response to nmlilwood
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    Jan 21, 2014 10:39 AM in response to nmlilwood

    ./Pictures/Aperture Library.aplibrary/Previews/2013/12/19/20131219-175741/25COyPDZTFmLNFWYkgu%0w/DS C_1678.jpg

     

    Okay, I repeated the Terminal search using a new file name of a picture that was imported on March 4, 2013.  And then hoped that it would come up in the list of found files.  It looks like it didn't.  It's only showing a file with a Dec. 19, 2013 datestamp, right?  Ugh.  So, if the terminal isn't showing it, I'm guessing this is looking much worse.  When I open the package of the Library in the Finder window, Picture Folder, it only shows Masters that were imported after the deletion.  I'm just baffled with why the master seems so utterly lost, and yet the File info for it still shows up in the project folder (file names, dates, camera settings, etc.), and why the librbary still shows a number of 41,000-odd masters when it is highlighted in the library selection dialogue window.  ???

  • by Najinsky,

    Najinsky Najinsky Jan 21, 2014 10:49 AM in response to nmlilwood
    Level 3 (670 points)
    Jan 21, 2014 10:49 AM in response to nmlilwood

    Having opened the library package in a finder window, if you navigate to that preview and open it in Preview app (double click it), is that the preview for your missing image or something else?

  • by nmlilwood,

    nmlilwood nmlilwood Jan 21, 2014 11:20 AM in response to Najinsky
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    Jan 21, 2014 11:20 AM in response to Najinsky

    Right.  Navigating as you suggested, in the folders that would include the missing years, there's nothing useful in the drop down folders.  Just blank thumbnail placeholders.  Going to the the time frame of recent, post-deletion downloads, drop down folders include various images (thumbnails and face images).  I also opened the whole library through Preview, and did a search for DSC_1678, and found an empty thumbnail placeholder, and then various sized images related the same-named file I found in the Terminal box that was uploaded Dec. 19, 2013.  So, nothing related to the missing masters.  

  • by Najinsky,Solvedanswer

    Najinsky Najinsky Jan 21, 2014 11:42 AM in response to nmlilwood
    Level 3 (670 points)
    Jan 21, 2014 11:42 AM in response to nmlilwood

    Just to be clear we are talking about the same thing,

     

    When I right-click my Library in my Pictures foler, I can choose 'Show Package Contents'

     

    Screen Shot 2014-01-22 at 02.24.10.jpg

     

    Which then shows me the contents of my library in Finder:

     

    Screen Shot 2014-01-22 at 02.28.20.jpg

    In there, I can navigate the Previews folder and its subfolders, to get to an image that I can see, or open by double-clickng it.

     

    And when you do the same for your image:

     

    /Previews/2013/12/19/20131219-175741/25COyPDZTFmLNFWYkgu%0w/DS C_1678.jpg

     

    When you get to DSC_1678.jpg you see some kind of place holder, not an image, and you can't open it?

  • by nmlilwood,

    nmlilwood nmlilwood Jan 21, 2014 11:46 AM in response to nmlilwood
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    Jan 21, 2014 11:46 AM in response to nmlilwood

    The other thing that I haven't seen anywhere is a "Recovered" folder that other forum users have refered to finding after they ran the three diagnostic/repair functions I've run.  Not sure if that is meaningful.  I haven't been able to spot any other refences to data losses happening at this volume with managed libraries.  All the references I've found to managed libraries seem to talk about Aperture keeping track of the Master's automatically.  How we've managed to screw that up, I'm not sure now, especially since it seems that how my husband described the accident shouldn't have led to a package deletion. 

     

    I'm lost.            

  • by nmlilwood,

    nmlilwood nmlilwood Jan 21, 2014 11:49 AM in response to Najinsky
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 21, 2014 11:49 AM in response to Najinsky

    Right... my navigation panel doesn't show up like yours.  I'm just getting drop-downs, as opposed to visible columns.

  • by nmlilwood,

    nmlilwood nmlilwood Jan 21, 2014 11:50 AM in response to nmlilwood
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    Jan 21, 2014 11:50 AM in response to nmlilwood

    I'm catching up with you... hang on...

  • by nmlilwood,

    nmlilwood nmlilwood Jan 21, 2014 12:00 PM in response to nmlilwood
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 21, 2014 12:00 PM in response to nmlilwood

    Okay, sorry, seeing how to use the columns to track the file designation through the sub-numbering system. 

     

    I only get an image that was loaded after the accident, and still shows up when running Aperture.

     

    When I searched for DSC_1678 today in the Terminal, I was hoping to find a listing for an image that shows up in Aperture as one of the missing Masters, with an upload date of 13-03-04.

     

    Nothing with that date showed in Terminal.

     

    Using the Preview columns, looking at a date before the accident, the flie numbers only lead me to files with a designation like:  thumb_DSC_1598_face0.jpg  Zero KB

  • by nmlilwood,

    nmlilwood nmlilwood Jan 21, 2014 1:00 PM in response to Najinsky
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 21, 2014 1:00 PM in response to Najinsky

    Andy, you have been an absolute PEACH!  I'm guessing things aren't looking too good for recovery given the absence of file listings in the library package, but I'm going to take the computer to the local Apple store this afternoon for a Genius bar appointment.  I don't know what they'll be able to find that I haven't been able to look for with your amazing help, but it's worth a shot.  At least maybe they can tell me what must have happened to permanently delete the library as it stood on November 3rd.

     

    Again, thank you, thank you, thank you!  Of course I'll try anything else you suggest, and I'll let you know if we find anything and how we found it. 

  • by Najinsky,

    Najinsky Najinsky Jan 21, 2014 1:12 PM in response to nmlilwood
    Level 3 (670 points)
    Jan 21, 2014 1:12 PM in response to nmlilwood

    Ok, it seems like when you are searching for a lost image, you are finding other images with the same name, but none of the lost ones. So at face value, that's not looking that promising.

     

    Let's try to clear a few things out of the way, starting with this:

     

    /volumes/raid/backups.backupdb/N***********************'s Imac/2012-01-15-093900/Macintosh HD/users/N**** ************ *****d/Pictures/ApertureLibrary.aplibrary

     

    Which you see on the yellow label.

     

    This simply means that at some point you have opened an Aperture Library on your raid backup, navigating that backup to the location of the Aperture Library and openining it. This has then been addded to the 'Switch to Library' shortcut menu.

     

     

    Next let's try to resolve what actually happend.

     

    Here are what I think are the key points from your posts:

     

    One more theory: my husband thinks that because the pop-up warning happened when he was in the midst of a "Compress", the the lost files were being deleted out of the library folder, and it wasn't until it hit a file that was in an open folder (Aperture was in use at the time) that it refused to delete it.  I don't know if files could be deleeeted out of a library in this fashion.

     

    First off, I made a goof.  I said that he did a Compress and I should have said he he did an Empty Trash.  The other details were right.  The list was being deleted, and then it stopped.  He unfortunately can't remember what the pop-up warning was.  Whatever it was, he looked at the Trash list, saw the Aperture icon, and dragged it back, he thinks, to the Picture folder.

     

    Now, when I did do a backup in January 2012, we copied the entire HD to a RAID external drive, and so in the process of trying to understand where my pictures were, I managed to load the backup library as the working library.  Where I'm at now, is that I can see one HD based library and two RAID based librairies (this makes sense, because the HD was backed up twice that January in the process of setting up an automatic  backup system that I didn't know how to use) to choose from on the Library menu within Aperture program.  The current Default library is the User > Pictures > Aperture Library.  When you highlight it in the menu, the number of masters is listed at 41,000-odd masters, which would be the number if none had been deleted.  But when Aperture is running, all of the projects that were not a part of the 2012 backup appear with blank thumbnail windows.

     

     

    So this is what seems to have happened:

     

    Aperture was open.

    It's Library was dragged to the trash

    The trash was emptied.

    While deleting the Aperture library, the trash could not be emptied becuase a file was in use.

    The Aperture Library was dragged back from trash to pictures.

     

    Unfortunately, I suspect this sequence could lead to data loss. The library is a collection of files. It's conceivable some of the not-in-use files could have been emptied before encountering an in-use file that stopped the emptying process. Putting a library in trash and then putting it back won't damage it, but emptying the trash might.

     

    But what actually happened to this Library after this? You seem to be saying you opened a backup from 2012. So did you overwrite the library that was dragged out of trash? Why does it have the projects from before the backup? If the emptying could delete later projects, suley it could have deleted earlier projects too. So it sounds like your backup has been incorporated into your current library in some way. Have you imported or merged your backup into the one dragged out of trash?

     

    Andy

  • by nmlilwood,

    nmlilwood nmlilwood Jan 21, 2014 4:19 PM in response to Najinsky
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 21, 2014 4:19 PM in response to Najinsky

    Hi Andy, I'm back from the Apple store.  Long story short, the Masters are gone, but for learnings sake, I'll still go over the points in question.

     

    So yes, when he dragged the Aperture library to the trash, and executed the Empty order, the masters were sequentially deleted.  So of course, I suddenly had all of this extra space on my drive that no one noticed until I saw that the masters were missing.

     

    The projects and project structures remained unchanged on aperture program, cause, that's how Aperture rolls.  The Masters count was unaffected by the deletions.

     

    The library that was dragged out of the trash must have been essentially empty, except that I was loading new material on to it, and only working inside ot the new material.  

     

    In terms of the current contents and library structure, I'm less clear.  I thought Aperture might have brought in the content automatically because the project structure was trying to connect to a library with the Masters.  Or it is something I did when I was looking for Masters, running recovery programs, and generally rooting around the folders like a pig searching for truffles.  I don't know.  Derek from the Genius bar suggests that I manually go through the Time Machine backup folders on my Raid, create a new folder to hold images that I want to keep, import them into a new Aperture library that I will make my default, make a new backup of THAT library, and then start to delete the dead weight.  And then I will partition my RAID to create Time Machine dedicated space, and restart the Time machine process.  The extra frustrating part of this all, is that we started this process of automatically creating a Time Machine backup on an external drive, but no one took the time to really understand what was happening, so it was actually working well and we thought it WASN'T working, and we stopped it.  It's a day late, dollar short, story. 

     

    As for why the deleted files didn't get picked up by any recovery software, Derek said that he has simply never experienced much luck with the recovery softwares, even the well reviewed ones.  He said that once we executed the empty order, it was pretty much a done deal. 

     

    So that's that!  We found a few pictures on a small camera that doesn't get used much anymore that covers a few occasions in the missing time frame, so I was happy to find those.  Even with losing thousands of pictures from that last couple of my years of my kids lives, I know that these are first world problems, and that they'll still have way more pictures of their childhood than I ever did.  Still they were improtant to me, and even though they were important, I deferred looking after them until I looked after everyone else's needs, and I didn't leave myself with enough steam at the end of the day to give to a task that doesn't come organically to me.  So I'm taking a big lump, and hopefully I can improve my game moving forward. 

     

    Thank you again, so very much, Andy!  I've learned a tonne from you! 

  • by nmlilwood,

    nmlilwood nmlilwood Jan 22, 2014 3:45 PM in response to nmlilwood
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Jan 22, 2014 3:45 PM in response to nmlilwood

    In one of fate's more sadistically humorous moments, I found the pictures! After I cried walking out of the Apple store; after I both looked for them for two months; after I made a nice fella in Guernsey talk to me for two straight days on the Mac user forums; after I made my husband cry about them because I thought I found them, and was super happy, and it turned out that it wasn't them; after I bitterly complained to the whole world about it on Facebook... I found them. I was sitting here last night, doing something incredibly close to praying to the computer gods. Totally gave up. Today, I'm working on re-assebling everything we were able to recover or had backed up previously, and I'm double checking all of the folders and files before I do anything else, because to get things back in to working order, I'm going to build new Libraries, so of course, I'm trying to be as methodical as possible at this point. You spent a massive amount of time writing me over the last couple of days, and as a result I have learned a tonne about file permissions and reading storage structure. So I came across a sparsebundle that we had seen before, but I was way more ignorant the last time I tried to poke around and figure out what it was (though I did read a quick article to have a vague idea of what it could be). So this time, I had managed to gradually pick up enough information that I could see why it wasn't opening, and I could open it and read the contents. Lo and behold! Time machine backups that brought us up to the end of October, 2013. Holy hannah! Now, as far as we can tell, we only lost one photo shoot, and the landscape pictures I took on the same day. For some reason, Time Machine started doing a backup every 20 days when we came home from a trip in July, but neither of us remembers doing anything to get it working again. So basically, the universe just decided we had been punished long enough. So I must thank you again for teaching me so much, because I couldn't have unraveled it without everything you showed me. I probably would have thrown it out because I thought it was empty.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Now I'll go and read the manual so that I don't have to bug you again. 

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