denke

Q: Aperture loading VERY slowly

Aperture opens very slowly.


It takes about 20 seconds until I can see Aperture (window, toolbar, menu, etc) and about another 60 seconds until the beachball stops spinning and I can select items, etc. This is about 10 times longer than it used to take.

 

This appears to be library independent: My main library has about 35,000 photos, but it’s the same with a smaller 292-photo library, and even with an empty library - all of which are on my Macintosh HD (which is actually a 500GB SSD).


Testing on the smaller library:

  • Deferring previews did not help.
  • Deleted and updated previews: no help.
    • When I quit Aperture, the “Generating Previews” window flashes open and closed, but it does not render its text message.
  • Repaired database: no help
  • Repaired Permissions: no help
  • Reprocessed photos: no help
  • Rebuilt database
    • No faster
    • Noticed that it spent a lot of time doing Faces, so
  • Disabled Faces in Preferences: No help
  • Reset preferences (trashed prefs file): No help
  • Moved “the user created presets, keyword lists, and so on...”: No help

 

I’ve followed the steps suggested in https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201289 except for Reinstall Aperture.

 

Any suggestions for other things to try before taking this step?

Posted on Jun 24, 2016 4:23 PM

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Q: Aperture loading VERY slowly

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  • Helpful answers

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 25, 2016 5:42 AM in response to denke
    Level 10 (105,690 points)
    iLife
    Jun 25, 2016 5:42 AM in response to denke

    Which version of Aperture are you currently running? Which version of OS X?

     

    You have tried most of the trouble shooting already.

     

    Is your Aperture library on the system drive or on an external drive?  Are you syncing with iCloud?

     

    How much free storage is on your system drive?

     

    Are error messages in the Console window when Aperture is starting up?

    Does Aperture's Activity window show any unexpected activity?

  • by 60wpm,

    60wpm 60wpm Jun 25, 2016 5:59 AM in response to denke
    Level 1 (135 points)
    Apple Music
    Jun 25, 2016 5:59 AM in response to denke

    This is my version of Aperture, the last and latest version. It loaded up and opened Library in 8-seconds.

    Aperture.png

     

    This final update added compatibility with OS X Yosemite, was released on October 16, 2014


    I WOULD, check again Digital Camera Raw and Camera Raw Support are up to date.


    I WOULD, be sure my files were backed up and safe, delete the program using a good app for that, they, yes, Reinstall.


    Note....it is getting a bit "long in the tooth."  -- And it strikes me you do have rather large Library. But, good luck. I hope it works out.


    P.S. I love Aperture; (esp. the Light Table) so I'm keeping it and use it. BUT, facing reality, I did get and started using Lightroom. I just made sure it didn't move any photos anywhere -- all photos stayed in their original folders and I started feeling confident about that.


    And having photos in regular folders had some advantages.


    AS A TRIAL, I believe Adobe has an offer to Rent Lightroom & Photoshop at very low price...I hate Renting software but, facing reality, it seemed like a good deal to just check it out and see if it works for you. And Photoshop and Lightroom work well together.

  • by denke,

    denke denke Jun 26, 2016 12:25 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (62 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 26, 2016 12:25 AM in response to léonie

    Aperture 3.6, El Capitan 10.11.5. (I meant to imply that, except for Reinstall Aperture, I had followed all the directions on Get help with Aperture 3 - Apple Support, including "Update to the latest software versions" and "Update to the latest version of Aperture," but I should have specified this anyway.

     

    I have Aperture libraries on external drives, but the three libraries described in my post (35,848 photos, 292 photos, zero photos) are all on the system drive, which is a 500 GB SSD - so normally very fast.

     

    I hope I'm not syncing with iCloud: nothing in the iCloud preferences is checked. Prompted by your question, I just checked iCloud preferences, and Photos is not checked.

     

    Finder says my system drive has 62.89 GB available.

     

    Aperture's Activity window does not show any activity by the time I can open it - when Aperture has finished opening, after about 80 seconds. Is there a way to make launch Aperture with the Activity Window open? A few days ago, I noticed that it seemed to want to do Faces for a while after it opened, so I turned that off in Preferences.

     

    As to Console, it shows lots of messages. I don't know for sure how to identify an error message, but I found no occurrence of the word "error". As it happens, a Time Machine backup was just cleaning up, so I launched Aperture as soon as Console said, "6/25/16 11:38:51.346 PM com.apple.backupd[15747]: Backup completed successfully." I then copied the few dozen lines immediately following that, until it got completely repetitious. The first few lines were:

     

    6/25/16 11:38:58.161 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.PhotoApps.AVCHDConverter) Unknown key for dictionary: EnvironmentVarialbles

    6/25/16 11:38:59.727 PM Aperture[15811]: ProThemeStore: No theme registered with id=1764

    6/25/16 11:38:59.727 PM Aperture[15811]: ProThemeStore: No theme registered with id=1764

    6/25/16 11:38:59.727 PM Aperture[15811]: ProThemeStore: No theme registered with id=1764

    6/25/16 11:38:59.727 PM Aperture[15811]: ProThemeStore: No theme registered with id=1764

    6/25/16 11:38:59.727 PM Aperture[15811]: ProThemeStore: No theme registered with id=1764

    6/25/16 11:38:59.727 PM Aperture[15811]: Warning: -[NSProThemeFacet imageForState:value:variant:] unable to find theme store.

    6/25/16 11:38:59.727 PM Aperture[15811]: ProThemeStore: No theme registered with id=1764

    6/25/16 11:38:59.727 PM Aperture[15811]: ProThemeStore: No theme registered with id=1764

    6/25/16 11:38:59.727 PM Aperture[15811]: Warning: -[NSProThemeFacet imageForState:value:variant:] unable to find theme store.

     

    Then it began repeating:

     

    6/25/16 11:39:00.530 PM xpcproxy[15813]: CFPreferences could not connect to its daemon.

    Preferences using the connection 0x0 will be volatile and will not be persisted to disk.

    6/25/16 11:39:00.550 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.photostream-agent[15813]) LaunchServices returned a bundle URL that does not match with the LoginItem's known association.

    6/25/16 11:39:00.551 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.photostream-agent) Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.

    6/25/16 11:39:01.794 PM WindowServer[217]: send_datagram_available_ping: pid 456 failed to act on a ping it dequeued before timing out.

    6/25/16 11:39:10.565 PM xpcproxy[15814]: CFPreferences could not connect to its daemon.

    Preferences using the connection 0x0 will be volatile and will not be persisted to disk.

    6/25/16 11:39:10.582 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.photostream-agent[15814]) LaunchServices returned a bundle URL that does not match with the LoginItem's known association.

    6/25/16 11:39:10.583 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.photostream-agent) Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.

    6/25/16 11:39:13.791 PM WindowServer[217]: send_datagram_available_ping: pid 456 failed to act on a ping it dequeued before timing out.

    6/25/16 11:39:20.609 PM xpcproxy[15815]: CFPreferences could not connect to its daemon.

     

    and so on. It's still repeating the same three lines, almost 20 minutes later:

    6/26/16 12:06:06.443 AM xpcproxy[16071]: CFPreferences could not connect to its daemon.

    Preferences using the connection 0x0 will be volatile and will not be persisted to disk.

    6/26/16 12:06:06.462 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.photostream-agent[16071]) LaunchServices returned a bundle URL that does not match with the LoginItem's known association.

    6/26/16 12:06:06.464 AM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.photostream-agent) Service only ran for 0 seconds. Pushing respawn out by 10 seconds.

     

    Any ideas?

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 26, 2016 12:44 AM in response to denke
    Level 10 (105,690 points)
    iLife
    Jun 26, 2016 12:44 AM in response to denke
    6/25/16 11:38:59.727 PM Aperture[15811]: ProThemeStore: No theme registered with id=1764

    Did you previously have "Themes for Aperture" installed?  Any add-ons that added themes, that now may be missing after your last update?

    Is Aperture installed at the top level of your Applications folder or in a subfolder?  All themes are in the Aperture application bundle.  If you moved Aperture, the themes may not be found.

    6/25/16 11:39:00.550 PM com.apple.xpc.launchd[1]: (com.apple.photostream-agent[15813]) LaunchServices returned a bundle URL that does not match with the LoginItem's known association.

    I wonder what is triggering My Photo Stream. Do you have iCloud enabled for Photos for Mac?

    Try to disable iCloud > Photos completely in the System Preferences and then restart the Mac.

  • by denke,

    denke denke Jun 26, 2016 12:44 AM in response to 60wpm
    Level 1 (62 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 26, 2016 12:44 AM in response to 60wpm

    Thank you, 60wpm. My "About Aperture" looks just like yours. All available updates are installed. All files are multiply backed up: alternating Time Machine backups on separate external HDs, SuperDuper clone, Backblaze - and my Import process in Aperture makes backup copies on a third external HD devoted only to that.

     

    My concern about reinstalling: I fear I'll lose all the "user created presets, keyword lists, and so on..." in the ~/Library/Application Support/Aperture folder. I don't know if that folder can be saved and then added back to a new installation.

     

    I hear you about Aperture. There are many choices for photo editing, but I have not yet seen one that organizes things in a way as congenial to my way of working as does Aperture. And I really like the Import settings, which automatically organize all my masters and their backups. I'll probably use Aperture for importing and organizing as long as I can, even as I use other tools for more and more of the editing.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Jun 26, 2016 12:55 AM in response to denke
    Level 10 (105,690 points)
    iLife
    Jun 26, 2016 12:55 AM in response to denke
    My concern about reinstalling: I fear I'll lose all the "user created presets, keyword lists, and so on..." in the ~/Library/Application Support/Aperture folder. I don't know if that folder can be saved and then added back to a new installation.

    This will only happen, if you run an uninstaller tool. All Aperture versions from the App Store do not install content outside the application bundle. They are self contained, so you do not need to run an uninstaller for Aperture.  If you suspect that the Aperture application id damaged, move it to the Trash (don't empty the Trash, so you can put it back, if need be), then download again from the Purchases tab of the App Store.

    You could check however, if you have still items installed in the Library folder at the top level of your system drive:  /Library/Application Support/Aperture/

     

    I'd remove older plug-ins you are no longer using, older older presets installed there and only keep your own user defined presets from the luser ibrary in your home folder:  ~/Library/Application Support/Aperture/

     

    And yes, the presets in ~/Library/Application Support/Aperture can be restored from a saved copy.

  • by denke,

    denke denke Jul 19, 2016 10:11 PM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (62 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jul 19, 2016 10:11 PM in response to léonie

    I finally got around to reinstalling Aperture, as you described, and it made little difference! From the time I start Aperture until the time I can select something takes about 65 seconds - about 15 seconds less than before reinstalling, but about 10 times as long as it used to take.

     

    And the other issues are still there.