Settings changed on Aperture, cannot find RAW files

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Level 1

13 points

Settings changed on Aperture, cannot find RAW files

I have tried to talk to Apple a couple of times, and because some certificate that came in the box in packed in storage, they will not give me any direct answers.

Somehow when I deleted preference files as Aperture was acting buggy, now my RAW files are being stores in the Aperture Library instead of in Pictures where I can easily copy them to external drive.

I have looked for a couple of months and cannot find them on my hard drive and when I try to copy the Aperture Library to external drive I still cannot view and delete separately the RAW files that I want to handle manually.

Would anyone be able to tell me how to FIND AND VIEW my RAW photos in Aperture library.

when I read the user manual about making vaults etc., it said that files later deleted would then be delete in backup files when I went to back up again.

I do NOT want any program doing anything for me automatically or in a way I cannot manually control.

After buying both Apple Care and Pro Care I cannot express how upset and disappointed I am with the lack of phone help ... I have the registration number and obviously Apple has my order in their files and now they refuse to spent time helping me on the phone.

I do photography for a living, NOT computers, and I think that the attitude of some of the people at Apple who are supposed to be helping is beyond arrogant and rude.

I have spent hours trying to get this resolved with customer service at Apple and cannot seem to get help with Aperture when I need it. That makes Aperture extremely over priced when I cannot get help.

So I have come to this list to see if there is anyone here who can help me get this issue resolved. It took me 15 minutes to get him to explain how the photos are now saved in Aperture Library instead of Pictures, all he kept wanted to do it to give me page number of the instruction manual.

If I put my photos in vaults and the vault are updated when I delete photo from Aperture, I want to be able to KEEP copies so that I CAN safely delete them off my computer.

I have a 1 TB external drive for the very purpose of keeping photos, and for two months I cannot find the photos to copy and my computer is nearly full.

Thanks for any help on this.

Fay Kelley
faykelley@earthlink.net
Flagstaff, AZ

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.4.11), Aperture 2.1.3

Posted on Jul 13, 2009 4:38 PM

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Answer 1

salty777

Level 3

543 points

Jul 13, 2009 5:50 PM in response to Fay Kelley

You could try control clicking the Aperture library icon. When the menu pops up, scroll down to "show package contents" and it's like opening a folder. There you may have projects.... do the same (control click, open package contents) and you should be able to locate all the masters, previews and thumbnails.

When you find your masters, just drag them out or copy them to put elsewhere.

The other thing is to use "Find..." from the finder, although I'm not sure if that can search packages.

Message was edited by: salty777

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Answer 2

Fay Kelley Author

Level 1

13 points

Jul 13, 2009 7:42 PM in response to salty777

thanks !!

the Aperture library icon on my computer is within the picture folder ...

when I tried to control click it nothing happens

I looked in various pull down menus and can't seem to get anything to open

am desperate for other suggestions ... I have to take my mac to Genius Bar Friday for maintenance before ProCare runs out and have routine maitenance run BUT I want to be sure to have all photos backed up.

the only thing I can think of is to export all the masters to my desktop (time consuming) and then drag to external drive ... and then delete.

I am afraid of making a mistake ... the photos were so easy to see before ... now I can't get my hands on the RAW masters .... who at Aperture ever did such a thing ... I wonder.

thanks again

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Answer 3

salty777

Level 3

543 points

Jul 13, 2009 9:40 PM in response to Fay Kelley

Well, I don't understand what's going on. I double checked and pressing the control key, while clicking on the Aperture Library definitely offers the option to open package contents... I wonder if it's worth opening Disc utility and repairing permissions? Something's not right!

Another thing you could do is just drag the Aperture Library onto a back up disc.... how big is it? Does it match x number of raw images?

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Answer 4

cwog

Level 1

98 points

Jul 14, 2009 2:22 AM in response to Fay Kelley

Why not relocate the Master files from being Managed within Aperture to being Referenced files in a folder structure to meet your needs.

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Answer 5

Jul 14, 2009 4:34 AM in response to Fay Kelley

**"Somehow when I deleted preference files as Aperture was acting buggy, now my RAW files are being stores in the Aperture Library instead of in Pictures where I can easily copy them to external drive."**

When you deleted the Preferences file, it was recreated with default values. By default, Aperture stores images in the Aperture Library. Reset your Preference file to use referenced masters. This is not a bug.

**"I have looked for a couple of months and cannot find them on my hard drive and when I try to copy the Aperture Library to external drive I still cannot view and delete separately the RAW files that I want to handle manually."**

Not surprising, they are in the Library Package, not out on the disk. Open the Package by right clicking it or by pressing the "Control" key while clicking. You will see a ton of folders.

But this is not too hard a problem to fix.

First, reset your preferences file to use referenced masters. This way all of your future imports will remain where you want them. (N.B. You can change this behavior each time you import, so you are not limited to the setting of your preferences file.

Then, set the badges to show which of your files are referenced. (A little arrow logo will show in the corner.)

Now, find any images that DON'T have the badge and "EXPORT MASTERS." This will allow you to place the files anywhere you wish. (You may have to reimport the master as a referenced file within Aperture.)

**"when I read the user manual about making vaults etc., it said that files later deleted would then be delete in backup files when I went to back up again.**

**I do NOT want any program doing anything for me automatically or in a way I cannot manually control."**

The Aperture Vault keeps deleted files in a separate folder. If you don't like the way the Vault works, don't use it. You can also use Time Machine.

I hate to say RTFM, but I would suggest that you buy and take the Aperture training course. Aperture is very powerful, but it is easy to get confused.

Hope this is helpful.

Message was edited by: DiploStrat

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