"Cannot Find Referenced File" circle of death

I had a similar problem. I found this in one of the discussions. The magic seems to be in the Option (Alt) button together with "Reconnect All"

So, it appears *the actual problem is that all of the images in my library have become offline*. I've since attempted to use File > Locate Referenced Files... to reconnect to the files on my hard disk. This proved quite difficult as the "Reconnect" and "Reconnect All" buttons were always greyed out, regardless of what was selected. However, by chance I discovered the magic combo of the Option button, which through various passes allowed me to reconnect to the images once again. Why is this so difficult?So, it appears *the actual problem is that all of the images in my library have become offline*. I've since attempted to use File > Locate Referenced Files... to reconnect to the files on my hard disk. This proved quite difficult as the "Reconnect" and "Reconnect All" buttons were always greyed out, regardless of what was selected. However, by chance I discovered the magic combo of the Option button, which through various passes allowed me to reconnect to the images once again. Why is this so difficult?

Are you sure you selected the images that are missing masters prior to going into "locate referenced files"?

This is pretty easy to do using the file status search criteria.

RB

I had no problem anymore once I found out the Option solution, which I found here https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2715465?answerId=12914063022#12914063022

Rick(?), The "faces" post ended with my initial reply to your problem. I linked to it in response to rwboyer's question. I am an Aperture newbie and recently reorganized my external hard drive by repartitioning. First I wanted to move my pictures folders, but it was very slow. So I played clever and copied them. Then after repartitioning, copied them back. When I opened Aperture I had the same problem of missing referenced files. I was able to select a single image and to reconnect to the referenced file. Going thru this exercise 15,000 times was an impossible task. And then I found the magic answer! I selected all photos in my library, went to Locate Referenced Files and then... I think the following:

1. In the top of the window select a file

2. In the bottom navigate to the referenced file

3. If the Reconnect and Reconnect All buttons are greyed out, use Option when you perform step 2.

I cannot recreate this problem, because my files are reconnected again:)

I think top left in the window showed Volume offline, even when it was mounted.

One other thing I discovered earlier is that Aperture seems to link to a technical volume name. If you mess around like me and keep the same logical name for the volume, the connection is lost. Maybe this helps, good luck!

If you don't succeed, turn to rwboyer... he appears to really understand Aperture :)

Hey Rck,

I've run into the same issue as you, where Aperture does not recognize referenced files as referenced. I.e. you cannot even access the reconnect dialog. I even attempted to re-import the images to see if it would overwrite them, but it just makes a duplicate. Have you had any luck with this issue?

I'm having the same issue.

I moved some of my masters to an external drive. I recently tried to move the masters for one project back into my main Aperture library, but 15 of the 916 masters in this particular project did not move back. In Aperture I'm getting the little "The referenced image’s master has not been found." badge on these 15 images.

The master is still resident on the external drive, but the value in the "File Name:" metadata field in Aperture does not match the file name on the external drive. The file name on the external drive is the correct and original file name, but I have no idea why Aperture has a different value (e.g. IMG_1128 29.CR2 vs IMG_1128.CR2).

I've tried renaming the name of the file on the external drive, which didn't make a difference. I also tried moving the file to the local drive, but that didn't change anything. I can't see any way to edit the metadata field in Aperture.

I've tried "Repairing" my Aperture Library, but that made no difference. I haven't tried completely rebuilding it though.

Selecting one of the images and clicking:

"Relocate Original" gives me the following message:

"Unavailable original files cannot be relocated. The selected original image is either offline or not found. Please reconnect it and try again."

"Consolidate Original" gives me the following message after letting me choose "copy" or "move":

"No Referenced Files. The selection doesn’t have any referenced files."

"Locate Referenced" gives me the following message:

"No Referenced Files. The selection doesn’t have any referenced files."

Try this:

Select all files that need reconnecting

Go to File > Locate Referenced Files

When the window opens, select one image on the top pane and find the image on the bottom pane

Press down the Alt Key (force reconnect)

Reconnect buttons should come up