Lost master files in Aperture

Question

Level 1

0 points

Lost master files in Aperture

I recently lost about a dozen or more master files. I do not mess with the file structure. All of the lost masters were uploaded to both facebook and picasa using Aperture's upload utilities. I was able to semi-restore the files by dragging the preview files outside of Aperture and re-importing them, but as a "professional" app I should not have to worry about losing my pics when doing basic functions like this. Any suggestions on cause and/or avoidance?

Mac OS X (10.5)

Posted on Nov 16, 2011 8:35 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Nov 16, 2011 9:02 PM in response to adam1134

You are right this shouldn't happen. How did you determine the Masters were lost?

Fwiw, interfacing with Facebook is not -- for most users -- a "basic" function. To the contrary it's an often troublesome add-on, perhaps best avoided.

Message was edited by: Kirby Krieger

Reply

Answer 2

adam1134 Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 17, 2011 4:01 AM in response to Kirby Krieger

@ Kirby,

I frankly do not recal what first made me aware. I my have been trying to edit an image. Whatever action I tried, I could not compelte and got an error telling me "no master file could be found..." or something to that affect. I then noticed a icon on the image that I later determined meant there was not master file associated to the preview image. I believe it was a small yellow triangle with a black arrow coming off it. That helped me identify the other affected images.

Reply

Answer 3

Nov 17, 2011 8:57 AM in response to adam1134

There have been some reports of this (or something similar) happening when Images uploaded to Facebook were moved within Aperture. You might search the forum for "Facebook" and see what turns up.

Did you try to reconnect the Images with the missing Masters ("File→Locate Referenced Files")?

You can filter for all Images in your Library that no longer have Masters using the Rule "File Status" set to "Missing" after selecting "Photos" at the top of the Library tab of the Inspector.

(Added) Note that the Masters are "missing" in the sense that the Image expects the Master at a location that is empty. It is likely that the location information is wrong. It is unlikely that your Master file has been removed.

Message was edited by: Kirby Krieger

Reply

Answer 4

adam1134 Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 17, 2011 4:34 PM in response to Kirby Krieger

I will check that out. I did move those specific files - because they were some of my best one.... Thanks for the help.

Reply

Answer 5

adam1134 Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 17, 2011 4:36 PM in response to Kirby Krieger

Kirby,

OK, so I found 2 files that I missed when I created the filter. Any suggestions on finding the originals? I have search Aperture and Finder for the file names.

Reply

Answer 6

Nov 17, 2011 7:20 PM in response to adam1134

Some important nomenclature:

- Image: the thing you see in Aperture's Browser or Viewer

- Original (file): the file you imported into Aperture

- Master: the file you imported into Aperture (or possibly a copy if you told import to make a copy)

- Version: a text file containing metadata and instructions that Aperture uses to adjust the Master to make the Image.

The Image = the Master * the Version.

Just to confirm: you created the filter and filtered all photos and found two Images whose Masters were missing? And a search of your drives for the Master by name didn't turn up the files?

Did you rename or move them?

Reply

Answer 7

adam1134 Author

Level 1

0 points

Nov 17, 2011 7:25 PM in response to Kirby Krieger

Thanks for clarifying. Yes on the filter. One was renamed (not sure if it was before or after I lost the Master), but one is the original name.

Does Mac have a setting to not show "hidden" files like Windows? Or does Mac have no concept of that?

Reply

Answer 8

Nov 17, 2011 7:39 PM in response to adam1134

The OS has lots of hidden files (and folders), but there would be no reason for a Master to have been placed there. Does the expected location of the Master tell you anything about why it isn't there?

Reply

Answer 9

Aug 3, 2012 5:19 AM in response to adam1134

I am in a bit of a pickle with problems relocating original files that were imported to Aperture 3.

I had the original files in folders in documents and I decided to drag and drop them into external Iomega 1TB external drive.. which is used in time machine back up.

I can see all my back-ups going back to the start in time machine, however when I look for ( relocate ) originals they cannot be found..

I never deleted anything and thought dragging and dropping was safe..?

When I try to relocate the originals it shows the external drive online however the filepath is shown in red.. see attached image that shows this problem

Any help or advice would be much appreciated

Hope I have explained the problem correctly..

Thanks

Paul

Reply

Answer 10

Aug 3, 2012 6:14 AM in response to esker_man

Hi Paul,

Repost this as a new thread. You are sure to get more readers and better answers, and it helps make forum searches useful.

Cheers.

Reply