Unable to view images in Aperture

A few questions so people can help:

1 - Are you running a Managed library (Masters stored in Aperture library) or a Referenced library (Masters stored outside Aperture library).

2 - Did you install anything or update anything before this happened?

3 - Do you have a backup of the library (Time Machine, Vault or other means)?

into the finder I am able to find the Aperture Master folder however the size is extremely small.

Do you see any images inside the "Masters" folder, when you ctrl-click your Library and select "Show Package Contents"? The Masters folder is organized by "Date added" - year - month - day.

You should find your most recently added images in the most recent year -month day folder.

Do you see any of your images in your Aperture Library?

Also try to find out, if Aperture assumes your library as to be a managed or a referenced library:

Create a smart album (directly in the section "Library albums" of your Library) with the rule "File status is: Referenced" and another one with the rule: "File status is: Managed"; do the same with the file status' "Missing", "offline".

What is the status of your images?

Regards

Léonie

One additional point I received an error when opening Aperture which indicated that I had to remove 3ivxVideoCodec.component.

That is good to be rid of that codec. It might cause Aperture to crash.

see this: http://aperture.maccreate.com/2011/08/25/aperture-3-will-not-play-videos-if-lion -is-installed-and-3ivx-video-codec-is-installed/

I copied it to my desktop and put the original file into the trash. I have not emptied the trash.

Are - by any chance -any of your images inside the trash? 😝

Thank you, I actually looked 😊 but no sign of the masters.

O.k. that I have been afraid of; but what is the status that Aperture assumes - referenced or managed (from looking at the smart albums)? It would help to know that, because if Aperture thinks the masters are referenced, we can try to reconnect them from your backup, otherwise you will have to restore the complete library.

One more question: In your first post you said:

I tried moving the masters to an external drive and it has the saem problems.

Moving masters from where? Move the masters folder from your library, or do you have another masters folder somewhere? And did you put them back??

When I Control-Click on the Library in the Masters folders I can find 2 images for 2011 but nothing for 2012. If I go into thumbnails I am able to find all of the images for both years. When I go into Finder I am able to find images from 2011 and 2012 as well.

So between 2011 and 2012 you seem to have changed your import strategy from "managed" to "referenced" or you have relocated (accidentally?) your referenced masters to a folder outside Aperture, but where to? It will be very tricky to find them lost in space and time on your TimeMachine backup, if we have no idea where to start the search.

Did you have an external drive connected when you imported your images? Can the masters be on an external volume?

The Previews you found in the Aperture Library may give us a clue to the dates, when images have been added - that will be a starting point for the search in Time Machine. If you imported your masters as managed (and later accidentally lost them) then the masters should be visible in the "Masters" folder directly after the date that you see in the "Previews" folder year-month-day scheme.

So I'd suggest you add the Subfolders "Previews" and "Masters" from your Aperture LIbrary to the Finder sidebar, connect your Time Machine volume, enter Time Machine and dive back in time to explore the Masters and Previews folder. Put back any missing images to a folder on your Desktop.

For the images that you imported as "referenced" to begin with searching your Aperture library obviously will not help. Try to search using the "Find" panel in the Finder:

• Open a Finder Window
• Type cmd-F to sart a search
• Set the "Kind" drop down menu to "Image"
• press the +-button, Set the "File size" to greater than <enter the expected file size of your master images> e.g. 8 MB

Add any other rule that you think might be helpful to narrow down your search.

Post back, if you can retrieve your images - then we can make plans how to reconnect them.

Regards

Léonie

Message was edited by: leonieDF added finder search rules

If you recently restored your Aperture Library from Time Machine, then some permissions may not be set correctly or internal indices may point to old lifel. I'd suggest to repair your library using the "Aperture 3 Library First Aid Tools", if you have not done so already, see here how to repair permissions and database:

Aperture 3: Troubleshooting Basics: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3805

This should help with the managed masters; for the referenced masters you will have to point the versions to their locations as I described in my previous post.

Regards

Léonie