Merging Time Machine Library with Blank Aperture Library

I have a 2008 aluminum uni-body MacBook with 2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo, 4GB 1067 MHz DDR3 memory running Mt Lion, with 367 GB available on the hard drive. For various reasons, I recently completed a clean install of Mt Lion after backing up via Time Machine.

The first thing I re-installed was Aperture, downloaded from the Apple Store. I didn’t put much else back on the laptop because my first priority was getting the pictures back. I also checked for software updates.

For a week now, I’ve been fighting with Time Machine to get my 133.75 GB library restored. I kept having permissions errors or unable to reinstall errors or, when I tried copying the individual folders (show package contents) I’d get the thumbnails as if they were the actual pictures. Frustrating!

I’ve tried several different methods, techniques, recommendations, attempts to restore, including going into Time Machine and pressing restore. I finally deleted everything that had been placed on my computer related to Aperture, including Aperture and the file in Application Support for Aperture. I re-downloaded Aperture, ran the software updates, opened using the Option command, switched to the Time Machine library, and then restored the permissions.

After a certain amount of nail-biting agony, I had the first correct view of my library in more than a week!

Then, I began to stumble again because I couldn’t figure out or remember how to restore this now agreeable library to my fresh installation of Aperture. So, I created an empty library in Aperture, then merged the corrected Time Machine library using the Import Library function.

19 hours later, Activity Monitor shows that Aperture still has activity, but the monitor bar is stopped at probably 9/10 of the way and has been like that for 13 hours. The library on my hard drive has grown from nothing to 87.75 GB.

1. Is this normal to have hours and hours for a large library to merge?
2. Should I give up and Force Quit (even though I’ve read that causes damage to the library), and then try to restore via Time Machine?
3. If this merge library action actually works, will my backup be ruined? Or, better said, if this merge library doesn’t work, will my backup be ruined? I have another one I could use, but it’s a bit older.

Regards,

Alison in Sunny Florida