Reconnecting to Masters

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Level 1

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Reconnecting to Masters

I made a huge mistake this year. My Aperture library had grown too large for my hard drive, so I moved it to an external hard drive. I later added another hard drive inside the computer and moved the library again. So, I've moved my library three times in the past year and failed to consolidate my images. Now, my Masters no longer link up to my Library Projects. I spoke with a tech over the phone today, and his best advice was to move the library from where it was originally and consolidate the images there. Is this the best option? We're talking four years worth of images here, so just moving it back to the original location would take 12 hours.

Aperture 3, Mac OS X (10.7.5)

Posted on Nov 28, 2012 8:10 AM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

194,767 points

Nov 28, 2012 2:32 PM in response to MinnickMedia

Do you know where all your original master image files are?

And are they there, where you want to store them permanently?

And is the library, where you want it to be?

If everything is exactly where you want it, I would not bother to consolidate; this would only be necessary, if you made a mess of your pictures and distributed them all over the place and need to get them sorted. If the original image files are exactly there, where you want them, you only need to reconnect them to their versions. See the paragraph "Reconnecting Missing or Offline Referenced Images" in this section of the User Manual: Working with Referenced Images.

Make sure the disk with the original image files is connected and mounted, and also the disk with your Aperture library. Then open Aperture and create a smart album containing all images that need reconnecting.

File > New > Smart Album,

Add a rule "File status is missing" or "File status is offline" to the Smart Settings HUD.

Select all images in the album, then use the command "File > Locate Referenced Files" and use the reconnect Window to point Aperture to the location of the referenced originals, as described in the manual. If you are lucky, you will be able to reconnect all images at once.

Regards

Léonie

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Answer 2

MinnickMedia Author

Level 1

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Nov 29, 2012 9:43 AM in response to léonie

Léonie,

I can't thank you enough for this advice. It will take some time to fix what I messed up, but your recommendation is the best possible option. Thank you so much. I've begun reconnecting the images. I'd buy you lunch if you lived near me--that's how much you saved my day!

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

194,767 points

Nov 29, 2012 12:39 PM in response to MinnickMedia

You are welcome! Good luck for your library!

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Answer 4

MinnickMedia Author

Level 1

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Nov 30, 2012 11:07 AM in response to léonie

Leonie,

It took me less than two hours to relilnk more than 10,000 images. Once I matched a single view screen photo to its new location, the window gave the option of "reconnect all." Aperture then links the remainder of the selected view screen images in the browser with the folder of the masters. I coudn't believe how easy it was. I wrote Apple and let them know their techs are giving the wrong advice for the problem. Hopefully, this will help others who faced the same issue, becuase it's scary. Thanks again

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

194,767 points

Nov 30, 2012 11:13 AM in response to MinnickMedia

You are welcome. Glad to help.

It took me less than two hours to relilnk more than 10,000 images. Once I matched a single view screen photo to its new location, the window gave the option of "reconnect all."

Great, that was what I have been hoping to be the case. Good to know you could fix your libary. Thank you for letting us know. 🙂

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