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Is it possible to Aperture Library by copying over the Contents?

Hi,


My new Drobo 5D is having issues, and i'm not able to copy the Aperture File Directly over directly as its 530GB and the hard drive keeps failing in the last 30GB or so.

so I was wondering is it possible to copy over the contents bit by bit by using the show contents folder and then somehow recreating the Aperture file from the folder of Contents copied over?


Otherwise, is there any other solution?


thanks!


Derrick

iMac, Mac OS X (10.7.5), 2.5Ghz, 16GB Ram, 500GB HD

Posted on Jan 14, 2013 10:44 PM

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Question marked as Best reply

Posted on Jan 14, 2013 11:42 PM

Derrick,

how is your Drobo formatted? If it is not formatted Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), you will not be able to open the Aperture Library on it. Aperture requires the drive to be formatted Mac OS X Extended (Journaled). Also, the wrong formatting usually causesthe kind of copy errors you are seeing, because of conflicting filenames. In that case, copying in smaller batched will not help either.

So check the formatting of your drive, either with Get Info ("File > Get Info" from the Finder's main menu bar ⌘I) or with Disk Utility.


Regards

Léonie


Added: To move an Aperture library in smaller bits, the only safe way would be to turn it into a referenced library:

  • Relocate the images from some projects to the new drive, so that the library becomes smaller (File > relocate originals).
  • If you have relocated enough projects, move the library as an entity by dragging it to the drive.

Aperture 3 User Manual: Working with Referenced Images

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Question marked as Best reply

Jan 14, 2013 11:42 PM in response to macbuzzz

Derrick,

how is your Drobo formatted? If it is not formatted Mac OS X Extended (Journaled), you will not be able to open the Aperture Library on it. Aperture requires the drive to be formatted Mac OS X Extended (Journaled). Also, the wrong formatting usually causesthe kind of copy errors you are seeing, because of conflicting filenames. In that case, copying in smaller batched will not help either.

So check the formatting of your drive, either with Get Info ("File > Get Info" from the Finder's main menu bar ⌘I) or with Disk Utility.


Regards

Léonie


Added: To move an Aperture library in smaller bits, the only safe way would be to turn it into a referenced library:

  • Relocate the images from some projects to the new drive, so that the library becomes smaller (File > relocate originals).
  • If you have relocated enough projects, move the library as an entity by dragging it to the drive.

Aperture 3 User Manual: Working with Referenced Images

Jan 24, 2013 9:14 PM in response to léonie

Hi Leonie,


thanks for your reply, yes its correctly formatted. there is an issue with the actual Drobo that is not letting me copy the file completely. .


Thanks for your great suggestion of reolocating the images which i have done (about 400GB) now the acutal aperture file is 107GB. . but it seems the problem still remains. i cannot copy the whole file over. . it always stops about 30-40GB from completion.


I have tried the following hoping it would help:


1. do a direct finder copy (several times, and to different HD's including firewire, USB 2 and the internal iMac HD) all failing.

2. Do a terminal copy command - also failed about 30GB from the end.

3. Do a duplicatation of teh file on the DRobo (hoping then i could copy that duplicated file) but the duplication also failed.


The only other way i can think of is to use the Show Contents of Package and copy the files over individually, but then i have no way of reconstructing the package contents into an Aperture File. .would you have any idea how that is possible?


thank-you!

Jan 24, 2013 10:57 PM in response to macbuzzz

My new Drobo 5D is having issues, and i'm not able to copy the Aperture File Directly over directly as its 530GB and the hard drive keeps failing in the last 30GB or so.

From where to where are you copying? From the drive that is failing or to the drive with issues?

Which file cannot be copied? Frequently it is a single image file or video that cannot be copied because of bad data or an illegal filename.

If you open the Aperture library package (Ctrl the package in the Finder and use "Show Package contents" ) and compare, how far the copy went, you should be able to see where the copy stopped. If it is a thumbnail or a preview, you could delete the corresponding image or video from your Aperture library and try again.


Do you have a backup of your Aperture library? If your library is on a failing drive, make sure the drive is backed up.

You may have a corrupted file in your library or permission problems. After backing up, I'd try to repair the library, before trying to copy it again. Use the Library first aid tools to repair the permissions and the database, or to rebuild the library.


Aperture 3 User Manual: Repairing and Rebuilding Your Aperture Library

Jan 24, 2013 11:16 PM in response to léonie

Thanks for your fast Response!


here are my answers:


- Yes drobo is fomatted correctly as Mac OS Extended, over GUID partition.


- No Back Up - (as i just spent over $1000 on the drobo so i wouldn't need to do even more backup!)

The reason I need to copy over, is because the drive has a firmware issue and keeps dropping offline, so i need to copy all my data off it, and reformate the drives and reinstall firmware to continue using it.


I have been trying to copy from the DROBO to:

- a variety of External WD book drive via USB 2

- Firewire portable drive

- iMac Internal Drive


All with the same result


Have tried to do a Copy command in the terminal as well,

aslo quitting about 30-40GB before it completes.


Good suggestion with seeing how far the copy went,

but the file because it hasn't completed copying more often than not is greyed out. .

I checked one of the incomplete copies of the original full 530GB file and it seems that the copying halts somewhere in the thumbnails section. wondering is the libary pretty much good, without the thumbnails? and if they are missing will Aperture recreate them? in which case i'm good?


I will try again using your suggestion wtih the reduced 107GB file after I finish copying over my Itunes Library which i hope will go wtihout fault;) and see where the copying halts .



thank-you!!!!

Jan 25, 2013 12:10 AM in response to macbuzzz

but the file because it hasn't completed copying more often than not is greyed out.

but can you see the filename? Does it contain ethnic characters or white space?


the copying halts somewhere in the thumbnails section

You can force Aperture to recreate the thumbnails with the command "Photos > Create Thumbnails".


So you could try to recreate your thumbnails before trying to copy again.

Jan 25, 2013 5:28 AM in response to macbuzzz

In answer to your first question, can you copy the library in bits, yes. The Aperture library is just a collection of files and folders. As long as you get them back in the correct place within the library this would.


As for kirby's suggestion of doing a repair or rebuild, normally that is the first step but in this case if you are sure the problem is with the Drobo (or even suspect it) I would not recommend you do this. If there is a hardware (or firmware) problem with the drive any more accessing of the library, especially writing, is likely to cause more problems possibly corrupt the library.


Are there probllems copy other files off the Drobo? How have you determined that it is a firmware issue?

Jan 25, 2013 5:44 AM in response to léonie

leonieDF wrote:


Really good points, Kirby!

I already suggested to repair/rebuild - macbuzz, have you done that meanwhile?

It is not advisable to try to repair or rebuild a library if it is on hardware that is suspected of failing. The library needs to be gotten off the failing drive as quickly as possible, Any accessing of the library on the failing drive (especially write accesses) will most likely cause library corruption.

Jan 25, 2013 6:15 AM in response to macbuzzz

- No Back Up - (as i just spent over $1000 on the drobo so i wouldn't need to do even more backup!)

The reason I need to copy over, is because the drive has a firmware issue and keeps dropping offline, so i need to copy all my data off it, and reformate the drives and reinstall firmware to continue using it.

Macbuzz, I am worried about this.


What is your backup situation? In our discussion I assumed we are talking about moving a backup copy of your library. Is your original library in a working condition? There is no sense in spending time on copying a corrupted copy to another disk. You need a backup of your original data, i.e. your main aperture library on a disk that is working. Do you have that? If not, it would be more important to create that backup first.


@Frank

Any accessing of the library on the failing drive (especially write accesses) will most likely cause library corruption.

Yes, my recommendation was trying that if a backup exists. My suspicion was, it is a data error and not a hardware error.

Jan 26, 2013 8:05 AM in response to léonie

Hi LeonieDF,


the situation is this


I'm using the DROBO is my primary drive to hold my important data.

that is the original file, not a backup. if it was a back up - i wouldn't be worried, as i woudl still have an original i can duplicate for a backup. I hadn't set up a backup, as the drobo is supposed to be RAIDED. and i never expected it to have a firmware issue coming up esp so soon after i purchased it (within 1 month)

so the ORIGINAL LIBRARY is on the DROBO


Drobo support recommended against doing any repairng of the file.


I've been trying to copy the reduced 107GB file, but with no success, it fails after copying about 65GB with this error:


The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in “Derrick Siu Aperture” can’t be read or written.


(Error code -36)


so am really quite at a loss how i can save my Aperture Library.

I can show contents of the file, and copy the individual folders, but then i have no idea or way of how to reconstruct this folder to make it be seen as an Aperture file, and not a folder containing the package contents of the Aperture file.


Hope that clarifies my situation.


thanks!

Jan 26, 2013 8:39 AM in response to macbuzzz

Read all this before doing anything.


You select the library in the Finder and right click it and do Show Package Contents. That will revel the inside of the library You would then copy the files/folders out to the other drive MAKING SURE you copy them so that they are in the same relation to each other as they are in the original.


On the destination drive create a new empty Aperture library. You'll probably have the easiest time of it if you have two finder windows open, one on the original library and on on the destination. Revel Package contents on both libraries and then copy from the source to the destination replacing the items in the destination library with items from the source. Make sure you go from source (old) to destination (new). It sounds silly to emphasis this but once you start copying it will be easy to get disoriented and go in the wrong direction. Do something to make sure the source Finder window stands out from the destination Finder window.


I wouldn't worry about copying the previews or thumbnails those will be recreated when Aperture opens the new library BUT don't do anything with the Dobro or previews until you are sure the new library opens. In a worst case scenario you could retrieve the previews and still salvage something from your library.


Of course the possibility exists that you will hit the file(s) that are causing the error that is keeping you from doing this in a normal fashion. If so mark the file(s) that are having problems (color label will work well) and continue with the rest of the library. It is possible that the file(s) that won't copy are not of major importance to Aperture and the new library will open anyway. If not then there may be some other way to work around it. By labeling the files you'll at least know what didn;t copy.


That should do it if you're unsure of anything post back before starting.


good luck


Ps. Read this post Re: New iMac, Pegasus & Aperture? from a recent thread on backups and RAID. In it I explain why RAID is not a backup replacement. Once you recover from this you will need to put a true backup procedure in place.


regards


BTW here is OS X's definiiton of an Error -36


Type -36 error (I/O Errors (bummers)

This file is having difficulty while either reading from the drive or writing to the drive. The file
may have been improperly written data to the drive or the hard drive or disk may be damaged.
This is almost always indicative of a media error (hard error on the disk). Sometimes (rarely) it is transient.

Solutions: Try copying the file to another drive. Use a disk recovery software, such as Disk First Aid to examine the disk. You can try rebooting with all extensions off. Once in a while this will allow you to read the data. The file in question should be restored from a backup that was stored on a different disk. Regular backups can reduce the time to recover from this error.


Message was edited by: Frank Caggiano

Jan 28, 2013 8:58 PM in response to Frank Caggiano

Hi Frank. .


thanks so much for the detailed info the key to saving my aperture library was being able to copy the individual components over, adn then restoring into an aperture file, thanks for the instructions! Much Appreciated!


Aperture hasn't been able to recreate all the previews and thumbnails, as some of the original files are missing, but i'll be copying over the individual preview folder to try and save a lower resolution photos of those.


Thanks again!


Derrick

Is it possible to Aperture Library by copying over the Contents?

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