More issues with poor Aperture performance

Thanks for the suggestion, but that didn't work. I created a 10-image library and the problems started immediately.

I've tried all the usual stuff, like repairing the library and permissions and deleting various cache files, but none of that works.

Would a complete reinstall be worth trying?

Do you see the beach ball, whith a new, empty Aperture is library, or only after adding images?

Yep, it beachballs when I open a new, empty library.

Does Aperture start without beachballing, if you launch it with the SHIFT key ⇧ held down?

Does this prevent previews being generated? Because I already have previews set not to generate automatically (I thought that might be the issue). Either way, it still beachballs when I hold shift when I open Ap.

Thanks anyway.

Terence Devlin wrote:

Before you do that, switch to (or create) a new user account and repeat the test there. If the problem persists then yes, reinstall. If not then something on the original account is causing the problem, not Aperture itself.

Hmmm, new library on new user account = no beach ball on opening, or when moving around the interface. So does this mean that there's a problem with my current account? I did upgrade it to Mountain Lion from Lion (without doing a clean install). Could that be an issue?

Aperture could be waiting for drives to be mounted, network access to sync with Flickr or facebook, etc., or privacy settings in your user account, like file vault, may be preventing immediate access to your library.

My library is located on my main SSD, but I do have an external drive, accessed wirelessly, which holds my media (but not any photos in my Ap library). I don't use File Vaults, or Aperture vaults, or sync my account with anything online (including Photostream).

Yes, the shift-key prevents preview generation on start-up. Even with preview generation disabled in the preferences, Apertre may still try to render previews, if you have enabled this for individual projects, like this:

Good to know! I did have it maintaining previews for projects. But it still beachballs when I open Ap with shift held down.

While you are testing TD's suggestion: Did you update any software lately or install other programs? Incompatible third-party applications may be causing such problems.

The only big install I did recently was Photoshop CC after I subscribed to the CC. But this problem predates that by many months.

leonieDF wrote:

Did the problems start immediately after updating to Mt. Lion? You should be able to install Mt. Lion on top of Lion. Do you have Aperture plug-ins that are only used in your account and may not be compatible with Mt. Lion? Did you install anything else?

I can't remember to be honest. I'd say not, though, because I'd probably notice a sudden drop in performance.

The only plug-in I use is Photomatix HDR (trial version - I'd bought the full version prior to the Ap plug-in being released, grrrr). Worth removing?

Do you use helper preference panes that are only used in your account?

No.

Thanks for the link - I'll try that now....

leonieDF wrote:

If none of the above applies, start by removing the user preferences and next the presets from your user library.

See Aperture 3: Troubleshooting Basics on how to remove user preferences and presets; see the paragraphs: "Delete the user preferences" and "Move the user created presets, keyword lists, and so on..."

Unfortunately none of that worked, either...

I have also tried deleting these caches to no avail:

Hard Drive/Library/Caches
Hard Drive/System/Library/Caches
Hard Drive/Users/(Your user)/Library/Caches

and the prefs file:

Hard Drive/Users/(Your user)/Library/Preferences/com.apple.aperture.plist

The only thing that seems to have worked so far is creating a new user account.

leonieDF wrote:

Do you still have the contents of "Hard Drive/System/Library/Caches"? Then restore it. Some items from the system cache can cause problems, if they are missing, for example: Re: Import video to Aperture library on Mountain Lion

Nope. Well, they're in the trash, but as I don't know which of the files in the trash came from that cache, I can't restore them. My bad. But my problem predates me deleting the cache files anyway.

So try again, but log off and on after removing the preferences, moving presets, clearing user caches.

Also try to clear Aperture's cache in the $TMPDIR :

Check this temporary directory - you can open it from the Terminal: Launch the Terminal.app from Applications > Utilities and and enter the following line:

open $TMPDIR

Hit return. This will open a Finder window. Look for a folder "com.apple.Aperture"

You can delete its contents.

Unfortunately none of that worked either.

Look at Photomatix website, if your version is current and supported by Mt. Lion.

Apparently it is supported.

Thanks for your persistence!

Ernie Stamper wrote:

Have you tested with this wireless external drive not connected?

Yes, makes no difference.

In the other User Account, hold down the Option Key while clicking to launch Aperture. What libraries are offered in the resulting dialogue? Is the primary library that you use in your normal user account listed? If so, can you choose and open it? (there might be a legit issue of permissions with that, but check)

It isn't listed, but I can navigate to it. I can't open it, so I navigated to it in the finder and allowed myself read and write permissions (in fact I allowed the whole file path). But oddly that doesn't work. It says that the permissions are wrong. When I go back to my main user account to check on the permissions, it recognises that my new account has read/write access. Not sure why it's not letting Ap open it in the new account.