Never ending import session?

Question

Level 1

23 points

Never ending import session?

I am trying to import 2746 items from my iPhone 5 to my Aperture 3.5.1 library. When I import direct via Aperture, it eventually shows all 2746 items in the new project but the spinning "importing" wheel at the bottom never stops and thus, the application can't shut down and I can't restart the Mac Mini without force quitting. So, I tried importing via Image Capture and have that export to Aperture, same issue. So I simply moved all items from my iPhone via Image Capture to a folder on my desktop and then went to Aperture and imported that folder, same results. In every case, the importing wheel stops at 50% yet all of the items SEEM to be listed in the new project.

Any idea as to what I might be doing wrong and/or what I might be able to do to fix it?

Thanks!

iMac (27-inch, Late 2012), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2), 3.4GHz Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM

Posted on Mar 30, 2014 4:28 PM

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Answer 1

Mar 30, 2014 4:44 PM in response to Zathrak

Probably not doing anything wrong. Aperture has some tasks it needs to do after the import like create previews and thumbnails for the images.

With an import of 2746 this could take a while.

The way Aperture works is once the actual import is done the images are made available to you to begin working on and the other tasks are carried out in the background. This is one reason why right after a big import Aperture might seem a bit sluggish, it is doing a lot of additional work in the background.

You should leave Aperture up and running until it is finished if you can. However if you have to shutdown the app it will pick up where it left off when you reopen it.

Message was edited by: Frank Caggiano

One thing to keep in mind here with all the import attempts you have done and the force quitting of Aperture you might have put the library in a less then good state. I recommend that you run a library repair before you try the import again. Hold the command and option keys down and select Repair from the menu. When that is done try the import again.

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Answer 2

Zathrak Author

Level 1

23 points

Mar 30, 2014 4:47 PM in response to Frank Caggiano

Thanks for the quick reply!

I started the import yesterday at 12pm Noon EST, it's now almost 8pm EST the following day (32hrs total). It's not sluggish in any way and the processor doesn't seem to be working much according to Activity Monitor. All images and videos have thumbnails and the metadata also seems to be in place.

Any other thoughts? Is there a reasonable way to determine which file might be causing the issue without force closing it again and re-importing chuck by chunck and force closing again until I find it?

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Answer 3

Mar 30, 2014 4:59 PM in response to Zathrak

Again if you forced quit Aperture you likely left the library in a bad state so a repair is in order.

So do a repair and restart Aperture, what happens? You can also open the Activity window in Aperture (not the system Activity Monitor) to check what Aperture is up to.

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Answer 4

Zathrak Author

Level 1

23 points

Mar 30, 2014 5:04 PM in response to Frank Caggiano

Well, I can cancel the import, the items go away, yet it still shows the import pie circle logo at 50% and the spinning wheel at the bottom of Aperture continues. At that point, I'm not able to close the application so I have to force quit. Quit is greyed out. It still is working properly however (force quit applications doesn't show a non-responsive application). When I force quit and relaunch, no repair message or anything comes up. It just goes right in to my library with no items in my latest imported project.

I'm going to re-import again and it will fail, but I'll check the activity log in aperture this time.

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Answer 5

Mar 30, 2014 5:23 PM in response to Zathrak

As you came here asking for help I will try once again, if you force quit the app you need to run a repair before using that library again. If you don't there is no way to tell what condition the library is in.

You will, as a rule, not get any message telling you to run the repair. If you decide not to that is your call.

good luck

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Answer 6

Zathrak Author

Level 1

23 points

Mar 30, 2014 5:29 PM in response to Frank Caggiano

Easy killer, I wasn't choosing to do nothing. I just don't know what I'm doing which is why I came here for help. What do you mean run a repair? You have to force aperture to repair itself? How? Nevermind, I'll go google that.

A general rule at work that might be worth sharing: always assume positive intent.

Thanks for your time.

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Answer 7

Mar 30, 2014 6:52 PM in response to Zathrak

Not a killer just someone volunteering my time (as we all are) trying to help other users.

If someone doesn't want to take the advice I post and has there their own path they want to follow that's fine by me. Has happened before, will happen again. Honestly it won't keep me awake tonight.

regards

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Answer 8

Mar 30, 2014 7:15 PM in response to Zathrak

You've received excellent advice from a patient teacher.

Repair is part of the standard Apple-recommended trouble-shooting. Details are on Apple's Aperture trouble-shooting page.

We have snowballed tens of thousands of hours of Aperture use on this forum, stored it in a secret unguarded location, and serve it, neatly shaved, rounded, and sweetened with flavoring, to all who seek a little nourishment and relief. One of the things we know, is:

If you force-quit Aperture, you should repair your database.

Srsly.

Repair your Library and then come back and ask more questions.

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Answer 9

Zathrak Author

Level 1

23 points

Mar 30, 2014 7:19 PM in response to Zathrak

Bunch of nice people in this forum.

I've got it figured out. (No, the database didn't need repair.)

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Answer 10

Mar 30, 2014 7:22 PM in response to Zathrak

Excellent 🙂 .

Please post what you found out so that others who find this thread can benefit.

Thanks.

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