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Level 1

80 points

Cannot open an external library

I copied the full Aperture Library to an externat disc (the original computer has gone for now). Yesterday I tried to open this library on my son's MBP (choosing "other library" from the external disc) and it opened perfect.

Today I got a new Macbook Air, tried to do the same , but so far it failed always: first reporting some errors, then "rebuilding" and being stuck. Now repairing and being stuck at 22%. I wonder why and why I simply cannot open an external library ("switch to Library") on the latest MB Air on the fresh installation

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mavericks (10.9)

Posted on Apr 1, 2014 8:45 AM

22 replies

savita88 Author

Level 1

80 points

Apr 2, 2014 12:20 AM in response to William Lloyd

I use Paragon NFTS software. Anyway, I did backuping Aperture library few times on WD Passport. When copying back to the computer (reinstalled etc.), it always worked perfect. The truth also is that this library on NFTS Passport opened perfectly on my son's MBP Retina 13 without any problem and very quickly. Now I copy Time Machine Aperture library to the newly formatted external disc

I just always wonder why copying Aperture library is always so EXTREMELY slow. On USB3 it goes 4MB/s speed with endless finishing time (while normal speed is 80/90 MB/s). The same for emptying trash on Mac. Recently I wanted to empty about 300-400 GB from external disc, it took several hours !

léonie

Level 10

195,113 points

Apr 2, 2014 2:33 AM in response to savita88

If you cannot set the "ignore ownership" flag on that drive, because it is not formatted for mac, you cannot share the library between different user accounts on different macs on that volume. You will always run into permission problems, if you write to that library from two different accounts alternately.

Aperture libraries are unsupported on any filesystem other than MacOS Extended (Journaled).

This is Apple's requirement:

Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture

savita88 Author

Level 1

80 points

Apr 2, 2014 4:18 AM in response to savita88

So I formatted the external drive to MacOS extended, copied the Aperture Library from Time Machine and after trying to open, I got this message: Your library cannot be opened, since the database is missing, you need to rebuild the library.

I already wonder - why is it so frustrating ? Why the same very library that was backup on the dedicated Time Machine drive is not correct and something is missing ?

savita88 Author

Level 1

80 points

Apr 2, 2014 7:46 AM in response to savita88

So finally after all those troubles it seems to work (opening an external library)

Apr 2, 2014 9:08 AM in response to savita88

I think it's slow because the library has lots of small files in it, and Finder copies seem to be pretty slow with small files.

I've used rsync to copy it and it's a lot faster.

savita88 Author

Level 1

80 points

Apr 2, 2014 10:00 AM in response to William Lloyd

May I ask what is rsync and how it helps ?

Apr 2, 2014 10:22 AM in response to savita88

rsync is a UNIX utility for copying files. You need to do it from the command line.

See this thread in the Aperture Expert forums for how one users backs up his Aperture libraries

https://www.apertureexpert.com/forum/vaults-vs-basic-copy/9797#.UzxG1V4_NSU

Do note that rsync is pretty particular about syntax so this may just be an FYI, if you're not copying frequently. If you have a managed library, I suggest using Aperture's vault functionality to back up (be sure you're backing up to an properly-Mac-formatted drive though!)

Cannot open an external library