Cannot open an external library

Question

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

Reply

Answer 1

Apr 1, 2014 9:54 AM in response to savita88

It may be due to different Operating Systems on the two machines. Is your son's MBP running the same OS as your Macbook Air?

Assuming the MBA is running Mavericks, have you opened the Library on a machine running Mavericks before?

What do you mean by "being stuck"? In general, you should always let Aperture continue to run. How did you resolve "being stuck"?

Reply

Answer 2

savita88 Author

Level 1

80 points

Apr 1, 2014 10:11 AM in response to Kirby Krieger

There is the same OSX (the latest). Being stuck I mean infamous rainbow circle - application not respondiing - force quit. Now - what happened is that this library is limited now only on 2 projects ("recovered projetcs") while it has hundreds projects and thousands photos. Even on my son's computer , just these 2 projects now appear. It is quite stressful for me - has everything disappeared ? (190 GB library). How can I make my library working again ? I hope it is not destroyed somehow ... And I don't know why

Reply

Answer 3

savita88 Author

Level 1

80 points

Apr 1, 2014 10:35 AM in response to savita88

It shows also this:

I try :

But it always returns to the same

And then also:

Does it have anything to do with it ? Quite a mess. The strange thing is that even on another computer this library suddenly shows only 2 projects. And yesterday I open this full library very easily on another computer without any such permissions etc fuss

Reply

Answer 4

savita88 Author

Level 1

80 points

Apr 1, 2014 10:41 AM in response to savita88

The present state is: if I open the blank Aperture library on the computer, select switch library and direct to the disk where 190 GB library is , it opens only with 2 "recovered projects" nothing else 😟 Where is the rest and how can I get all the photos back ?

Reply

Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

194,785 points

Apr 1, 2014 10:52 AM in response to savita88

savita, to repair the permissions on a photo library better use the tools provided by Aperture.

Launch APerture while holding down the key combination option-command ⌥⌘ and continue to hold down the keys firmly, until you are seeing the Library First Aid panel. Select "Repair Permissions" from the panel and let the repair run.

How many photos are in your two recovered projects?

If your Aperture library got badly corrupted, sometimes all your photos will be recued to a "recovered" project.

Reply

Answer 6

savita88 Author

Level 1

80 points

Apr 1, 2014 11:03 AM in response to léonie

Whatever I do, I get this:

I did "repair permissions" - immeditaly this error came (so Repair Perrmissions is not possible). I then did "repair library: after 15 min in 99% the same came

Now started Rebuild Library, so let us see. I am afraid it will come to the same result (after the whole time consuming process)

Reply

Answer 7

savita88 Author

Level 1

80 points

Apr 1, 2014 11:45 AM in response to savita88

Now it is being stuck on this moveless sign for quite a while. No sign of any progress or activity. I wonder why there cannot be any clear guideline\progress line what's going on, I don't know if it is frozen, stopped or still working :

Reply

Answer 8

léonie

Level 10

194,785 points

Apr 1, 2014 11:45 AM in response to savita88

Rebuilding a library can take hours without any visible progress. Let it run.

Reply

Answer 9

Apr 1, 2014 11:50 AM in response to savita88

What is the format of the external drive? Hopefully it is Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) and NOT FAT32. If it's FAT32, you may have a significant problem on your hands.

Reply

Answer 10

savita88 Author

Level 1

80 points

Apr 1, 2014 12:04 PM in response to William Lloyd

NTFS.

The result of the whole rebuilding was again the report about "cannot open library - make sure permissions etc,). Wha's going on ?

Now (when I disconnect the disc, choose internal library and then switch to disc library) I have 2 recovered projects there with about 10 000 photos in them. All the folders/projects gone.

The good news is that I still have (except few last photos) this library backuped on Time Machine disc ... (hopefully)

Reply

Answer 11

léonie

Level 10

194,785 points

Apr 1, 2014 12:14 PM in response to savita88

If your external drive is correctly formatted,you should also enable the "ignore ownership on this volume" flag:

see: iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users

Reply

Answer 12

savita88 Author

Level 1

80 points

Apr 1, 2014 12:43 PM in response to léonie

It is not there ... Shall I format the whole drive to MacOS extended and then to copy the Aperture Library from Time Machine ?

Reply

Answer 13

léonie

Level 10

194,785 points

Apr 1, 2014 12:47 PM in response to savita88

It is not there ...

What kind of external drive is it? Are you using it with Time Machine as well? a NAS?

Reply

Answer 14

savita88 Author

Level 1

80 points

Apr 1, 2014 1:45 PM in response to léonie

This external drive is WD 2,5' passport 1,5TB NFTS USB3

Timě machine is another dedicated disc just for TM (formated by mac) - Firewire

Reply

Answer 15

Apr 1, 2014 3:49 PM in response to savita88

NTFS?! That's odd. OS X cannot write NTFS natively. Are you using some sort of software to enable it?

At any rate, it is HIGHLY likely that NTFS is the problem. It very well may not support the file names that Aperture uses internally in its library, and who knows how the NTFS permissions map to what Apple needs on its library.

I'd suggest restoring from your Time Machine backup, and formatting the external drive as Mac OS X Extended (Journaled) before storing Aperture libraries on it.

Reply