Aperture Missing Masters

the cloud and decided to sync it to Google Drive.

Do you mean, you are storing the Aperture library on Google Drive? That is not supported.

Aperture cannot store the library in a cloud storage or on a network volume. Syncing will break the internal links between the database items and the filesystem will cause ambigious filenames.

See Apple's requirements for an external drive for Aperture libraries at the link below:

Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library

You will need to restore the Aperture library from a Time Machine backup or another backup on a local disk.

If you do not have a working backup, try the following:

Copy the Aperture library back from the Cloud storage to a locally mounted drive and try to repair or rebuild it.

See this Manual page: http://documentation.apple.com/en/aperture/usermanual/index.html#chapter=27%26se ction=10%26tasks=true

Since the library is badly damaged, all attempts to repair or rebuild may make it worse. Make a copy of the library, before you try that.

Post back with the results.

I guess my fear is that for some reason it turned into a two way sync and it tried to write back on the Aperture library thus corrupting it.

I don't use Google drive, so I cannot help with that.

I still feel that the files are sitting there I just can't find them since the file size is still correct at 400GB aprox.

If Google Drive did sync back, you will see exactly the broken references you are having now.

Aperture cannot find the original image files inside the Aperture library package. they are probably still there, and you will see them, if you ctrl-click the Aperture Library and use the command "Show Package Contents".

The big problem is that Aperture cannot repair broken links to originals, if your library is managed. For a referenced library you could reestablish the links using "Locate referenced files".

• The best option would be to restore your library from a Time machine backup, or whatever local backup you have.
• The second option - very lossy - is to reimport the photos in the Masters folder, project by project, and essentially to recreate the library this way. Lift and stamp the adjustments and metadata from the previous versions, then delete the corrupted version.
• The third option - treat your Aperture as an iPhoto Library. Make a new backup of the current version of your Aperture library, then download the free trial version of iPhoto Library Manager (Fat Cat Software – iPhoto Library Manager). This great utility can sometimes relink originals and edited versions, when the First Aid Tools fail. You could give it a try - see this page: Rebuilding a corrupted iPhoto library