Q: Unable to open Aperture library in Photos

See if this has an answer:

If Photos can't copy or create a library

Fix Photos unable to migrate your photo library

The library may need repair. I don't use Aperture, so I don't know how that is done, but you should investigate.

I've got exactly the same problem. I've ensured the aperture library (which is around 535gb in size) has been repaired and rebuilt. It's on an external HD connected to my macbook air.

For some reason it always hangs at either 60% or 69% in the 'repairing library' process and then I get the same message as you.

I have the exact same problem.  My Aperture Library is about 535Gb and Photos will not allow me to select the Aperture library for import.  I have to click the option key while then clicking on the Aperture library to start the import process into photos.  I get to about 69% completion....then Photos returns a message claiming that my library could not be repaired.  I repaired the library all 3 ways in aperture, and can open it just fine in both Aperture and iPhoto. 

I even created a brand new photos library on a separate drive and tried to import the repaired x 3 Aperture library into that new photos library.....no luck.  Import got stuck again at about 69%.

I suspect that Photos has not been adequately beta tested in "real world" deployment.....but I suppose that that is what we are - the beta testing crowd! 

I hope that Apple reads these posts and pays attention.  Photos was clearly not quite ready for real world deployment.

I may give Apple a call tomorrow to see what I can get sorted out in regard to this issue.  The cost of keeping 1Tb of photos in the cloud also seems to be terribly expensive.  I think that it may be better for one to get their own cloud drive and make their own icloud for photos - given the cost of what Apple wants to keep 1Tb of icloud storage for you.  Even Dropbox is a lot cheaper.

I'd be interested in any solutions to the importation problem that people can come up with. 

Thanks for that information.  I have been toying with the idea of using CaptureOne, and keeping my photos on a cloud drive.....or Dropbox.  Not sure which way I'm going to go yet.  Hopefully Apple will respond with an update soon - but I'm not sure if I want to trust it.  I'm starting to wonder if it just isn't safer to forget about any program to archive photos and to simply keep all photos in a dropbox, and use the MacPhun software suite to make edits, etc.

I just talked to Apple Support.  They have a dedicated photos team for these sorts of problems.  They are going to call me tomorrow afternoon and I'll post an update with the solution that they find.

I talked to apple support.  They recommended doing a basic level permissions repair using the following procedure:

The advice is a little outdated, and you just have to run the disk utility program to repair the permissions on your main drive and the drive upon which you store the databases.  I have tried the following procedure and have re-run the importation procedure.  Just at 1% now - so I hope that it will work this time.  If it doesn't, I will report back after talking to a  Level 2 person at Photos support.

JF

In the newest versions of OS X, there is an additional Repair Permissions application utility hidden away. This tool is located inside boot Repair Utilities. Here’s how to access it.

1. Restart OS X and hold down the Command and R keys.
2. You will boot into the Repair Utilities screen. On top, in the Menu Bar click the Utilities item then select Terminal.
3. In the Terminal window, type “resetpassword” (without the quotes) and hit Return.
4. The Password reset utility launches, but you’re not going to reset the password. Instead, click on the icon for your Mac’s hard drive at the top. From the drop-down below it, select the user account where you are having issues.
5. At the bottom of the window, you’ll see an area labeled ‘Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs’. Click the Reset button there.

The reset process takes a couple of minutes. When it’s done, quit the programs you’ve opened and restart your Mac. Notice that ‘Spotlight’ starts re-indexing immediately.

Great tip, thanks for sending this in Tony R!

Update: This works in OS X 10.7 Lion, and 10.8 Mountain Lion, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, and newer.

No solution with level 2 support so far.   They are going to bump me up to an actual Photos software engineer.

I Hope to get a solution this week.

Did you get anywhere with this?

I have the exact same issues. According to Console I got the following error :"16/05/2015 14:29:39.453 Photos[3195]: Failed to open/create library at: '/Users/cameron/Pictures/Aperture Library.aplibrary'".

It always fails at 69% of repairing the library. I've already repaired using all the repair options in Aperture even though Aperture does not think it needs repairing.

My setup is that I have a 40GB library on my system disk and have 300GB of referenced masters on an external hard drive. I've tried moving the Aperture Library to the same disk as the referenced masters as I read somewhere that it uses hard links (which would only work on same disk) but this did not work either. Same error.

I'm at a loss, as far as I can tell I'm doing everything any consumer would do and nothing out of the ordinary.

Thanks.

Would love to know what the outcome of your level 2 support? I'm in the same boat and just can't migrate my Aperture library.

NO solution yet with level 2 support.  I have an appointment on Tuesday to chat with them about it in order to get the case number elevated to the engineering level.  May be challenging.   I will be in the USA travelling on business - but I have activated "back to my Mac" in my desktop, so I hope that it will work to get things sorted out by remote control.  I will keep reporting the results of my efforts here.