Ian Downie

Q: Aperture library destroyed by migration to Photos

I've just discovered that, when I first opened Photos to have a look at it (and then reject it), the migration process deleted my Aperture library. Looking at my Time Machine backup, I can see that on 16 April, ApertureLibrary.aplibrary in my Pictures folder was replaced by ApertureLibrary.migratedaplibrary. I have not opened Aperture since then until today, when I wanted to add some photographs. When I did this, I found that the library was completely empty, and there is now a new ApertureLibary.aplibrary in my Pictures folder with a creation date of today.

 

I closed Aperture and restored the library file from 15 April to my desktop. When I re-opened Aperture, it came up with a choice of libraries, including the restored version on the desktop. Choosing that appears to have got my library back intact.

 

I've not seen anyone else reporting this issue but, if you are happy with Aperture, I would strongly advise against opening Photos and accepting the offer to 'upgrade' your library without making a backup copy of the original library. My library isn't huge because I use referenced files but if you store all your photographs directly in the library, you may run into storage space difficulties.

Posted on May 12, 2015 2:04 AM

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Q: Aperture library destroyed by migration to Photos

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  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie May 12, 2015 3:12 AM in response to Ian Downie
    Level 10 (106,767 points)
    iLife
    May 12, 2015 3:12 AM in response to Ian Downie

    Thanks for the warning. There must have something wrong with your migration to Photos. I hope, it was just a rare exception.

    What should have happened, when all goes well:

     

    The migration should only change the filename extension of your Aperture library to "migratedaplibrary", but otherwise the library should have been left unchanged, since Photos will create a new copy of the Aperture library.

    When you launch Aperture again, you should see a warning panel and selecting "Open Aperture" from this panel is supposed to open Aperture and change the filename extension back.

    See:  If Photos won't open a library that you already migrated - Apple Support

    and : Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support

     

    It would be good to know, what caused Aperture to create a new library instead of opening the original library. 

  • by Ian Downie,

    Ian Downie Ian Downie May 12, 2015 3:42 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (25 points)
    May 12, 2015 3:42 AM in response to léonie

    Yes, I did not see the warning panel when I launched Aperture today - it simply opened with an empty library. Obviously this is not a common problem or others would have reported it. Fortunately, Time Machine was able to recover the old library so it is no more than a minor inconvenience.

     

    I've no idea how I could find out why Aperture created a new, empty library.

     

    From what you say, a simpler solution would have been simply to change the extension back to '.aplibrary' is that correct?

  • by léonie,Solvedanswer

    léonie léonie May 12, 2015 4:25 AM in response to Ian Downie
    Level 10 (106,767 points)
    iLife
    May 12, 2015 4:25 AM in response to Ian Downie
    I've no idea how I could find out why Aperture created a new, empty library.

    If you want to explore the issue further you could experiment with a test library. Create a new, empty Aperture library in the same folder as your current Aperture library (but pick a different name), import a few photos, quit Aperture, then drag the library onto the Photos icon and migrate it to Photos.

    Now click the new "ApertureLibrary.migratedaplibrary" and see, if it will open in Aperture without problems.

     

    If a new library works well, there may have been a problem with your main Aperture library. Perhaps it needs repairing.  (See this manual page:  Repairing and Rebuilding Your Aperture Library: Aperture 3 User Manual)

     

    You can switch between Photos libraries by holding down the option key while launching Photos, just like in Aperture.

  • by Ian Downie,

    Ian Downie Ian Downie May 12, 2015 5:00 AM in response to léonie
    Level 1 (25 points)
    May 12, 2015 5:00 AM in response to léonie

    Now I understand! When I followed Léonie's instructions to create a new test library, and converted it, the original Test.aplibrary was replaced by Test.migratedaplibrary. Double clicking that brought up the dialogue Léonie describes, and I realised I had seen that before, when I opened Aperture earlier today.

     

    It says this: "The content of this Aperture library already has been migrated to the Photos app. This library can be opened in Aperture, but any changes, including importing new photos, will not appear in the Photos library." The Quit option is highlighted and I chose that, without realising that choosing 'Open library in Aperture' was the correct option to choose. The information I had read had led me to believe that the Aperture library would not be affected by the migration to Photos but I was wrong - it had its extension changed.

     

    Following the test procedure allowed me to revert to the original Aperture version of the test library, and restored the original extension '.aplibrary'.

     

    Problem solved.