Aperture Library won't open on MAC OS-extended, journaled Seagate 1TB external HD

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Level 1

8 points

Aperture Library won't open on MAC OS-extended, journaled Seagate 1TB external HD

I reformatted (MAC OS-extended, journaled) my Seagate 1TB external HD, and copied my Aperture Library from my MPB (I did not delete the library off the MBP, as I wanted to make certain the library would open from the HD.) I got this error message: “Aperture cannot switch to the selected library because the file system of the library’s volume is not supported.” MY LaCie Rugged HD was formatted extended/journaled and it opened the Aperture Libraries without issue. Is this a SeaGate issue? I seem to struggle constantly with backing up my Aperture Libraries to HDs. They (obviously) take up way too much space on my MBP, but I seem to experience never-ending frustrations in this particular process.

Any suggestions on why this has happened? I dread the thought of moving everything off this HD, reformatting AGAIN, without a possible solution.

Thank you in advance for any help or advice. 🙂

MacBook Pro, OS X Mavericks (10.9.5), Aperture 3.5.1

Posted on Jun 5, 2017 6:42 AM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

200,789 points

Jun 5, 2017 8:49 PM in response to Eidelkeit

As for the "Ignore ownership on this volume flag" -where is that located? I am not familiar with that.

Select your external drive in the Finder, then use "File Get Info". The Info panel for the drive should be showing this flag in the "Sharing&Permissions" section at the bottom of the panel. This is explained in this document:

Sharing photo libraries among multiple users - Apple Support

The same setup should help to ensure that you have read and write access to all files on that volume.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

200,789 points

Jun 5, 2017 11:24 AM in response to Eidelkeit

MacOS Extended (Journaled) is exactly the file format you need for Aperture - see: Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture - Apple Support

Have you enabled the "Ignore ownership on this volume" flag? That can help to prevent problems with the file ownership.

Is the drive perhaps also used as a Time Machine drive? I have occasionally seen Aperture refuse to open a library, if the drive is used by Time Machine. And the drive needs to be locally mounted, not a network share.

Or is seagate software installed on the drive for backup or similar? That can prevent Aperture from using the library on that drive.

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Answer 3

Eidelkeit Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 5, 2017 11:28 AM in response to léonie

First-THANK YOU for getting back to me so quickly. I really appreciate it.

The HD is only used for back-up/storage. It has never been used for a Time Machine back-up.

It is definitely local only. It has only beed mounted to my MBP.

I don't use the SeaGate software (or the WD, etc.). I simply move things onto the drive via Finder.

As for the "Ignore ownership on this volume flag" -where is that located? I am not familiar with that.

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Answer 4

Eidelkeit Author

Level 1

8 points

Jun 5, 2017 8:49 PM in response to léonie

VOILIA! When I opened up the SeaGate, it did not have these options and permissions, and as I looked more closely, I saw that it is formatted FAT32, even though I specifically used Disk Utility and chose Mac/Journaled/Extended. (I never thought to double check before I started loading files on to it!)

I ended up having to purchase another HD today for work files, and it did properly format, so I will use that as a temporary location for the Aperture libraries until I can either get the SeaGate formatted HFS, or get another HD just for Aperture libraries.

So--thank you for that very simple suggestion--it was just what I needed!

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Answer 5

léonie

Level 10

200,789 points

Jun 6, 2017 8:07 AM in response to Eidelkeit

That explains it then. 😁

FAT32 is the worst possible format for a drive to use with Aperture. It should work with single files and documents, just not for a library. A pity, that Disk Utility did not manage to format the drive correctly.

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