When I upgraded from a PowerBook to a new MacBook Pro, I used Windows File Sharing (also known as Samba or SMB sharing) to transfer all of my files from one computer to the other via a network, and it looks like that corrupted my Aperture Library.
It look me a few days to realize the problem, but here are a few symptoms I noticed:
- Images that were in the library BEFORE the move were not visible in iLife applications (iPhoto, the screen saver, etc). The projects appeared in the listings, but the images themselves were not visible. For example, the screen saver would always say “The selected folder contains no pictures. Please choose a new folder that contains pictures or add images to the folder.”
- Managed RAW images would not display correctly. I would click on them and the image would appear with a ‘loading’ message, and then eventually I would see a solid red or maroon background with the text “Unsupported Image Format”.
Knowing that the Aperture Libary is just a special directory (called a bundle in Mac-speak), I started poking around inside, comparing a good project (one that I had imported on my new MacBook) to a bad project (one that has been around BEFORE the upgrade).
It turns out that there were directories within the Aperture project directories whose names must have gotten corrupted when I copied the project over from my old computer.
So I wrote a small program to repair the damage. If you have a similar problem, feel free to use this script to help recover your library.
Make sure you close Aperture and BACK UP your Aperture Library before you start!
Ok, now that you’ve backed up your library, download the fixApProject.sh script and save it to your home directory.
Open up Terminal.app (Application->Utilities) and cd INTO your Aperture Library.
If your library is in the default location, do it like this:
cd ~/Pictures/Aperture\ Library.aplibrary/
Now, assuming you’ve put fixApProjech.sh in your home directory, run the following commands:
chmod +x ~/fixApProject.sh
find . -name "*.approject" -type d -exec ~/fixApProject.sh \{\} \;
Awesome! This fixed my “Unsupported image format” errors with RAW images after a Tiger -> Leopard upgrade.
Thanks!
For those having trouble figuring out how to CD into their Aperture library, try these instructions:
pardsbane@Buran:~$ cd /Users/pardsbane/Pictures/Aperture\ Library.aplibrary
chmod +x ~/fixApProject.sh
find . -name "*.approject" -type d -exec ~/fixApProject.sh \{\} \;
This is why I love the internet. Thank you so much for taking your time to share this with everyone. I’ve had problems with my Aperture library for years. I had the exact same problems you described. Ran your fix and now Aperture flies whereas before it was slow and buggy. Again, thank you for taking your time to help others. I really appreciate it.
Great hint.
does this work with AP3.03?
My libraries are completetly shredded since i upgraded and the repair functions of AP are not very efficient with serious problems.
I have summed up some of the problems at my site kameraholiker.de
Cheers, Peter
Unfortunately, this does not work with Aperture 3. The library format changed significantly between versions 2 and 3, switching from a text-based to binary format. I’m sorry for your Aperture 3 problems, but I haven’t had any of the instability you seem to have.
Has anybody an idea how to repair an Aperture 3 library? The onboard (command-alt) cures do not solve my problems but I think this is the right track.
Thank you,
Peter
when i start aperture, aperture ends in one second !!
please help me!
Hello, I don’t know if I can help you at all, but I would definitely need more information. The first thing I recommend you do is open the “Console” application (Look in Applications->Utilities). Start Aperture and let it crash. Then look in Console for an information about Aperture. Hopefully it is logging an error to one of the log files and you will be able to see why it is crashing.
Gah! I was excited to read your post until I got to the comments and learned that this fix won’t work for Aperture 3 libraries! So sad. It’s been so buggy lately… slowing down, crashing for no reason, unsupported image file (when the file is jpg or cr2 and worked fine before), and also weird lines going through the images. It’s enough to get me considering switching to Lightroom. Gah!!!!
Hi, in all honesty I got pretty frustrated with Aperture too and have switched to Lightroom. The learning curve is a bit higher, and I hate the UI, but its more powerful, easier to use once you’ve learned it, and faster than Aperture.