Rick,

For us to help, we need to know more information. Please tell us in as much detail as you can what you did, what happened, what you were expecting, etc.

Reconnecting masters is an easy-enough task, but let’s see where you’re actually at.

I know you said you have read much on the topic, but consider checking out some of the Aperture training sold here on the ApertureExpert Store. Details like this are covered extensively throughout the training.

But let’s get you back up and running, first.

Rick,

Thanks for the details.

I think you understand the basic difference between managed and referenced, but I want to be certain you do.

Managed means Aperture literally manages the files for you, storing them inside its own database, called the Library. This is, for all intents and purposes, a single file (it’s actually a package). That’s Library is everything — the database, the metadata, the masters, the previews, everything.

Referenced means that you are responsible for managing the master files, not Aperture. These masters can live anywhere you want outside of the Aperture library. On the same hard drive (but then there’s not much point), on a USB or Firewire or Thunderbolt drive, across a network, or even on a DVD-ROM (although the access speed would be horrendously slow).

The primary advantage of managed is simplicity of use and backup; the primary advantage of referenced is flexibility and expansion.

In step 1. above, it sounds like your intention is to have your Library on the MacBook Pro, and the masters on a portable hard drive. Is that right? Keep in mind that USB is pretty slow, and it’s not ideal to store master on a slow drive. You’d be better off with a Firewire external drive, or Thunderbolt if your Mac supports it.

2. Your understanding is incorrect — there is only one library. That library may or may not contain the masters, but regardless there is only one library.

3. When you do File > Relocate Master, you shouldn’t have to reconnect. Aperture is making the move for you, so it knows where the masters are. Something else went wrong there.

4. Everything is working but I don’t know if you have a managed or referenced library now.

Easy way to know the difference is to look for the referenced badge (square with a curved arrow in it) on the thumbnails (tap the U key to toggle that metadata on and off).

So let’s see where you’re actually at now, and go from there.

a. Where is the Library now?
b. Where are the masters? If not managed, then where are they?
c. Is my assumption correct on what you are trying to ultimately do?

-Joseph

Well, you said you moved everything to the WD, then went back to the G-Tech, then erased the WD… are you sure you moved your files back to the G-Tech before wiping the WD?

When you say your Library looks to be on your USB drive, what makes you say that? Why do you believe that’s where it is? You’re able to open Aperture, right… and you can see your photos, but they are offline (meaning you see the box with the curved arrow and a RED LINE through it right?). If you open the Aperture preferences the first tab General has a listing “library location”; where is that pointing at? That’s where your Library is.

The masters though, I don’t know… hopefully not on the erased drive.

Where do the masters go if erased by Disk Utility? When you erase or reformat a drive, all that is removed is the file headers so that they appear to not be there, however the files are actually still intact. If you zeroed out the drive, however, then they are gone forever.

If you don’t have the files anywhere, then do NOT do anything else to your WD drive. You need to get a recovery utility (un-erase) and see if you can save your masters off that drive.

I assume at this point that you don’t have a backup?

-Joseph

Rick,

23Gb for 20k photos, that’s only a little over 1MB per photo, so yeah that’s just metadata and thumbnails and previews. Masters would be 10x to 20x that.

You ask “when I go to file > switch … original G-Tech drive”; but that’s what you’re currently running isn’t it? That one Library that’s on the G-Tech? Do you see any other libraries listed in the Switch dialog?

The count of versions and masters simply means how many Aperture is aware of. It doesn’t know that the masters are missing.

Try a Finder search for one of the master names. But if you don’t find anything, and with 20k photos it’s not like it’s a little thing hiding somewhere, it sounds to me like you erased the hard drive that had all your masters. Get going on a recovery utility asap.

-Joseph

Rick,

Glad to hear it!!

I assume your photos are referenced now, yes? The masters are separate from the Library?

Here’s how I would do this. I think if you follow these steps you won’t have to go through a reconnect, but I can’t promise that. You’re moving both pieces and so the paths are likely to break. It’s no big deal if they do, but just so you know in advance.

Library and Masters are both on the G-TECH. You want to move the Masters to a portable drive and the Library to your MacBook Pro.

1. Open Aperture. Right click on the Photos icon and choose “relocate masters for library” [screenshot]. Point them to your new drive. This will give you an opportunity to alter the structure of the files if you like (are they yyyy/mm/dd folders now, or project named folders, or? If you want to change that structure, now is your chance.)

2. Once complete, shut down Aperture and copy the Library to the MacBook Pro internal drive. Relaunch Aperture, and see if it automatically connects to your masters. If so, you’re done. If not, then go to the Photos view, make sure that you are in “show all” view [screenshot], select all photos, then go to menu File > Locate Referenced Files. You will only have to match one file, the click Reconnect All and everything will reconnect.

As far as the videos, I don’t think I have one on this specific task. There are tips to troubleshooting it in the “ApertureExpert’s 15 Tips on File Management in Aperture 3” ebook and general guidance in the “In-Depth Getting Started with Aperture 3” but this is pretty specific so no, I don’t have a training just on that. But as you can see, it’s quite simple.

As far as processing RAW files; you don’t have to… that’s kind of the idea in Aperture. You don’t have to process, it’s done for you (you can tweak if you want, but few do). You can of course adjust files all day long, and if that’s what you mean, then check out the series of Live Training videos that cover Adjustments (videos 008 to 016).

-Joseph