Aperture: Folders or Projects missing after 1.5 update installed

Issue or symptom

Folders or projects may disappear after you update to Aperture 1.5

Solution

The first thing to be sure of when this happens is that you do not empty the Trash until you have performed the following steps, or you may lose images.

Before proceeding with the following steps, check the issue described here. If this does not resolve the issue proceed as follows.

This happens when you use a period (".") as the first character in the folder/project name. The computer treats files or folders that start with a period as hidden files. If this happens, and you have an up-to-date vault, then do the Reinstall and Recover steps. If you don't have a vault or your vault is not up-to-date, then follow the Terminal steps below.

Reinstall and Recover

Note: Make sure that you have your installation discs and serial number handy before starting this.

1. In the Finder, go to /Library/Receipts and drag all receipts whose names start with "Aperture" to the Trash.
2. Drag the Aperture application from /Applications to the Trash.
3. Locate your Aperture Library (by default located at ~/Pictures) and rename it something like Aperture Library.old.
4. Install a previous version of Aperture.
5. Recover your Aperture library from a vault.
6. Rename the folders and projects so that their names do not start with a period (".").
7. Re-apply the Aperture 1.5 update.

Terminal Steps

If you do not have an up-to date Vault, you may be able to recover some or all of the missing images by doing the following:

Warning: These steps involve entering commands in the Terminal application. Users unfamiliar with Terminal and UNIX-style environments should proceed with caution. The entry of incorrect commands may result in data loss and/or unusable system software.

1. Open the Terminal application from /Applications/Utlities.
2. At the prompt, type
   defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles YES
   
3. Log out and then back in. This will cause the changes from the previous step to take effect.
4. Open the Trash. If there are any of your missing folders there, drag them out of the Trash to the Desktop.
5. Rename any items from the previous step whose names start with "."
6. Control-click your Aperture Library and choose Show Package Contents from the shortcut menu.
7. If any of the project package or folder names in the library start with ".", rename them.
8. If you used a "." to start any folder names inside projects, then Control-click any of the project packages that contain those folders, choose Show Package Contents, and rename the folders.
9. Open Aperture. It will detect the renamed items.
10. If you recovered any items from the Trash, re-import the images from the Desktop.
11. At the prompt in the Terminal application, type
    defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles NO
12. Quit Terminal.
13. Log out and then back in. This will cause the changes from the previous step to take effect.