Aperture 2 library / folder question

When I originally imported some 15k photos from iPhoto into Aperture 1 it appears that I copied folders/ albums but they did NOT go into the Aperture library (I think I may have forgotten to tick the copy to library button). I want to have all masters and all photos in the library. How can I: a) be sure that my originals are in the library and; b) move everything (15K+) of photos from various albums/ folders I have in Aperture 2 into the library?
When I tried to work on project (new book) I noticed by dragging photos from albums that it was asking if I wanted to move masters. This is when I noticed that I fear my masters are in folders rather than library. Any thoughts much welcome.

No problem, this is what these boards are made for; questions and answers.
iPhoto always leave the originals in their location and creates a JPEG- version inside the iPhoto Library. This is not only true for RAW- images but also for importing JPEG's. Then, when you imported the iPhoto Library into Aperture the first time you had to choose if the images should remain in their location (referenced) or managed in the Aperture library. If you told Aperture to import them as referenced, then the masters live in their original location and not inside iPhoto since iPhoto also had these images as referenced.
If you told Aperture to import the iPhoto library as managed images, then all the (iPhoto referenced) images were imported into the Aperture library.
As I wrote earlier, Aperture will verify each image when you start to consolidate them. Mind you though, when consolidating the images that came from iPhoto: You will, as usual, get the option to move or copy the images into the Aperture library. If you choose to move them, then Aperture will go to their original location and move them into the library. This will give you a warning in iPhoto telling you that the original is missing when you try to CTRL / Right- click an image or select an image and try to go to the Images menu.
So, when consolidating images from iPhoto, IMO the better solution is to copy the images into the Aperture library if you would like to work with the images in iPhoto as well. It will make duplicates of your images so this is a choice the individual user have to take.
Hope this helped you understand the structure and how to work with the two libraries when it comes to importing and consolidating.
Regards
Paul K

Similar Messages

There is not enough free space on your Aperture Library Volume Question

When importing more images to Aperture I get this:
There is not enough free space on your Aperture Library Volume to import the selected items
Why is this? I am a big time newbee and I am trying to take a crash coarse in Aperture. How do I bring in more photos. I only have a few hundred in there now.
Thanks for any help
Mark

Lots more and very specific info is necessary for troubleshooting. Probably your hard drives is too full.
-Allen Wicks

Library Folder Question

I recently received a .zip file via email and when I double clicked to open it, the file showed on my desktop and then disappeared. I found the file in /Users/name/Library/Containers/com.apple.mail/Data/Library/Mail Downloads In this folder I was able to open the Word docs and other files. I also noticed that this folder contains almost every file I've downloaded over the years from Mail. Is it safe for me to delete these files? I'm running ML but don't see the option to show in products below.
Thanks much.

The attachments you open place itself in that folder. You can test one attachment with the folder open. No implications for the actual attachment in Mail.
You have more control on attachments if you save them to wherever you want them by right-clicking (or ctrl-click) the files inside Mail.

Iphoto library folder question.

Don't quite know how to word this one but here goes. If i go to Finder and click on the Pictures icon, i see an iPhoto Library icon. If i highlight that then click on the small wheel cog thing drop down menu above it and go to "Open With" i see several "iPhoto" options. The top one says default but under that there are four more iPhoto icons. Whichever one i click on it seems to open iPhoto correctly but why do i have so many, i only have one iPhoto Library on my mac. I went to the apple store today but they couldn't answer my question,. I did have a look at thier macs scattered about the store and they all seem to have this issue. Some of them had two iPhoto icons, some had three. I was expecting there to be only one?
What causes there to be so many?
I'm just a neat freak so these things puzzle me.

Hi Leonie. Thanks for such a swift reply. As far as i can see i only have one version of iPhoto installed. I've only had the Mac for less than a year and haven't changed any settings.
As i say, i had a quick play with the Macs in the Apple store and most of them had this same thing. There were one or two that just had the iPhoto showing once.
When i click on "Open With"...it's listed as follows          iPhoto (default)
                                                                                    iPhoto
                                                                                    iPhoto
                                                                                 iPhoto
                                                                                    Terminal
Whichever one i click on to it opens iPhoto with no problem. I'm just confused as to why there are four.
Any further help would be appreciated.
Thanks

Organizing Aperture Library

I'm new to Aperture and just finished importing my iPhoto library via selecting import iPhoto library to Aperture library. My desire was to have the same library that was organized in iPhoto only in Aperture. When I go to iPhoto library and right click I have all my photos organized in year folders and then in date folders. Unfortunately when I go into Aperture and do the same thing, I end up with one year with multiple layers of folders that don't seem to reference anything and then end up with my events individualized in folders under about 12 layers of folders? Is this normal, did I miss selecting something in the import. I've read something about metadata and how to organize into year month project etc. Will this also rearrange the folders in the file?

Petersa,
Before getting into the heart of the response, let's take a step back for a minute. I don't want anything catastrophic to happen to your original images, so before anything else, you need to make sure you have a true backup of your master images. Once you are certain that your original images are secure, we can proceed. I hope that you have been making backups of your original images, and that the only place they reside is not in the iPhoto library on your internal disk. You should have either a backup of the images on an external drive (multiple backups on multiple drives in multiple locations would be even better, but more on backup strategies at another time), or at the very least, a backup of the iPhoto library on an external drive.
The reason I mention this, is that I am a bit uncomfortable hearing that you are deleting anything, duplicates or not, without truly knowing what you are doing. The worst case scenario should be that completing this transfer takes more time than you would like. It would be catastrophic for you to lose your image files, so please, please, please make sure everything is backed up.
Once that is done, we can restart this thread.
Okay, so moving on, I'd like to know how you went about importing your iPhoto library into Aperture. In Aperture did you goto File -> Import -> iPhoto Library, or File -> Import - Show iPhoto Browser? If you imported the first way, i.e. the iPhoto Library, a dialogue box would have come up giving you a number of options. You would have been given option such as, "Import Folders as" where you could have selected things such as Projects and Albums, etc. Next, it would have asked you where you want to store the files - in the Aperture Library, in their current location, or a location of your choosing. Depending on what you might have chosen here could help answer your question as to where those files are. You would have also been given the option to either move the files (in which case, the image files would be permanently moved from the iPhoto folder to your newly created Aperture folder) or to copy the files (in which case you would have duplicates - one in your iPhoto folder and a new one in your Aperture folder). You would next have the option to instruct Aperture not to import duplicates if you so desired. You would then have been given the naming options...
It doesn't sound like you took this route, but instead chose the second option where you opened the iPhoto Browser. From there, you might have dragged your images into Aperture, but unless your dragged them in folder by folder, you really wouldn't have any organization at all. You would no projects or folders, but rather an image library of referenced images that are potentially not of a very high quality depending on your settings. By default, Aperture creates previews that are half the size of the original JPEG image. You can change all of this in the settings, but this is for another discussion.
My advice to you at this point is to start again, so long as you know everything is backed up and you are certain that you have backups of your original files. If you are sure of this, I would delete the Aperture Library. Out of curiosity, I would be interested to know the method you took to import your images into Aperture in the first place. Once that is deleted, you can open Aperture and start again. I would be happy to walk you through it.
A few words on the rest of your post.
1. A referenced library means that everything is stored in the Aperture library except the master file. The master (or original image file) is stored in a location of your choosing. Everything else is still stored in the Aperture library, and this includes edit instructions to images, previews (should you generate them, which you shouls), etc. Most people who choose to run Aperture as a referenced library, keep their master images on an external disk. This allows them to have immediate access to images and their folder structure. I would still recommend a managed library, as for what you seem to want to do, a managed library would be much easier for you.
Before moving on, I want to mention a bit about the Aperture Library (and iPhoto Library) folders. While you can access them, you really shouldn't go in to them. Apple allows you access to them, but there really is no reason you should ever have to go into them. Therefore, when you mention the bit about right clicking on the Aperture Library in the finder and click "show content files" you really shouldn't be (nor need to be) doing this. Aperture manages this folder for you and you really shouldn't concern yourself with the organization, structure or hierarchy of things. There are other items in that folder aside from the masters, such as Thumbnails, Previews, instructions, etc... If you need access to an image, everything can (and should) be done right from within Aperture itself. This goes for iPhoto as well. I believe that Aperture and iPhoto keep your masters organized by date, so you might see a folder named 2009 and inside of that, different folders with a number from 1 to 12 signifying images that were taken in a certain month and inside of that days from 1 to 30(1) for the images taken on those days. This is the way that the Aperture and iPhoto library keep your masters, but in no way, shape or form does this mean that it is how you have to organize your library.
Of course, if you want to you can as that is a personal preference. In any case, it is very easy to do that, but it won't necessarily happy automatically.
Getting back to what you need to do, is better understand how your computer holds and stores images versus how you can organize them in Aperture. When you start talking about going into the iPhoto and Aperture folders and digging around looking at and trying to find images, you are in for a lot of trouble. This is not the way to do this.
In trying to keep this simple without trying to explain every nuance and detail of how Aperture works and what you can do with it, we first need to set up your Aperture library. As I mentioned, I would trash the Aperture library you created and just start again. You can either import the Aperture Library as I mentioned above and make sure of the import parameters that Aperture gives to you. Another option is to export all of your original images from iPhoto into a folder system that makes sense to you on your desktop or external drive and then import them into Aperture in the ways that I described above.
Since this is getting very long and winded, I'm going to stop here to see if you are following me and understand what to do next. If so, we can proceed with more detailed instructions moving forward. This will include how to organize the Aperture library based on what makes sense to you (and this does not mean going into the Aperture Library folder. I will reiterate that you will never need to go in there, and shouldn't go in there). We can also talk about naming files. You have different options - a master name and version names. You really have so many different options and it is all non-destructive so you can really customize to your hearts content without worrying about it. Okay, let me know if you understand what to do next, or if you are totally confused.
Mac

Aperture Library Thumbnails

I have a problem I cannot figure out. I have 155,000 photos in 1120 projects in A3 (ver 3.2.4). My photo files are referenced on external hard drives, and the Aperture library folder resides on my imac hard drive in the pictures folder.
I started to remove previews in the Aperture library to make space because my 500GB internal hard drive is almost full. When I got into the Aperture folder I found this:
My preview folder is 39GB for 488,000 items and my thumbnail folder is 173GB for just 4504 items. What is happening here?
I don't understand 488,000 previews, and how can I have 173GB of thumbnails for only 4504 items?

First off going into the library like that to remove anything is a bad idea. You should be using the Aperture command delete previews. In addition you need to turn off previews not just in the Preferences but also in the projects or else Aperture will juts regenerate them.
As for the sizes issue. The Aperture library is a database, even though you can open it up and see some regular files and folders the entire package acts as a database. Taking the size of different pieces of ti is usually not vert helpful.
Each image can have multiple thumbnails as you will see if you look in the folder. In addition in order to speed ip operation there are two actual database files in the Thumbnails folder in which Aperture caches recently used thumbs (at least as near as can be figured out trying to reverse engineer it).
As for the item count remember each of the folders contain more then just a collection of image files. Every preview is stored in its own subfolder.
Again you should not be managing the Aperture library as if it was a regular folder of images or data. If your short of space on the library drive you can delete the previewss from within Aperture and set Aperture up to not regen them and also not to create new ones. Remember this will have some negative consequences especially with referenced originals.
regards

Aperture library removed after transfer to Photos

Hi
Wonder if anyone can help - I made a mistake and imported my Aperture library into Photos without thinking...and it seems to have deleted the Aperture library, so when I open Aperture there is nothing in there...no projects, albums etc. How can I restore this to Aperture and delete the Photos library??
Thanks!

If your images were stored in the Aperture Library, migrating them to Photos should have left the Aperture Library intact, although with a different suffix. Check in Users > Pictures (or wherever you kept the library) to see if you can manually locate and launch it.
If your images were "referenced" in Aperture (stored outside of the Library file) and your Photos preference was set to move them to the Photos Library, then it is possible that Aperture no longer can "find" them.
To restore the Aperture Library folder use your Time Machine, or other, backup. There is no automatic way to migrate Photos back to Aperture, that I know of.

Aperture Library Full

I'm getting the following message when trying to import images (into Aperture3) from a folder on my desktop:
"There is not enough free space on your Aperture Library volume to import the selected items. It is estimated that you need at least 241MB of free space."
I'm not very Apreture savy, but I have tried the following:
Tried setting the "Store Files" to "in the Aperature Library" "in current location" and a folder on my desktop setting. All render the same message noted above
Deleted my Aperture Library folder; started Aperture to create a new library folder; got the same message noted above.
Checked my HD space avaiable, it has over 1TB remaining
Check Library size in Finder under home/Pictures/Aperture Library it indicates no size for the library
Any ideas?
Stu

Lex/John:
Thank you for your guidance. It allowed me to fomulate the correct search phrase and stumple upon this proceedure which, although from the Aperture2 manual, also worked in Aperture3:
To change the location of a library file:
1 Quit Aperture.
2 Locate the Aperture Library file in the Pictures folder on your hard disk and move it to the new location in a different folder or on a different hard disk.
3 Open Aperture and choose Aperture > Preferences, or press Command-Comma (,).
4 Click General in the Preferences window, if necessary.
5 Click Choose under the Library Location option.
6 Navigate to the new location of the library, select it, and click Select.
7 Quit Aperture and then reopen it.
When you reopen Aperture, it accesses the library in the new location.
found it here: http://www.luminous-landscape.com/forum/index.php?topic=25265.0
Stu

Aperture newbie - library / file folder question

I am still trying to figure out the best way to use aperture to organize my work and even after reading the documents, I'm confused about why it stores things the way it is and what other options would be of benefit.
With iPhoto, everything was stored in the iPhoto library. With they way Aperture is set up, I still have an Aperture library "file" that is 6.x gig but all my files are being stored in the pictures folder under their own folder names. I was under the impression all pictures were stored in the library file like iPhoto did. I'm assuming I just have something set differently.
So if that is the case and I can store all my images in the Aperture folder, what is the advantage of doing that versus they way its storing all of them now? Is one way better than another? Any opinions?
Thanks.
Matt

On a laptop or on an iMac you probably do want to manage by Referencing image Masters. Hard drives slow as they fill, so at some point - perhaps immediately - you will want your Masters on one or more external Firewire 800 hard drives. OWC <http://www.owcomputing.com/> has good Firewire 800 solutions.
With Referenced Masters, simply Finder-copy each new batch of images to the external hard drive and eject the camera card. Then (after backup of images) from within Aperture Import the images by Reference (when you go to import, on the right hand side of the import window select "Store files in their current location").
Existing images on your hard drive can similarly be imported selecting "Store files in their current location" however personally I would move the originals to an external drive prior to importing into Aperture because trying to keep originals on the single iMac or laptop internal drive will sooner or later overfill the drive.
During the import process is also a good time to assign all manner of keywords, so take some time in advance thinking about keywording.
A good rule of thumb is not to fill any drive more than 70%, and for best speed keep important drives no more than 50% full.
Good luck!
-Allen Wicks

Aperture 3 library syncing question

I want to move to Aperture, but I need some advice first. (I have considered Aperture in the past, but my expectations and demands were unrealistic. Now I am trying to be as realistic as possible about what I want from Aperture.)
I have learned that Aperture 3 in fact supports syncing libraries between computers. Before I attempt this however I want to find out from you people whether what I want to do will work.
First let me describe my situation.
I have Mac Pro which contains the following types of files dating from 1997:
RAW + JPEG pairs from my DSLR, mirrorless, and compact cameras
JPEG solo images from DSLR, mirrorless, and compact cameras
TIFFs, PSDs, and JPEGs from film scans
TIFFs, PSDs, and JPEGs that are saved, edited versions of the above (edited files have the same filename as the original, plus a few letters added to indicate which changes have been made; s = sharpened, a = converted with ACR, c = cropped, w = web resolution, etc.)
AVI, MOV, MP4, and MTS (AVCHD) movies shot with various digital cameras
There are 160,383 files in total, although the number of photographs is probably less than 100,000 due to RAW + JPEG pairs counting as two files. The total space used is ~1.2TB. The files are on an internal 2TB RAID volume, which is constantly backed up to an external Time Machine RAID.
The files are all organized into folders by year up to 2009, and inside each year's folder are sub-folders that organize the pictures by event. All photos taken after 2009 are organized either by event or by subject matter, depending on which seemed more relevant to the particular shoot. I have been using Adobe Bridge to sort them. After they are sorted, I use a wonderful gem called ChronoSync to sync the JPEGs only (but not the RAWs, TIFFs, PSDs, or movies) to my MacBook Pro. That way I have my photos with me in the field in case I want to make some prints, upload to Flickr/Facebook, etc.
However, I am feeling many limitations of this workflow -- hence why I am considering Aperture.
Here are the main things I want to do with Aperture. Please tell me if this will work, and what any gotcha's might be.
I want to have a "master" Aperture library on the Mac Pro. I will add all my existing files into the master library in a 'referenced' fashion -- they will remain where they are in the current directory structure on the 2TB RAID.
I want to also maintain a "satellite" Aperture library on the MacBook Pro that contains only the JPEG versions of these files. I would use ChronoSync to copy over all the referenced JPEGs such that they exist in the same places in the directory structure of the laptop as they do on the desktop (i.e. /Users/me/Pictures/etc.), so that hopefully when Aperture looks for them it can find them. (I am guessing that I would create the "satellite" library by simply copying the "master" library to the laptop, rather than creating a fresh library there.)
I want to use the "satellite" library on the MacBook Pro to perform tagging, adding location data, rating, further organizing, etc. and then sync those changes back to the "master" library on the Mac Pro.
I know that Aperture 3 has the ability to sync/merge libraries, but my questions are:
If the "satellite" library has only the JPEGs available on the local drive, then will any metadata changes made in the "satellite" library properly sync back to the JPEG+RAW pairs in the "master" library? I.e. will Aperture still apply changes in metadata to both the RAWs and JPEGs, even though the RAWs were not present on the "satellite"?
Will Aperture allow me to group other versions of the file besides the RAW and JPEG on the master library? Will metadata to just the JPEG also be applied to these other versions upon syncing, as described above?
Is it a "two-way sync" -- i.e. will changes made to the master library also sync back to the satellite library? (If not, that's OK with me, because presumably after merging the satellite into the master, I can delete the satellite library, then re-copy the master back to the laptop to make a new satellite library -- I am also going to have copy over any new JPEG files to the laptop as well, so I don't mind copying one extra file [the new satellite library].)
I'm sure I've forgotton something important here but, my time is limited so I'll leave it at this for now and post any other questions later. Thanks for any tips, I know this is a complicated issue.
-=DM=-

I still need to do some experimenting to see if the file references are volume-specific or if they are volume-blind -- i.e. if they just use paths starting with "/[path]" instead of paths starting with "/Volumes/SpecificDriveName/[path]".
I am not sure I understand you fully - what kind of file referencing are you speaking of?
If you use managed master image files, the master images are stored inside the Aperture library, and if you move the complete library to a new drive, then thereferences to files inside the package still work. So obviously Aperture uses relative pathes here.
If you use referenced master image files - let's for example assume the Aperture library is on Volume A, the referenced master image files are on Volume B, and you move your Aperture library now from A to Volume C: If you open the Library on Volume C, it will still find the master image files on Volume B, so the library stores the absolute path for referenced masters. This even works with referenced masters on network volumes, but I really cannot recommend to store the masters on remote volumes; you will have to make sure the volume is mounted, when you launch Aperture.
Is that what you were asking about? if not, please rephrase your question.
Regards
Léonie

How do I see my pictures that are in my aperture library in finder? I would like I be able to select photos in finder when I am making photo books online without having to export them first from aperture jinto a new folder. Is there any way to view

How do I see my pictures that are in my aperture library in finder? I would like I be able to select photos in finder when I am making photo books online without having to export them first from aperture jinto a new folder. Is there any way to view and download my pictures directly from finder?

SamanthaR22 wrote:
How do I see my pictures that are in my aperture library in finder? I would like I be able to select photos in finder when I am making photo books online without having to export them first from aperture jinto a new folder. Is there any way to view and download my pictures directly from finder? [Emphasis added.]
The digitization of data has introduced a complexity to our interactions with it that we continue to struggle with. "Picture" and "Photo" now mean different things in different contexts. In this case (and in general) defining our terms clearly is the first step towards understanding what we are trying to do. Understanding is the path that allows us to do it.
All pedantic, but please stick with me here .
You record a set of instantaneous data with a camera.
That data is processed by your camera and saved to a file.
The file format is usually either RAW or JPG.
You transfer those files to your computer, and you import them into the program Aperture (often in one operation).
From each camera-file imported, Aperture creates a record in its database (called, imho unhelpfully, a Library) and an Image that you see in the Aperture Browser and Viewer.
Aperture links the Image and the imported file.
The imported file is called, within Aperture, an Original.
Every Image has an Original.
The Image is not the Original. The Image is what you see in Aperture.
The Original is a file that is stored on your computer.
You can make changes to an Image.
Aperture calls these changes Adjustments.
Adjustments are saved to another file attached to the record in the database. Let's call this file the Changes File.
Aperture uses these two files attached to the record in the database to create the Image.
Image = Original + Changes File.
The Image is not a file.
Because the Image is not a file, it cannot be shared with other programs. It exists only inside of Aperture.
In order to share an Image with another program, you must first create a file of the Image.
You do this by exporting Images ("File ▹ Export ▹ Version" is the command in Aperture; should be, imho, "File ▹ Export ▹ Image").
You may ask, "Why all the complexity? Why doesn't Aperture save Images as files?" The answer is simple: Images can require less — and in many cases very very much less — storage space than files of Images. Rather than save a full-size file for every Image, Aperture saves only instructions on how to make that full-size file. The gain in storage efficiency is huge. The trade-off is that although your Images are always available to be made into share-able files, you must create those files when needed (which you do by exporting selected Images).
Here is your question reworded with more precise terms:
SamanthaR22 might have written:
How do I access Images in my Aperture Library in the Finder? I would like I be able to select files in the Finder when I am making photo books online without having to create them by exporting Images from Aperture into a new Finder folder. Is there any way to view and download my Images directly from the Finder?
No, there is not. Images exist only in Aperture, and are not accessible for use in other programs. You must create, for each Image in your Aperture Library, a new file outside of your Aperture Library in order to use it with another program.
Aperture does allow you to create and save within your Library share-able files of your Images. These files are called Previews. You specify the file parameters in Aperture Preferences on the Previews tab. These files are available to other programs via the OS X Media Browser. These files are what you get when you drag selected Images out of the Aperture program and drop them on another program or on your desktop (which is part of the Finder).
HTH.
—Kirby.

Aperture - library management and external HDD question

Hi all.
I have just graduated from a point and shoot to a Panasonic GH2 (love it), and have now begun using Aperture 3 rather than iPhoto on my early 2008 MB Pro to manage my photos going forwards. Of course, I’ve now discovered that Aperture is quite the resource hog and so it’s upgrade time (darn, “have” to buy a new ‘puter!). I have a 2011 MB Pro (2.3Ghz i7 with 512GB SSD) on order and 8GB of DDR 3 arriving from Crucial. Since I have this brand-new-computer opportunity I want to make sure I’m organising things properly before I start transferring things across, and so have a few Aperture-related questions. (In case it’s relevant, I’m shooting in RAW+JPEG. So far I’ve been using RAW as master, but have since learnt it might be a good idea to import JPG as master and switch to RAW only when I need to make corrections, so I’ll probably do that going forwards.)
I understand that moving to referenced masters on an external drive might be a good idea and save me precious SSD-space. To that end, questions are:
1. Can anyone recommend a companion external HDD for Aperture and the 2011 MBPro? I guess either FW800 or Thunderbolt are the way to go. The Lacie Little Big Disk Thunderbolt might be an option but is this overkill for Aperture masters or would FW800 be sufficient. I’ve also seen the G-Tech G-RAID mini, Lacie Rugged – thoughts welcome.
Key requirements are a) as compact as possible, and b) bus powered.
2. What kind of performance can I expect if I go down this route? Is there going to be significant loading/processing delay whenever I switch to a new image?
3. How will Aperture cope with (eg) syncing photos to iPad / iPhone if the drive containing the masters isn’t connected? Put another way, are JPG renders saved in the Aperture library (i.e. on my MBP SSD) or with the masters?
Thanks in advance to anyone who responds!
Aljrob

Aljrob_UK wrote:
...I have a 2011 MB Pro (2.3Ghz i7 with 512GB SSD) on order and 8GB of DDR 3 arriving
...I understand that moving to referenced masters on an external drive might be a good idea and save me precious SSD-space.
1. Can anyone recommend a companion external HDD for Aperture and the 2011 MBPro? I guess either FW800 or Thunderbolt are the way to go.
...Key requirements are a) as compact as possible, and b) bus powered.
OWC (an excellent vendor) has the Elite Pro Mini hard drive that meets your specs:
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/EliteALmini/eSATA_FW800_FW400_USB
Thiunderbolt drives are not mainstream yet but eSATA and FW800 both work well. The multiple connection methods of OWC drives allow very desirable flexibility when purposing/repurposing drives.
Note too that the MBP optical drive can be replaced with up to a 1-TB hard drive DIY or OWC will do it for you. That is what I am doing with my 17" 2011 MBP.
2. Is there going to be significant loading/processing delay whenever I switch to a new image?
SSD latency is orders of magnitude less than hard drives. Switching to a new image even fast hard drives with fast connectivity add significant latency delay. To avoid that what I do is leave (Referenced) Masters on the SSD until all editing is complete (which may be a few weeks). Only then do I use Aperture to change the Referenced Masters location from the SSD to a large external drive.
What kind of performance can I expect if I go down this route?
With Masters on the SSD and 8 GB RAM imports/exports are very fast and all Aperture editing is essentially instant. You will be pleased!
Suggested workflow steps for Referenced Masters:
• Use a FW card reader or MBP slot to copy to a file folder on the SSD (never directly into Aperture or any other images management app). With fast camera cards copy times are quick, but cheap slow cards can slow this step down a lot.
• Eject and physically disconnect the card reader.
• Back up that file folder on external drive(s).
• Only after backup is complete, reformat the camera card in-camera.
• Import images into Aperture from the file folder on the SSD.
HTH
-Allen Wicks

Need help in distributing Master Folder (all my original pics), Aperture Library, Aperture Back-up, Vault and Time Machine

I have a desktop iMac and three external HDs. One HD called Aperture Library (2T) now has Aperture Library, Time Machine backups and Master Folder, which is where I put my RAW files of pictures I want to keep. A second HD called Aperture back-up (1T) has another large Master Folder. This was created a long time ago when I was using Lightroom. I plan to transfer pictures on to HD Aperture Library > Master Folder so I will have 1 Master Folder. A third external HD called Vault (1T) now only contains my Quicken b/u.
I have not made a vault yet for Aperture, because I am in the process of exporting files from Lightroom and bringing them into Aperture 3. What a mess, especially because I was not able to use my photo apps (Lightroom or Aperture) for a few months and forgot the do's and don'ts. Please help me organize this stuff while I have the time and motivation. Greatly appreciated.

Note that Masters need only be backed up once (but to multiple backup locations) and that backup should happen immediately after copying to the hard drive from the camera card, before involving Aperture or any other images management app.
Time Capsule is an ongoing regular-routine backup process. Image originals instead need irregularly timed backup, once.
IMO referenced Masters make far more sense than building huge managed-Masters Libraries.
• Hard disk speed. Drives slow as they fill so making a drive more full (which managed Masters always does) will slow down drive operation.
• Database size. Larger databases are by definition more prone to "issues" than smaller databases are.
• Vaults. Larger Library means larger Vaults, and Vaults are an incremental repetitive backup process, so again larger Vaults are by definition more prone to "issues" than smaller Vaults are. One-time backup of Referenced Masters (each file small, unlike a huge managed-Masters DB) is neither incremental nor ongoing; which is by definition a more stable process.
Managed-Masters Libraries can work, but they cannot avoid the basic database physics.
HTH
-Allen Wicks

Question about Aperture library size

I am storing my photos on a secondary drive. However, my Aperture library is just as large as the original source folder even though I am not copying the images into the library.
Shouldn't the library be smaller since it only references the images from another location?

If you changed the size and quality of your preview settings, it's not enough to just "Update Previews". You will have to DELETE the old previews and generate new ones.
(That's what my findings where)
To my understanding, previews are used
- if you use the Aperture "Quick Previews" functionality
- for synching with your e.g. iPhone
- in the Media browser dialog of e.g. iWork applications
(am I correct and complete?)
In my first days of Aperture 2 I increased the size to unlimited and the quality to 12, since "of course" I wanted to see the best possible quality of my pictures.
Now I learned that previews are not used in normal Aperture workflows, so I reduced the size to the lowest possible value of 1280 and the quality to 12.
This way I reduced the size of my library (30k JPEG photos, all referenced) from 108 GB to 33 GB.

Aperture library consolidation - newbie question

I am pretty new to Aperture. Previously I have been using iPhoto for a long time, so I have quite a big iPhoto library on my internal HDD, most of them with adjustments etc.
When I installed Aperture a few months ago I imported the iPhoto library without copying the files physically. It means all the "old" photos are still in the iPhoto library and only referenced to in the Aperture library.
After Aperture installation I do everything differently - I import photos into the Aperture library leaving the originals on a external FW HDD. So I have in the Aperture library now some photos referencing to my internal HDD iPhoto originals and some photos referencing to my external HDD.
I still use iPhoto but only for slideshows and managing of older online galleries, I published in the past from iPhoto.
My question: what is the best way to get some order into it and have everything in one place?
My plan is:
- first consolidate masters from the iPhoto library into Aperture library with the Copy option checked to bring all referenced masters into the Aperture library
- then relocate masters from the Aperture library to the external HDD with the Move option checked
- clean my iPhoto library from within iPhoto
Is the result of these steps what I am expecting to get? Is there a better way? Am I doing anything wrong?
Thanks for suggestions.
Tonden

You plan seams to be alright.
1) Consolidate (copy) masters into Aperture library.
2) Relocate masters to external harddisk.
You are writing that you "imported your iPhoto library" into Aperture by reference, and here is my question. Did you import both the original (masters) AND adjusted images (versions) into Aperture?
If you want to use Aperture for all your image adjustment then you should consider to delete all the versions you imported into Aperture (they are now masters in Aperture) and then make adjustments to all the masters you imported from iPhoto.
All the original masters files you have imported from iPhoto all have the keyword "Original from iPhoto", so they are easy to find.
Karsten

Aperture 2 library / folder question

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