Advice On Merging Library's

Question

WHAT I HAVE NOW:
An Aperture Library with around 30,000 referenced masters on an external HDD and an iPhoto library also with 30,000 images on a separate external HDD
WHAT I WOULD LIKE TO DO:
Move both Libraries to a new larger external HDD
ADVICE BEING SOUGHT:
I am not sure whether it is better to just place the old iPhoto Library along side the Aperture Library or whether to import those photos into the Aperture Library and then do away with iPhoto entirely. I cannot imagine ever using the iPhoto app again. Advantages or disadvantages either way?
If importing the iPhoto photos into the Aperture library how best to go about it.
I appreciate any and all feedback on this.
I am using the most recent versions of both Aperture and iPhoto. My computer is a 17 inch MacBook Pro running Snow Leopard.

Answer 1

(I hope you understand what I am getting at here)
Not quite, but I am sure we will sort that out with Kirby's aid! Kirby is the resident expert on Library organization!
First the simple part of your question: It is relatively easy to figure out what is in the different libraries; browse them using Aperture, or look inside the package in the Finder.
To browse using Aperture: Use the main Aperture menu bar: File -> Switch to Library
to switch between your Aperture libraries and to inspect them.
To browse using the Finder: Select the library in the Finder window and ctrl-click it. From the pop-up menu select "Show Package Contents". Open the "Masters" folder in the Finder and look at the Master images,
65 gifgs onboard
If you do not remember creating this library it may have been created accidentally, when you were using Aperture without your external volume being mounted. Usually Aperture then creates a library in a default location, your "Pictures" folder.
What I meant with "Space saving" is the following: I hope Kirby will elaborate on this
By now you probably are familiar with Aperture's non destructive workflow. Aperture keeps -and never changes - the original master image file. All edits are stored as versions in a way that it is possible to undo the edits step by step and to revert to the original master image file. The version image is not actually created, only the steps to create it are stored, This saves space and results in far better image processing results than storing the intermediate images.
When you import from iPhoto you will want to do it in a way that you have the original master plus the edited version in a way that Aperture can create a master-version pair as described above. Only importing as "File -> Import -iPhoto Library" will ensure this. All other import strategies will give you only the masters or the version, or both as unrelated new masters.
Before Kirby and I can proceed with your questions tell us what you know (or find out) about the different libraries you have, and exactly what imports you already have done from iPhoto. You already seem to have some images imported.