Aperture Database Structure vs. Disc Drive Folder Structure

Clear this up for me please. I have been using Aperture for awhile and I have noticed that my pictures folder is kind of a mess. In some cases I would like to add subfolder to the picture folder to organize various shots and then import them. Most of the time I hook up my cameras and import and store where ever. I would like to rename the files in some cases.
Is it better just to import photos and let Aperture put them where it wants or is it better to do some organization of my pictures first and then import them into Aperture.
Does that make any sense?
Shawn

Kind-of. If you want Aperture to manage your pictures for you, it will actually create a library file. The icon is a blue version of iphoto's library icon. If you do this, your pictures won't really be visible to you in the finder window without using the media browser. However, it is extremely simple and nice to use as you plug in a card, and as you import into Aperture, it handles all of the file organization for you.
I use it and it works really well. The biggest drawback of letting aperture manage everything is that you are limited to the size of that specific hard drive. So, if you are on a laptop or even an imac, this can get used up relatively quickly.

Similar Messages

How do i get my folder structure in Lightroom to replicate my hard drive folder structure?

My issues is that post-import from Aperture, my folder structure in Lightroom does not match my folder structure on my hard-drive. In particular, rather than be structured as in my hard-drive:
2015 (folder)
-> 2015-01-30 (sub folder)
-> 2015-02-15 (sub folder)
-> 2015-03-03 (sub folder)
All of the photo folders are listed individually as:
2015-01-30
2015-02-15
2015-03-03
In addition, a number of folders have been created in the form 01a2a201aff9c8c684928629ea41221c0fa5930ab7 where no folder exists on my hard drive in this form and the image contains the right date meta data.
As I've got photos dating back to 2005 and a lot of different days taking photos, this is making the folders view unmanageable.
I completed the Aperture migration in two stages (as i did not have sufficient space to replicate images in move across to Lightroom)
1. Moved Aperture original images from being References to Managed (with the file structure above)
2. Then used the Lightroom plug in to import the library from Aperture (which has successfully copied across meta data and my folder structure + edits from Aperture)
Does anyone know how to fix this issue? In particular:
1) Adding in 2015 folder level to structure?
2) Removing all off the 01a2a201aff9c8c684928629ea41221c0fa5930ab7 folders?
Many thanks in advance,
Joe

In the "folders" pane, right-click on the folder you see and select "show parent folder". Repeat as needed.

Aperture doesn't see proper iPhoto folder structure for Locating Referenced

I've got some photos in Aperture 3.03 that were imported from an older version of iPhoto. I needed to reconnect the Aperture photos to the iPhoto originals, so I searched for the location of the photos with Spotlight, which found them in a folder in the iPhoto package.
But when I select the preview photo in Aperture and go to Locate Referenced Files, I can see my iPhoto library, but when I go to look inside the iPhoto library, the folder structure is all wrong. Thus, I can't find my photo.
What would cause Aperture to misread my folder structure? Is it using an old database of folder structure and how to I reset that database?

Thanks for these two responses. I can see the photos fine with iPhoto '09, version 8.1.2 (424).
Right now, I'm backing up my Aperture vault before moving to Aperture 3.10. Hoping that will give me a chance to solve the problem.

Keeping Hard Drive Folder Structure...

So one thing that has always annoyed me about the backup/restore feature with Adobe Elements is it didn't keep the folder structure. For instance I keep all my photos in Pictures\ \Weddings \Events \Etc. This way if I want to quick browse the hard drive for a file without using Adobe I know what folder its in.
The last few times I used the restore feature of Adobe, it just restored them all into 1 folder. Is there a way around this or has it been changed in version 10?
Thanks

See the help file:
http://help.adobe.com/en_US/elementsorganizer/using/WSae2ea3b149d0c3591ae939f103860b3d59-7 f4d_WIN.html
which has the following (emphasis added):
Specify a location for the restored catalog and files:
Select Original Location to restore your catalog, photos, video files, PDFs, projects, and audio clips to their original locations.
Select New Location to restore the catalog and images to a new drive or folder. Click Browse to select a location. Select Restore Original Folder Structure to preserve the hierarchy of the folders and subfolders that contain your catalog, photos, video files, PDFs, projects, and audio clips.
Ken

Library creating a new duplicate folder structure

I am using 2.0 on a Mac. Recently I moved all my data files including photos and lightroom catalogs from an external to an internal drive on my MacPro and renamed the new drive with the same name as the external and changed the external name and it became a backup. Lightroom continued to work just fine, seeing all the images with no problem. If I do a "Show in Finder" it shows me them on the internal HD. However, when I import a new image or even import an image or folder that has previously been imported, LR brings it in within a new folder structure that uses the same hard drive name.
My actual hard drive folder structure for my data drive is something like HardDriveName/Graphics/Airshows/image.jpg with all my images in a Graphics folder and within that a series of folders and subfolders.
Previously if I imported a new folder, LR would show HardDriveName/NewFolder and I have several folders of imported images with that structure. It did not include the /Graphics folder because I never imported the entire Graphics folder. Now however, after importing a folder, LR created a new folder structure in the Library with a duplicate of the HardDriveName and it included /Graphics.
I went to the first folder structure and picked a small folder and made a change to an image to darken it a great deal. Then I imported the folder all over again and it imported it to the new folder structure but the dark version was not visible. I DO have automatically write xmp data checked.
If I right click on any image from either folder structure LR shows me the image within the same hard drive where my original are found.
I don't want to have two folder structures and apparently if I re-import all my images LR doesn't see the xmp data. I tried to tell RM to read the xmp data from the image I had changed after it came into the new folder but it did not show up. If I manually tell LR to Save Metadata to File for a folder in my original structure and then go to the same folder in the new structure that LR is showing and tell it to read metadata it will show up in the new folder. I have a folder with 32,000+ images and thousands of other images.
I would like LR to continue to bring images into my "old" folder structure but that may not be possible. Any help?
Interestingly I have more than one data drive. This problem does not seem to be happening with my other data drive that I also swapped to an internal configuration.
I put a pic of my folder structure at http://www.pbase.com/santa/image/101246417 to illustrate the issue. My harddrive name shows as Brandon.
I spoke too soon. LR seems to be creating a new folder structure for two of my three hard drives and adding images properly to one of my three hard drives. All three were new drives with the names changed to match the old drives.

yes I did update camera raw. I think LR 2.0 asked for that. I did a search on "duplicate" and found no answer to my problem. Anyone with a link to any useful information?

Exchange 2010 Online Archiving - Folder Structure Incorrect

Greetings,
We have recently been enabling Exchange Archiving for various users with great success. I have one particular user that we have enabled it on, and it appears the Online Archive folder structure is not being generated when items are processed to be
archives. Items are being archive to the root of the Online Archive mailbox, where with other users, we notice that it create a folder that matches the same folder in the users primary mailbox and then moves the messages to that folder.
What would be causing this not to generate a folder structure that matches the folder structure on the users primary inbox? We have seen these successfully done on multiple users, but this particular users it is not working. As I stated above, all
archived e-mails are being stored in the root folder of the Online Archive Mailbox.
Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.
Cheers

Hi,
I would like to verify if you use the same method to enable online archive for these users.
I recommend you use the following cmdlet to enable online archive for this problematic user.
Enable-Mailbox [email protected] -RemoteArchive -ArchiveDomain "xxx.xxx.xxx"
What's more, you can use the Get-Mailbox alias -Archive | fl name,archive* to check the archive information.
Here is a helpful article for your reference.
Enable a Personal (On-Premises) or Cloud-Based Archive for an Existing Mailbox
http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd979796(v=exchg.141).aspx
Hope it helps.
Best regards,
Amy
Amy Wang
TechNet Community Support

Exporting Aperture photos to an external HD while keeping existing folder structure

Hi,
I have over 300gb of photos on my MBP. I need to export the photos onto an external Hard Drive and keep the existing folder structure. How can this be done?
My source for the Aperture library is iPhoto. I know that I can 'show package contents' from right clicking the iPhoto library, but this only displays the masters. I need the versions as I have done many edits on the majority of photos. I am fine with having the photos separated out by date - renaming the folder isn't a problem. I just don't want to have to sort through ALL of my photos and place them into different folders.
Does anyone have any ideas?
Thanks!

Thanks for the information everyone! I apologize if I'm not being clear.
Here are a few call outs:
1. I have my aperture library and iPhoto synced (the source of all my photos is iPhoto. I exclusively use Aperture for photo editing however).
2. I am actually using a work computer and I am leaving the company. Therefore I need to give the computer back. I will be 'uninstalling' Aperture and eventually erasing all the photos.
3. I don't know what my next photo editing computer will be at this point as I have not purchased one.
4. Since I don't know my next computer, I would like to have all of my existing "Folders" and "Projects" (as Aperture defines them) on an external drive so I can pick and pull the ones I would like to view / edit.
5. On my next computer, I would not like to import my exact settings / folder structure from Aperture. I will be starting fresh. With that said, I would prefer to have all my existing "Folders" and "Projects" in one giant folder called "Pictures" on my external HD.
Example folder structure on my External HD:
Folder 1: Pictures
Folder 1a: Aperture "Folder" 1
Folder 1ai: Aperture "Project" 1
Folder 1aii: Aperture "Project" 2
Folder 1b: Aperture "Folder" 2
Folder 1bi: Aperture "Project" 1
Folder 1bii: Aperture "Project" 2
I have roughly 90 "Projects" inside about 5 "Folders". Of course I can create a folder on my external HD, select all the pictures, and click export for every single one of my "Projects", but I would prefer not do to that as it is incredibly time consuming. I am looking for an automated way of copying all my photos to an external drive while maintaining my existing folder / projects hierarchy into what 'finder' defines as 'folders'.
Although I would like to keep my 'masters' and 'versions', my original thought was to just export the versions. So actually, I guess just 'moving' the entire library would work. But since I don't know what computer I will work on and I may be on a temporary computer (install Aperture and manually select photos to import and work on), I wanted to have them be in a folder structure for easy importing and viewing if I wanted to on any mac.
My existing structure in Aperture are Folders --> Projects.
In order to copy my entire library, I have gone into (from finder) "Hard Drive" > Users > Wingmandan > Pictures > iPhoto Library. I have taken that icon and dragged into my external HD. It was 300 gb, and took about 8 horus to complete.
Desired end result
-Be able to quickly reference/view the versions of my pictures on any mac through my external HD (Versions)
-Be able to choose what photos to import based upon my existing 'folders' and 'projects' into my next computer (Versions and Masters)
-Have a full backup of my Aperture Library
I hope this makes more sense and I'm a bit more clear. Again, thanks again for your help. I need to return the laptop by the end of the week.

Backup-Restore v Copying itunes folder structure to a backup drive.

Is there any difference whatsoever in performing a backup to DVD and then a restore, and copying the itunes folder structure to a back up drive and using that to restore? (Assuming you know how)
I know there are other files involved in itunes that aren't in the main folder, such as cd names database files and other hidden files. Do these get backed up during a proper DVD backup from the file menu and are they necessary really?
I like the convenience of simply copying the folder structure as a means of backup but don't want to miss out on important files that may be backed up the recommended way with DVD's.
Is it a big deal if I don't use DVD's and just continue to copy the folders? What am I missing out on by doing this?
Also - Is it wise to un authorize my computer before I perform a reformat and re install of the entire operating system and iTunes?
-Frankie

1. yes you should deauthorise your PC before reinstalling Windows, then reauthorise after reinstalling itunes.
2. Assuming you have the default arrangement for iTunes i.e. Music\iTunes\iTunes Music with all your music files in iTunes Music.
You can backup iTunes by copying the iTunes folder in Music with all its subfolders to an external drive.
Then after you have reinstalled Windows and iTunes, you can replace the empty iTunes folder created at installation with the one from backup.

I moved all my photos to my external drive. I then deleted my iphoto library and re-imported them from the external. Once iphoto created it's folder structure on my external, I deleted mine. Now my computer just "beach balls" all day when I turn it on.

i have a 2006 iMac with a 160 HD and 1GB of ram. I recently got a 2TB external hard drive and transfered all my pictures to that. Once I had a solid folder structure for my photos, I dragged them all to iPhoto. Once iPhoto had created its own folder structure of my photos, I deleted my own folder structure, so that I wouldn't have multiple copies. It all sounded like a great plan, but now my computer just "beach balls" every time I turn it on.

What does this have to do with iPhoto? If you're computer isn't starting up properly I'd be posting on the OS forum for whatever version of the OS you have.
Regards
TD

Transparent integration of a new drive into the folder structure of a file server?

Hallo,
I'm looking for solution to a problem, that seams to be simple, but obviously is not that easy to solve:
I have to integrate a second external RAID system in to our MacOS X 10.6.8 Server based file sharing server that is accessed from Mac and Windows clients via AFP and SMB. I want to move one or two main folders from the old RAID to the new one, but this physical change has to be invisible to the users, as I don't want to confuse anyone.
So my idea was to mover the Folders to the new drive, and create symbolic links at the old locations pointing to the new locations. This works very well for the Windows clients accessing the server via SMB, but does not work for the Macs on AFP.
So I tried to move one folder to the new drive and mount it at the old location. Again this works fine for the SMB but does not work for AFP, the mount point does not show up in a directory listing via AFP.
Do you have any other idea how I might integrate the new drive in transparent way into the old folder structure?
Thanks for your input
Florian
PS: I could use SMB on the Macs but for some reason I, whenever I try to log into the server from a Mac via SMB, user name and password are accepted, but then the Mac client displays a message saying that I don't have the right to access the share. The same share works using AFP.

Define 'invisible' please.
Do you mean you need to be able to do this live, while users are on the system? or just that you can shut the machine down, reconfigure it, and bring it back up with the new configuration, even though the shares look the same to the users?
I'm guessing the latter, but it's worth asking.
Ultimately the problem lies in the way the file sharing systems deal with multi-volume sharepoints, and it's not easy. If you think about it, say you have a 1TB array handling the main sharepoint and you want to substitute one of the directories in that sharepoint with a new, empty 4TB array.
When the user mounts the sharepoint they get a little status bar at the bottom of the window showing the available space... how much is that? Well, initially it would be however much of the 1TB volume is unused... except if they switch to the linked directory they now have 4TB available (or thereabouts)... so the amount of space available has changed even though, from the user's standpoint, they're still on the same share.
It isn't valid for the OS to report 4 TB as free because that isn't the case unless you're in this specific directory.
It also isn't valid for the OS to report 5TB free, even though there is that amount of space altogether.
It also isn't valid for the OS to report 1TB free because you could upload 4TB of data if you put it in the right place.
There are few solutions to this. Microsoft sort of addressed this with their DFS solution in Windows Server, but it's not trivial.
Unfortunately you can't just blow it off and ignore the issue.
Off hand there's only one thing I can think of that *might* work. if it doesn't then you're down to using multiple sharepoints on the server, with users mounting both disks simultaneously (which can be automated, for what it's worth).
The one thing to try is to statically mount the second RAID at the appropriate location so that, as far as the OS is concerned, it looks like just another directory even though it's on a different disk. You'd do this by editing /etc/fstab and adding a line like
UUID=AABBCCDD-79F7-33FF-BE85-41DFABE2E2BA /path/to/mount hfs rw
to /etc/fstab (this file may not currently exist, so just create it as root).
The first field is the UUID of the drive (which you can get via diskutil info)
The second field is the path where you want this drive to appear in the filesystem - i.e. somewhere in the path of your sharepoint. There must be an existing (empty) directory at this path when the disk mounts.
The third field identifies the disk as HFS
The fourth field marks the disk as read-write
Now when the system boots it should locate this disk and mount it on top of the existing RAID volume. If you cd to your sharepoint you should see the existing drive and if you cd from there into your mounted directory you should be looking at your new RAID.
Now, this all works fine (or, at least, should do) from a standard OS standpoint. The big question is whether the AFP and SMB daemons honor and support this kind of setup... there's one way to try, of course...
Now for testing purposes you could mount it at a dummy directory, just to see whether it's available to network clients. If it is then your next step would be to clone the data from the directory onto the new drive, then edit the fstab to mount the disk at the appropriate location.
Note also that the entire volume will replace the directory you mount over - that means you can't replace two (or more) directories with one volume, but you can, of course, partition or setup your RAID into multiple volumes and mount each individual volume over a specific directory.

Why is Aperture folder structure ignored in iPhoto?

I'm not sure about others but I would like to use iPhoto and Aperture together because I find iPhoto to be a lot quicker to open and work than Aperture, so I would like to be able to do most of my work there, and then use Aperture for more heavy editing etc.
That said, when I first opened up my Aperture Library in iPhoto, I noticed that the folder structure had gone out the window. Projects had become Events, but both albums and folders had disappeared from Aperture, thus throwing my entire Aperture library into disarray. Either Aperture albums or folders should be supported, since albums (that look like folders...) are supported by iPhoto...
Does anyone know why, if Apple has unified the two, they have not done anything to better map the structure from one to the other? Or if there are any workarounds?
Thank you in advance.

That said, when I first opened up my Aperture Library in iPhoto, I noticed that the folder structure had gone out the window. Projects had become Events, but both albums and folders had disappeared from Aperture, thus throwing my entire Aperture library into disarray
Hmm, I see something different, when I open an Aperture library in iPhoto. Both the nested folders and the albums are there. Can it be, that in your iPhoto view the folders are hidden? There should be a disclosure button to right of the "Events" label in the source list, like this.
Press "HIDE" or "UNHIDE" to reveal or hide any sections in the Source list. These buttons will only appear, if you hover the mouse right beside any caption in capital letters. (Tested with iPhoto 9.4.2)
Regards
Léonie

Publish to hard drive mirroring folder structure

Hello,
The publish to hard drive feature was one of my most anticipated additions in LR3. I use this to maintain a backup of all my images with the edits baked in, which offers a great level of security.
My only disappointment is that it flattens the folder structure. Backing up an entire catalogue to a single folder is less than convenient, so I ended up creating multiple publish folders in order to keep the file counts reasonable.
But the ideal would be the ability for the publish feature to mirror the folder structure, creating a backup that is organised just how I like it.
Kind regards,
Tom

threeshinyapples wrote:
The publish to hard drive feature was one of my most anticipated additions in LR3. I use this to maintain a backup of all my images with the edits baked in, which offers a great level of security.
My only disappointment is that it flattens the folder structure. Backing up an entire catalogue to a single folder is less than convenient, so I ended up creating multiple publish folders in order to keep the file counts reasonable.
But the ideal would be the ability for the publish feature to mirror the folder structure, creating a backup that is organised just how I like it.
You seem to be using the wrong tool for the job of backing up, why not use ChronoSync on Mac or Clone on PC to back up your folders [and structure] to a location of your choosing independently of LR? They can also back up any folders like your preferences or catalogue not just your images and do so according to a schedule that you designate.
Both are very easy to use and can back up single folders or entire hard drives or anything in between. I also find them very handy for location work as these programmes always keep my backup ext. HD in sync with my main ext HD without my having to think about it.

Exporting project- folder structure to other Non-Aperture applications

Hello,
I'm about to lay the foundation for a new Aperture installation. As far as organizational structure goes, this what I have in mind:
1 Project / year
1 Album / event
Example:
Project 1993
Derek's Birthday album
Linda's wedding album
Project 1994
Robert Birthday album
Bob wedding album
At some point, I will want to export the whole structure or some projects to family and friends who would like to view these images on their PC (not everyone is converted to MAC, yet).
I understand the Export>Projects command generates a file that can only be understood by Aperture, so useless for sharing with non-aperture users. What I'd like to do is:
1) Translate the project-album structure to a folder-subfolder structure in order to share images with other PC users.
2) At the same time export images versions as opposed to masters.
3) At the same time export all added Metadata.
I have the feeling Aperture is not ready to do all of the above with one command only. How can I maintain the project structure in order to share with other PC users? I guess only a script will be able to do this...
Thanks for your feedback.

fbellay wrote:
At some point, I will want to export the whole structure or some projects to family and friends who would like to view these images on their PC (not everyone is converted to MAC, yet).
1) Translate the project-album structure to a folder-subfolder structure in order to share images with other PC users.
Albums simply don't translate sensibly into Finder folders, in the same way that iTunes playlists don't. Any one Version can exist in any number of Albums, so you'd either end up having to choose one place for the exported file to be and remove it from all the other folders representing Albums, or end up with multiple duplicate copies of the same file.
Projects, on the other hand, can be mapped directly to Finder folders. So you might be better off using Blue Folders and Projects rather than Projects and Albums.
2) At the same time export images versions as opposed to masters.
3) At the same time export all added Metadata.
Exported Versions will automatically include IPTC & EXIF metadata, assuming you chose an export preset with metadata included.
I have the feeling Aperture is not ready to do all of the above with one command only.
There are some AppleScripts that will replicate the structure within Aperture when exporting (or Aperture Assistant* to do it without any scripting knowledge), but as I mentioned already, you will end up with multiple duplicate files.
Also, you would have to do this again every time that you alter a Version, import files or move Versions around.
Basically, the virtual nature of both images and organisation in Aperture mean that it won't really work in the way that you wish, and LightRoom wouldn't be much better even though it has closer ties to the folder structure.
Why not simply export a Projects-worth of images in this way rather than your whole Library?
Ian
* http://aperture-assistant.com/docs/how-do-i-copy-apertures-organisational-struct ure-when-exporting
“I may receive some form of compensation, financial or otherwise, from my recommendation or link.”

Aperture only sees MOVs in SD card copy folder structure

I copied a couple of SD cards to hard disk and trying to import images only shows the Movs which are in H.264 MTS file packages and completely ignores JPG images in the folder structure root and DCIM folders. All seems very random as not all MOVs are shown anyway (Quicktime handles packages perfectly).
It's obviously no big deal and just requires some finder foot work but I see more and more vague behaviour from all Apple products these days.

Thanks - reading directly from SD card shows images but many of the movies are still missed. Basically all a bit random - less than useless for a professional tool were users may rely on dumping card contents into a library before reuse.

Folder Structure & Dates query

Hey all,
I'm new to the forum but have been using LIghtroom for a couple of years to organise and tweak my photos as an amateur. I use predominatly a 5dmk2 for professional video and amateur photography. I'm on a Macpro using Lightroom 3. I have 4 internal drives on the MacPro, and one is a dedicated Lightroom drive, where I import all my photos to via lightroom. This is my master catalog that I backup. The photos date back to 2003, and are all displyed by date in correct folders etc. Lovely and organised.
I also use a macbook pro, and occassionally have to merge catalogs. I merga catalogs if I have tweaked the files on the macbook and want to add them to my master catalog complete with edits. On occasions, when I simply want the photos to be a part of the master catalog, and to tweak them from there, I have simply imported the photos by connecting the macbook via firewire so it mounts as a disk.
What I have (on the drive) is largely how I want it, which is all photos on the drive organised by month and year as they were taken, as per the metadata for each image. There are however a few folders that both annoy me from an OCD point of view, and also do not fall into the correct date folders and so cannot be so easily found and organise into colelctions etc.
The problem folders look like this:
[URL=http://s556.photobucket.com/user/DaveBaum/media/Screenshot2013-10-11at124017.png.html][IMG]http://i556.photobucket.com/albums/ss3/DaveBaum/Screenshot2013-10-11at124017.png[/IMG][/URL]
The opened example folders shown in the image don't relate to dates at all - so the 2012 > 08 > 27 is not august 27th 2012. Just a folder with a load of images in it taken over a variety of dates.
Can anyone help me understand:
1 - why this happens
2 - how I can re-organise them into the correct, unform folder structure used for 95% of the images, without having to manually check the date for each, move them into new folders etc etc and delete the current folders when they are empty?
I want all images to be displayed in the date they were taken, and to be added to folder database in the uniform manner. I have tried the "move" import option, but as they are all present on the same drive, this doesn't work.
Life is arguably too short to worry about this sort of thing - but it has been bugging me for months! And it's making it difficult to organise images form multiplt sources - I think that's what is causing me the issue.
Many thanks in advance.
Dave

Thanks for your reply Rob, it gave me an idea.
I have gone into the finder, to the folders that don't match and are out of sync with the correct dates etc, and copied all media from within them to a new location, and selected the "move" option on import. I've removed the link to them in Lightroom, and I'm re-importing them.
Consequently, on re-importing them, LIghtrrom is rebuilding a folder structure in the finder and all seems to be well with the world again.
Thanks very much
Dave

Aperture Database Structure vs. Disc Drive Folder Structure

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