Aperture or iPhoto. New iMac

Ratz227 advice is not bad, but a bit generalized. Here's my take:
iPhoto and Aperture are each brilliant programs, brilliantly designed and implemented. Where they differ is in the user the designers seemed to have in mind.
iPhoto is more "Mac-like". It's a turn-key solution for someone who wants to be able to manage and use digicam images without ever opening a manual. You can do a lot with it; it is hard to screw up.
Aperture is deep, rich, and powerful. It is almost a database management system for Images (it lacks full scripting, etc.). There is nothing turn-key about it: to use it well (to say nothing of mastering it) you will have to spend scores of hours learning. You will have to determine what kind of storage, retrieval, and publishing workflow you want -- and then you will have to implement it.
That, imho, is the difference: iPhoto comes pre-assembled -- just add photos! Aperture comes tightly packed in a very heavy box, with an eight-hundred page manual. Not surprisingly, you can do 10x more with Aperture than with iPhoto -- but it will take you 10x the effort to get it up and running.
Neither is better. As with all computer tools, you should use the simplest one that meets your needs.

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Need Step-by-Step Instructions for Moving Aperture Library to New iMac

I've been using Aperture on an old MacBook Pro and am totally out of memory on it (I have less than 4GB free out of 465 GB). I'm needing to move my Aperture library over to a newly purchased iMac.
I have already installed Aperture on the new iMac and have updated the version to 3.5.1. Aperture on my old MacBook Pro is version 3.4.5. Will this difference in versions be a problem as I move the library over?
On the MacBook Pro, I use a referenced library, housing all of my masters on an external drive. I had to do this because of insufficient memory/storage capacity.
I do not have any vaults.
While I had been backing up to an old TimeMachine, I ran into problems with it a few months back (would spin and spin and spin and never complete a backup) and stopped attempting to back up to it. We have purchased a new TimeMachine for use with the new iMac, but have not had our AV guys out to the house to connect it to an otherwise overly complicated whole-house AV system. So, I'm afraid TimeMachine is not the useful mechanism in transferring the library to the new computer.
The thunderbolt connection evidently will not work with the old MacBook Pro, so this isn't the transfer mechanism either.
Please tell me in very simple steps how to move my library over to the new computer. Please! I have read through the Aperture users manual and do not see this topic addressed directly, though it is vaguely mentioned within the discussion on vaults. I have searched this community and do not find a simple enough explanation.
Do I need to run out and get another external drive and set up a vault to do the transfer? But, would that even work with the referenced library? There is no way I can convert to a managed library on the MacBook Pro, as I am out of space.
Please help! I have tons of photo projects that I was wanting to complete for the holidays gift-giving, but I'm at a standstill until I can get up and running on the new computer.
Many thanks for your feedback

If you cannot connect the old mac via thunderbolt or firewire in target mode, an external drive - large enough to hold the library plus some additional free space - would really be the best option for the transfer. I would not use the network to copy a referenced library. You do not need to create a vault.
Connect the drive to the old Mac.
Make sure the external drive is formatted for Mac - MacOS X Extended (Journaled).
Set the "Ignore Ownership on this volume" flag on the external drive.
Copy the Aperture library over to the external drive by dragging it in the Finder.
Now double-click it to open it in Aperture.
To move all references images to the external drive select all images in Aperture in the Photos view and use the command "File > Relocate Originals" and select a folder on your external drive as the destination.
Once the library and the referenced files are safely on your external drive, I'd run a "Repair" using the First Aid Tools: See this Manual page: Repairing and Rebuilding Your Aperture Library: Aperture 3 User Manual
Test the library on the new drive and check, if everything transferred safely.
Now dismount the drive and connect it to your new mac.
Copy the library to your new Mac by dragging it in the Finder from the drive to a folder on your new mac.
Now double-click it to open it in Aperture. Aperture will now upgrade it to version 3.5.
Use the command "File > Relocate Originals" to move the originals where you want them.
Regards
Léonie

I own a copy of Aperture. my hard drive crashed and i want to load aperture onto my new imac. how do i do it?

I own a copy of Aperture. my hard drive crashed and I want to reoad aperture onto my new imac. how do i do it?

Depends on how you bought Aperture to begin with..
If you bought it from the Mac App Store simply log in to the MAS using the same Apple ID you used to buy it and download it
If you bought Aperture on DVD you will need to install from the DVD using the serial number you received with the DVD package.
If you bought Aperture through a digital download prior to the MAS, say a trial version you upgraded, things get a bit more complicated. You will need to install from the original DMG package file you downloaded and use the serial number Apple set you went you purchased it.

Transfer Aperture to my new Imac byt it won't open.

I transfered all of my files from my time machine to my new Imac but aperture will not open. I have tried to put the serial number in that was on the old computer but that does not work either.... ugh!

What exactly happens? Where did you buy Aperture from originally, App Store, Box Set or Apple site digital download?
Pro Apps (of which Aperture is one) do not like being installed by being copied from one machine to another. While it sometimes works it is not recommended. There is this Pro Applications: Some features do not work if drag installed or if copied following an Archive and Install and this Pro Applications: Entering serial number after migrating causes the application to stop responding
So depending on how you first bought Aperture you should re-install it from the original media.

Downloading previous Aperture purchase to new iMac

I purchased and downloaded Aperture on 07/02/11 to my Macbook Pro. I have an iMac now too and though it is listed as a previous purchase, it will not give me the option to redownload. How do I redownload Aperture for my iMac? I appreciate ANY assistance!
Thanks

Download Past Purchases
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2519
Log into iTunes using the account the Purchase was made with... Click on Buy... and a notice will come up saying you already have it... do you wish to download it again... Click Yes...
Also make sure your New iMac is authorised...
Open iTunes
From the Store menu, choose Authorize This Computer. (In earlier versions of iTunes, access this option from the Advanced menu).
When prompted, enter your Apple ID and password, then click Authorize.

Aperture on the new Imac doesn't run !!!!

I just got my new intel Imac, gess what Aperture doesn't run on it !! After installation i got following message :
Your computer does not meet the minimum hardware requirements for Aperture.
What do you need more to run it ???
Cazn anyone help me ??

Are you saying the installer won't work on an Intel system? The notice on the update says it will be available via software update. For this to work, I have to install it first before it can be updated.
Aperture is a free update to UB when they are
available
even if you try a Manual install it WILL NOT WORK
it is NOT compiled for the intel processor and
Rosetta only emulates for simple programs
IT WILL NOT WORK
wait untill the new update is out feb/march ish
DAVE

Hi trying to transfer aperture to my new iMac

But I managed to lose the installation disks whist immigrating. Have transferred the app using migration assistant and copied the licence number from the original program but it isn't having it. It seemed to work once but on reopening it again asks for the serial number and errors out. I will be deleting it of the macbook but wanted to get it up and running first. Do I need to delink the licence / delete the original install first ?

If you lost the installation media you might try to reinstall Aperture from the
Aperture 3.1 Trial installer. Move the migrated Aperture to the trash (you do not need to empty it), run the installer and and immediately run software update to update to the latest version before you open your Aperture library.
One problem with the serial number may be, that you migrated an old "ProAppSystemID" file, that may be corrupted or write protected.
Check, if you still have an old file "ProAppSystemID" in your System Library.
Quit Aperture.
Go to your MacintoshHD and open the folder "Library", then "Application Support", then "ProApps".
Remove the File "ProAppsSystemID" to the Desktop, if it exist and restart Aperture.
Reenter your serial number, hopefully for the last time.
All this has to be done with administrator privileges, because the ProAppSystem ID needs to be stored in the system library.
Sometimes Aperture writes this file to a temporary directory, when it cannot write to the Library. If the above does not work, look at the temporary directory /tmp
Use the Finder's "Go" menu
Go > Got to folder and enter /tmp into the textfield. If you see the file there, move it to its proper location.
Regards
Léonie

Serial number doesn't work on new iMac

I've transferred my verisonof Aperture to my new iMac. The software prmotps me for my serial number, but when I enter it, it tells me the 'serial number is not valid'.
Does this mean I have to buy the software again?

Have a look at this support article:
Troubleshooting Professional Application Serial Numbers: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS2005
If you cannot get Aperture to accept your registration code that way, try Frank Caggiano's trick:
Why does Aperture "lose" registration info?
https://discussions.apple.com/message/17016704#17016704
And if all fails, convince Apple to senda new Registration code:
Pro Application Replacement Serial Numbers: http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1861
Good Luck
Léonie

I am wondering what is the best way to merge a very large iphoto library (from my MBP) to my new iMac (which has a few hundred photos on it now), and then upgrade to Aperture?

I have about 50GB of photos on my old MBP iphoto library.
I have a new iMac with a few hundred photos that I've uploaded since I bought it last December.
The iMac is where I want to keep everything stored as my main photo library, and manage it with a new Aperture installation.
Before I go and do this, and possibly muck it all up,
I would like to figure out the proper steps.
I am not too familiar with how to transfer files in the first place, so any help for a beginner would be much appreciated.
Starting from how to safely move the files from the MBP to the iMac, if anyone could walk me through this process.
I've been searching around but I have a specific goal (with getting everything into Aperture) so I don't want to get crossed up.
Thanks for your help!!

I have about 50GB of photos on my old MBP iphoto library.
To be able to merge your libraries, your Aperture version and iPhoto version must match. For basic reading see: Aperture 3.3: Using a unified photo library with iPhoto and Aperture
and Aperture 3.3: How to use Aperture to merge iPhoto libraries
Assuming you are running the latest Aperture and iPhoto versions:
Before merging libraries ensure that your iPhoto Library has no issues. While still on your old mac run the "library first aid tools" on your iPhoto Library. Hold down the key combination ⌥⌘ and double click your iPhoto Library, then select "Repair database".
Make sure you have a backup of your current Aperture Library and iPhoto library.
Do both macs have a FireWire port? Then you could connect your macs in Target Disk Mode:
See OS X Lion: Transfer files between two computers using target disk mode
This way your new mac could see your old mac as an external disk and you could copy directly between the macs.
Otherwise copy your iPhoto library by drag-and-drop to an external disk (on your old mac) and connect that disk to your new mac. Check, if the external drive is formatted for mac (MacOS X Extended (Journaled)). Otherwise reformat it, before you copy the iPhoto library to that drive.
When your iPhoto Library has been moved to your new Mac launch Aperture and use the command "File > Import > Library" from the main menu bar. If there are duplicates in the Aperture library (if you imported earlier from iPhoto) you may be prompted if you want to "Add" or "Merge". If you have lots of duplicates, pick "Merge", otherwise "Add".
Post back, if you need more detailed instructions.
Good Luck.
Léonie

Transitioning from iPhoto 6 to Aperture on new iMac

Please redirect me if there is somewhere this has been asked, or if there would be a better resource for me. I guess I have several issues here. We have a 2006 iMac with about 12,000 photos stored in iPhoto 6. I am a serious hobbyist, and want to transition to Aperture (at least I think I do, I suppose I am also considering LR3). We have a new iMac on the way, and I want to get some advice on how to best move everything over and set everything up before it gets here. So, here are my questions:
We tried to import everything into Aperture on our current iMac, and could not do an import due to our version of iPhoto being too old. I am wondering if this is going to be a problem with our new iMac as well- in other words, will we have to import everything into a new version of iPhoto, then into Aperture?
Also, our photos have keywords, but the rest of our organizational structure I can do without. We have been importing into iPhoto and naming each import with the date- unless we have forgotten, in which case it is just "Roll whatever". And these folders are organized by year in the IPhoto Originals folder. I am open to any kind of organizational structure or workflow idea, but I would like to "clean up" our current mess of photos and get everything to be consistent. How can I do this? Should I export and then import, or is this process going to be easier than I expect it will be? How would it be best to get the photos from one computer (iPhoto) into Aperture on a new computer? Use of an external drive, export then import, etc?
Finally, I am not sure how to decide if I should use a referenced library and store all of my photos on an external drive, or to actually put everything into Aperture. Any advice?
Again, sorry if these are repetitive questions. Any advice or help would be much appreciated.

The version on your new Mac won't import the v6 iPhoto Library either.
But the new Mac will have a later version if iPhoto on it, so upgrade the v6 Library with that (just open it with the new version) and then migrate that to Aperture. As always - make sure you have a back up.
Rename the Rolls before doing anything else. Any Rolls not renamed will be split into (possibly) multiple Events on upgrading. Check out the Info Pane (wee 'i', lower left) the name and date fields are editable.
IPhoto 6 has no way to export keywords with the files, so if you go that way, or import directly from the Originals folder you will lose your keywords.
With 12k files a Managed Aperture Library is easy, and you can change later should you need to.
Regards
TD

IPhoto from my MacBook to my new iMac

I have an old Macbook 2007, I just bought a new iMac, I have been using it for some months. Now I would like to move all my pictures from my MacBook iphoto library to my new iMac. Who can I do it? and ideally merge the two libraries? Thank you so much!

iPhoto cannot merge libraries, but you can use the third party application iPhoto Library Manager to merge libraries..
You can download it here: iPhoto Library Manager.
You will need the (paid) full version, the demo does not suffice. Or, if you have access to Aperture, you can use Aperture to merge iPhoto Libraries.
Aperture 3.3: How to use Aperture to merge iPhoto libraries http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5296
Now I would like to move all my pictures from my MacBook iphoto library to my new iMac. Who can I do it?
To move your iPhoto libraries to the new mac, copy them over using the Finder.
Either connect the two Macs using the network or in target disk mode, see: OS X Lion: Transfer files between two computers using target disk mode
or use an external drive formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled). Connect the drive to your old Mac and drag the iPhoto Library over using the Finder, then eject the drive and copy the library to your new mac. Format the drive and set the "Ignore Ownership" flag as described in this document: iPhoto: Sharing libraries among multiple users http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1198

New iMac Aperture 3 refuses to run

Why is it the ONLY app that won't run on my new iMac is an Apple pro app?
It asks for a serial number, I put in my Aperture 3 serial number then it asks for the 'original' serial number since it's an upgrade (why is won't validate a serial number that's been used for a couple of years now is well beyond my ability to understand) so I put in the "original' serial number (version 1 i think) and it says it's invalid but it is the original serial number. If it wants the aperture 2 number then a) it should ask for it and b) I don't have it. I have the original and the upgrade.
So now I have work to do and a program that won't run. Thanks Apple. Merry Christmas.
Any solutions?
Or is it time to buy lightroom and try to figure out a way to get my 1000's of pics out of Aperture databases?
Oh, and iPhoto says it can't (won't) open any of the Aperture databases because I need to open them in Aperture 3.3 even though I've been running 3.4.3.
It seems totally screwed up.
Any ideas?
Sorry for the rant but Apple products are supposed to work - they always used to at least. Never had this kind of problem upgrading to a new mac ever.

Thanks, Frank, but I went that route yesterday. I have both my order_acknolwedgement and shipping_notification for Aperture 1.5 (Feb 2007) and Apple will NOT take those as proof of purchase! It seems you have to keep the original invoice. Who keeps invoices for 5 years?
When I try to go to Apple order services (since I do have an order number), all I get is "Apple Order Services Are Busy Try Again Later" (yesterday and today).
I have never had such trouble getting a legitimate copy of software to work. I founded and grew a software company of my own with over 250,000 users and we'd be out of business treating legitimate customers this way.
I'll pay 150 for LIghtroom 4 and all the hassle of moving over to it rather than give Apple an unneccessary additional 79 dollars to get my bought and paid for copy of Aperture to work.

Problems on new Imac importing photos to iphoto 11 with sds

I have a new 27"imac on which I have already had to erase and reinstall everything when I tried to import my iphoto library (using target discs and firewire), because it turned out that the old iphoto library was corrupted. I rebuilt that library on my macbook pro and iphoto works fine there. (So far.) When I try to import photos from my cards to iphoto on my new imac i get the beach ball and it hangs up with 'preparing to import". Nothing happens, and I have to eject the sd, and force quit iphoto 11. I have downloaded aperture 3 and am wondering if it is better to just import my library to that than worry about iphoto until they fix the bugs? I have already checked and repaired permissions and checked the hard drive, which appears to be ok. Or is there a fix for this problem?

As a Test:
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library'
Import a few pics into this new, blank library. Is the Problem repeated there?
Regards
TD

Aperture simply unusable on new iMac with Lion

I bought a new iMac having been a happy user for many years (iMac 21.5" i3 3.06GHz with 4G RAM), and thought I'd upgrade to Aperture as I want to get a little more creative with my photos.
I was astounded when I imported my iPhoto library of about 60GB that it was still "processing"after 24 hours, but I let it be and it seemed ok
I've just done my first import of about 300 photos from a holiday (they're on an 16GB card so it can't be that big...) and all seemed fine until I quit Aperture and reopened it - now it's back to "processing" and running at snail's pace. It's been at it for about an hour so far.
This renders this totally useless software - but if I click on "report a problem" on the email receipt, I'm simply taken to the support pages - and if I try to actually contact Apple they tell me my hardware is out of its free support period so there's nothing I can do!
This is absolutely outrageous - I paid £55 for software that simply doesn't work on an almost new machine - and yet apparently it's tough because my machine is more than 3 months old! Can this be right?
And am I missing something, or is Aperture supposed to take several hours to open up? It's unuseable as it is.
Secondly, where are my photos that I've uploaded into Aperture? I've deleted them off the card, so I want to at least import them into iPhoto so I can give up using this heap of junk and ask for my money back.
Thanks

I see what you are saying andyfromembsay, but most software companies have you buy support after a certain period of time. I just had an issue with Parallels that showed up after thirty days since I installed the program, to get support now I would have to buy it even though I never submitted a support issue in the first thirty days.With Apple if you buy the extended warranty you get support for three years. I didn't buy the Parallels extra support, it was quite expensive, I went to their forums and found the answer I needed.
Anyways, there is another thread in these discussions about Aperture being slow, it seemed to clear up after an update to 10.7.1. Also someone mentioned using Disk Warrior to clean up a fragmented directories. That is the one piece of software I wouldn't be without. It has saved me so many times! I ran Disk Warrior before I even upgraded to Lion, fixed a bunch of fragmentation. The upgrade has been smooth. I have not had any glitches with Aperture. I also do not have Time Machine backing up constantly. I have it back up once every 12 hours using Time Machine scheduler, that has also been reported as a problem.
I do think you have an issue, it shouldn't be updating like that, mine hasn't been doing any updating that I can see. I still have the Trial, so maybe that is different, but I used software update to update it to the 3.1. I will probably buy it, but I don't usually spend more than a few bucks on software that I haven't tried out, I have wasted too much money on programs that are not really good and the developer abandons after a year! I always download a trial before getting software if I have a choice. The Aperture trial was not in the App store, I had to Google to find it, but glad I did, I really wanted to see if it was worth spending more for it than just upgrading to the latest iPhoto (now that is a program that annoys me!) I think it is.

Apertrure or iPhoto on a new iMac? Photo Storage? HELP!

I just purchased a new 27" iMac and before I did anything, I upgraded to Mavericks on a clean install out of the box. My "old" computer is a first generation Intel iMac (Jan 2006) running Snow Leopard. The internal 250GB hard drive was becoming labored with files, so I stored all of my photos, videos, and music on an external hard drive and simply directed my respective programs to look for their libraries on that hard drive. Made a MASSIVE difference on the computer and it ran wonderfully all along due to a light load on that internal drive.
Since the new iMac has a 1TB internal drive, I thought I would put everything ON the internal hard drive and just use the 1.5 TB Drive as a backup. Importing photos to iPhoto has proved to be a rediculous nightmare with Faces and quadruplicates of pictures. I have just dumped the whole file and want to start over from scratch.
My question is this: I have intentions of downloading Aperture anyways.... should I just download it and use it as my primary, by importing all pictures off my external drive into Aperture, then direct iPhoto to look at my Aperture library? I have nearly 50,000 pictures to put on the computer so I can start to clean them out. One of the BIGGEST complaints of iPhoto is Faces. What a mess! Another reason to want Aperture even more so I can disable that! I was also thinking of just directing the libraries to look at the external again and getting ANOTHER external drive for JUST Time Machine backups.
So many choices.... don't know which way to turn. Any advice?
(and NO, I don't want to hear how crazy I am to have or want to import 50,000 photos..... which, with Faces and unruly duplicates became 275,000 files transfered. Ugh.)

. I am leaning towards upgrading the existing library using iPhoto, then when we get REALLY bold, have Aperture look at the library...........
Aperture has better tools to organize your photo library than iPhoto. For example, you can structure your projects (aka "events" in iPhoto) by putting related projects in a hierarchical structure of folders. And yes, you can decide, if you want to use faces, places, previews. You can delete faces, that have been created in iPhoto.
You will want to save as much of your previous work, but start with a new, clean design for your Aperture library, that will be easily mainained and suffice for many years. these goals are a bit in conflict.
If you want to eat the cake, but have it too, start your Aperture library with two folders for projects - old and new. Import the iPhoto library into the "old" folder, and build the structure in the "new" folder according to your new design by moving items between these two folder sets. Importing the iPhoto Library will save all your edits and tags like Andy recommended, and keeping the imported projects/events in a separate folder, will help you to build a new structure from it.
These two user tips might help you decide on a design for your new Aperture library:
My little effort:                  New to Aperture? Some Considerations when Designing your First Aperture Library
And Kirby Krieger's great                  The Well-Trod Path: a Beginner's Guide to how Aperture's major parts inter-relate
After upgrading to Aperture, don't delete iPhoto in a hurry, see:
                 Keep iPhoto - It May Come in Handy!
-- Léonie

Aperture or iPhoto. New iMac

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