Change from managed to referenced files

My hard drive is full, so I'd like to move all the managed master files in my Aperture 3 library off my internal hard drive onto an external 'photos' hard drive as referenced masters instead. Although I feel like I understand the general principles of what's involved, I have some specific questions I'm hoping some more experience A3 users can help with:
What command in Aperture do I use to move all the managed master files in my Aperture 3 library off my internal hard drive onto an external one, converting them all to referenced masters? (I can only seem to find instructions for going the other way (consolidating referenced masters into the library) or for moving masters that are already referenced.)
After all my master files are converted to referenced masters, if the referenced external hard drive is disconnected, will I still be able to make adjustments to the 'off-line' files using the previews stored in the library? (e.g.: adjust colours, crop)
After all my master files are converted to referenced masters, if the referenced external hard drive is disconnected, will I still be able to edit the metadata for those off-line files using the previews stored in the library? (e.g.: change time, add keywords)
Time Machine automatically back-up the referenced master files on the external 'photos' hard drive? (I understand that this would at the very minimum require that my Time Machine external back-up hard drive be big enough to back-up both my internal drive and my photos external drive -- which it is.)
Regardless of the Time Machine answer in #4, if I duplicate the photo directory on my external 'photos' hard drive onto another external drive as a back-up, and then if the 'photos' hard drive fails, is it a simple process to get Aperture to point to the files on the back-up hard drive and use those instead?
Thanks everyone!! I really look forward to your feedback.

1. Under File use Relocate Masters for ... (project, library, depending on what's selected on the Library tab) and choose the destination on your external Hard Drive
2. You won't be able to make adjustments to the files once the Hard Drive is disconnected ( the masters are offline). You can only rotate the images.
3. Yes, you can make all sorts of metadata edits to off line masters as well as create albums, rate, etc.
4. Yes it will. You need to deselect your External Hard Drive from the list of excluded files to Back Up from System Preferences, Time Machine, Options.
5. The process to re link Aperture to your back up Masters on your 2nd Hard Drive is simple, but not automatic. Aperture keeps track of your Hard Drive on which masters are stored, so you'll need to use the Locate Referenced Files menu under File. Ideally, if you select the Library and use the Locate Refernced Files, you just point Aperture to the first file on the list and then select Reconnect All, but it can be time consuming depending on the size of your library.

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Managed or Referenced files?

I'm using Aperture 1.5.6 for a year and although pretty familiar I still have a few questions about managed vs referenced files and they are:
1) Are all Aperture features available to both managed & referenced files. i.e., metadata, keywords etc. etc.?
2) If I choose to change referenced files to managed from my hard drives into the Aperture Library are those files duplicated or now only in the Aperture library?
Thanks

Despite this quote from page 140 of the User Manual,
"Choose whether you want the image files moved or copied to a new location by clicking the 'Move files' or 'Copy files' button".
If you choose to store them in their current location, they are neither moved nor copied.
If you choose to have them stored in the Aperture Library or elsewhere they are copied.
This is probably a good thing because, no matter what you do, it keeps your iPhoto Library intact.
DLS

Convert from Managed to Referenced

Greetings,
I posted this question once before, just wanted to try again.
I followed Sierra Dragon's recommendation on upgrading my library (over 300GB in size). I am about to convert from managed to referenced, but I have a specific filing structure in Aperture that I would like to maintain on my FW800 drive.
Basically, every folder starts with the year, the 2 digit month followed by the name of the month, (2010 10 October). Within each of these folders are my projects. This sorting helps me keep track of my favorite subjects.... (My family).
That being said, when I convert, it would appear that Aperture will keep each picture in the project but not do so by folder. I want to maintain the folder structure. Does anyone have any input on how this is accomplished.
My thanks to all.
De Colores...
Michael

Hi Michael,
I don't have time this morning for a thorough (or, apparently, concise) response. See if this is in any way helpful.
I followed Sierra Dragon's recommendation on upgrading my library (over 300GB in size). I am about to convert from managed to referenced, ...
Good. Moving your Masters off your system drive (assuming that's where they are) should give you a performance boost as well as allowing you to expand your holdings.
but I have a specific filing structure in Aperture that I would like to maintain on my FW800 drive.
Why (I mean that)? What advantages do you get from this unique filing structure? Can those advantages be had with anything simpler, more standard, or easier-to-implement?
That being said, when I convert, it would appear that Aperture will keep each picture in the project but not do so by folder. I want to maintain the folder structure.
This is, ime, a waste of your time. Aperture already doesn't store your digital negatives this way. (Right-click your Aperture Library in Finder and select "Show Package Contents to see how Aperture stores your files. Look but don't touch.) When you convert from a Managed Masters to a Referenced Masters Library, your Library structure remains untouched: your Image Folder structure is not altered. All that happens is that digital negatives are moved, and the pointers in your Library are pointed to the new locations outside the LIbrary instead of the current locations inside the Library.
One of the powerful but odd things which Aperture does is to separate image management from file management. File management structures are fixed (and unwieldy). Aperture frees the user from those confines (and for many users, keeps this secret). You surely know this already, but now as you convert from a Managed Masters Library to a Referenced Masters Library is a good time to examine it again. You want to view your Projects by date? Go to Projects View and sort by date. You can group by year and drill down. With effective Project-naming, your can filter by type (e.g.: family, personal, work, birds). Your tools for image viewing are much more powerful. Want to see all shots of your dog during the first year of its life? No problem (as long as you've keyworded well). You can even set up Smart Albums -- as many as you like -- for this or (almost) any imaginable sub-set of your images. And when your interests change, you can delete the Smart Album (or Album) and not worry at all about losing your images.
I realize none of that is new to you. The point I'm trying to make is that your Library structure can and should be designed foremost to meet your image retrieval needs (and not your file storage needs). Each digital negative lives in one and only one Project. Beyond that, you are free. In your case, it may make sense to create a structure based on family rather than one based on date. The date structure is hard-coded into Aperture -- you can't lose it, you can always use it, and you don't have to reproduce it in your Library.
My suggestion is to treat separately your file storage from your image storage (don't use your file storage structure as your image storage structure), and develop an image storage structure which works great for you that is not based on "when shot". (And again, "when shot" is very valuable -- so valuable, it's irremovably hard-coded into your images and into Aperture, which is why you needn't recreate it.)
Back to your question: if Aperture won't create the Finder folder names you want, use the great Name Mangler to batch rename your Finder folders. At most you'll have to run it through twelve times, once for each month. This would be a one-time change. After that, you'll have to manually create new folders (might as well do them in sets of twelve), and then when you Import point to the storage folder.
None of that is, respectfully and imho, worth the effort.

Converting from Managed to Referenced Library-File Structure?

I'm about to convert my fully managed library (170GB) in Aperture 3.6 to a referenced library. I understand I select the files and then relocate the masters. What's the best way to do that if I want to maintain some semblance of the Aperture files/folders structure in the Finder environment? Wha't the best way to select all files- just go to "Photos" folder and select all?
I understand that the file structure in Aperture should remain unchanged. What I don't want to happen is for all my photos to just be dumped into a folder on my hard drive with no organization. Within Aperture they are primarily stored in folders (years) containing projects (months) which have albums (various shoots in a given month). If I select all photos in library, does Aperture recreate its internal folder, project, album structure as folders in Finder?
As I recall, there is an option when relocating masters to put them in various folder structures. Is there an option to keep the internal Aperture folder structure? I'd like to make the managed to referenced conversion in as few steps as possible and ideally maintain the same or very similar folder structure.
Thanks, Steve

Images are not files.
Images are what you see in Aperture.
Files are data containers, represented in various ways in the OS X Finder.
Aperture is a database of Images.
Finder is a database of files.
Just as the structure of your Aperture Library ("Library" = database; to the detriment of their users, Apple insists on cuteness over accuracy) is for you to create to meet your needs, the structure of your Finder database is for you to create to meet your needs. Many OS X users' file needs are similar, and so OS X comes with Finder pre-designed and populated.
Concerning yourself about the _file_ organization of your Images' Originals is, imho, time wasted. You didn't care about it when they were managed. There is little reason to care about it when they are referenced.
I detail some of this in this reply to a similar question.
Do whatever comforts you. But note the following:
- You cannot (as Frank has already answered) duplicate in a file manager the structure you have in your Image manager. The Images in Aperture are not files, and in important ways they are not filed like files.
- Aperture provides robust tools for managing your Images' Originals. You can move them in and out of the Library at any time, and you can relocate them to another location outside your Library at any time.
- Don't ever use Finder to perform any operations on your Images' Originals. You should use Aperture and use only Aperture to perform any operation (other than back-up) on your Images' Originals.
- Speaking of backing up: you must backup Referenced Originals yourself. Neither Aperture's Vault feature, nor backing up your Library, backs up Referenced Originals.
Unless you have specific reasons for doing otherwise, I recommend sticking to "one Project for each shoot", and, if referencing your Images' Originals, filing them under a top-level Finder folder by Project, with one Finder folder for each Project.

Importing into Aperture 3 from iPhoto as referenced files

Apologies if this has been asked before, but I can't find anything this topic...
I've just upgraded to Aperture 3. In Aperture 2, my way of working was to store RAW images in iPhoto and import as referenced files into Aperture. This was very straightforward. Now, I have 2 problems:
1 - I can't see how to import referenced images from iPhoto. If I use the import command, my iPhoto images don't show up in the list of locations to import from; if I use the iPhoto browser in Aperture and drag from that, it imports the file into the Aperture library rather than importing as a referenced file...
2 - If I import using the iPhoto browser, not only does it import into the Aperture library, it imports the jpeg preview rather than the RAW file.
The only way I can see to get the RAW file into Aperture is to find it in the Finder then import into the Aperture library. This seems excessively long-winded and also duplicates the file, using up extra disk space.
I'm using Aperture 3.0.1 and iPhoto 7.1.5
Thanks in advance for your input

I have not imported an iPhoto library because my workflow is to to use Aperture for storing and archiving Raw files and iPhoto for exported jpegs.
However the instruction in the Aperture 3 PDF Manual are as follows:-
To import your iPhoto library
Choose File > Import > iPhoto Library.
Select the iPhoto library in the dialog that appears.
Choose a location for the imported images by doing one of the following:
• To store imported masters in the Aperture library: Choose “In the Aperture Library” from the Store Files pop-up menu.
• To import the files as referenced images stored in their current location on your hard disk: Choose “In their current location” from the Store Files pop-up menu.
Tip: Choosing“Intheircurrentlocation”isrecommended.Whenyouchoosethisoption, Aperture refers to the original files in their current location and does not have to duplicate the files, which doubles the disk space needed to store the files. For more information about referenced images, see What Are Managed Images and Referenced Images?
• To store imported masters as referenced images in the Pictures folder on your hard disk: Choose Pictures from the Store Files pop-up menu.
• To store imported masters as referenced images in a location other than the Pictures folder: Choose “Choose” from the Store Files pop-up menu and select a folder. Choose “No folder” from the Subfolders pop-up menu to specify that the files be stored as separate, individual files in the selected folder. You can also specify that Aperture create a hierarchy of subfolders with specific folder names to hold your files.
=====
This extract is from page 169. Perhaps it clarifies and identifies a step you have omitted.
AW.

Manage Aperture Referenced Files

I had thousands of files in Aperture, all referenced to an external hard drive. The hard drive is back-up and all the files are safe, but I dropped the original hard-drive that aperture was referenced too... Well, I didn't think it too big a problem, except that I had shot, and edited a few thousand more photos after my last vault back-up... I copied all my backed-up files onto a new hard-drive and thought I was OK... My aperture library looks in tact, except that Aperture thinks that it cannot find the Master files. Aperture Support tells me to simply "Chose File>Manage Referenced Files> except that it appears that I need to chose them all one by one! Is there anyway that I can relate all the Projects to their respective folders - they are all date sorted - in fact the filing system I use is YYYY-MM-DD-24HR-MN-SD-N, so identifying each file is actually quite easy, but I'm not very inclined to go through all the thousands of files I had saved, easier to just back-up from my last vault and then sort through all the lost work from the past few days, and learn to be more fastidious with the vault, and never ever drop a hard drive again!

Thanks. I did try that, but it would not allow me to select "Reconnect" unless I selected individual files and associated them correctly. I wasn't even able to do this for a project, let alone an entire library; but I can do it one by one!
I think my best bet is to just re-import my entire library... as it is well defined and sorted, so I can just use the file names already created and keep them in the current location. I may lose some editing, but most of the really important files have versions exported elsewhere.
My biggest question is: If the hard drive which stores referenced files is damaged again, how can Aperture restore to a facsimile back-up file on another drive?

Importing library from iphoto loses referenced file

I've imported large libraries from iphoto and when i bring them into aperture, there's always a yellow triangle at the bottom and when i open the photo it says "referenced file not found"
It looks like the iphoto library has been copied into the aperture library judging by the size of things, but the photos all seem to be only thumbnails when i try to view them any larger.
Is this a bug or is there a workaround?

Best suggestion: Buy some external USB or Firewire drives. Move your Library to one, back it up to another. A lot more reliable than DVD, a lot less work and much more convenient. For a start, you don't have to break up the library...
Regards
TD

Aperture Advice: Managed or Referenced Files

I've looked through a lot of the threads here and done some googling. It seems the answer is - "it depends".
So I was hoping I could get some advice on how I can maxamise my use of aperture.
System specs - Mac OSX Imac 2.66 GHz dual core. 4gb ddr2 Ram.
Part of the problem I'm having is that I have a huge number of photos to manage (it's around 350gb of photos) so because of this i'm keeping my photos stored on a fast(ish) 1 terrabyte external drive. At the moment i'm using a managed system but I'm told part of the pro's of aperture is that it's easy to change your file systems.
I don't have any need to edit my image masters, if i need to access photos i just export a version.
So am i right in thinking the best system for me, will be to keep a library file on my Imac but set managed storage to keep the masters on my terrabyte external drive?
Would really appreciate some advice on how I can best use aperture i've noticed that whenever it's open it's a total system hog. I basically have to close it if I want to use anything else on the Imac. Final cut express and aperture open is a no-no for example.
Any advice is greatly appreciated
Thanks
C
(Detailed system specs)
Model Name:          iMac
Model Identifier:          iMac8,1
Processor Name:          Intel Core 2 Duo
Processor Speed:          2.66 GHz
Number Of Processors:          1
Total Number Of Cores:          2
L2 Cache:          6 MB
Memory:          4 GB
Bus Speed:          1.07 GHz
Boot ROM Version:          IM81.00C1.B00
SMC Version (system):          1.29f1

Why managed, I am lazy! One click back up using vaults, simplicity.
I have multiple RAIDs, my old "slow" RAID now has my libraries on it, the new "fast" RAIDs are used for video.
I do run multiple libraries and the only time I have had an issue with missing files was when playing with referenced. That said many people enjoy running a referenced system, for the way I work managed is easiest. Disk space is not an issue, backing up is not an issue, what is it now, $100 for a 2TB drive, on site and offsite covered for $200.
Tony

My file was changed from psd to "5 file" and won't open

Hi,
I just spent 2+ hours woking on a difficult mask, saving as I worked.
I left for dinner and closed down photoshop.
When I returned I couldn't open my file. This message appeared: could not complete your request because it is not the right kind of document
The file is no longer a psd is a "5 file".
Any suggestions to what happened to my file and how can I get ps to open it?
Thanks,
Alison

AlisonKaMail wrote:
Hi,
I just spent 2+ hours woking on a difficult mask, saving as I worked.
I left for dinner and closed down photoshop.
When I returned I couldn't open my file. This message appeared: could not complete your request because it is not the right kind of document
The file is no longer a psd is a "5 file".
Any suggestions to what happened to my file and how can I get ps to open it?
Thanks,
Alison
It sounds like you have Windows set to hide the extension of common file types, which means that a photoshop file called Pix03.psd will show up in Windows Explorer and in file open/save dialogs as Pix03 with the file type Photoshop file. This is not desirable because it means you don't know what your files are actually named. It also makes it harder to fix situations like this.
I would strongly suggest that you open Windows Explorer (My Computer icon, or WindowsStart+E), then go to Tools > Folder Options > View and UNcheck "Hide extensions for known file types."
Once you've done that, you will see your file names as Pix03.psd (the ".psd" is the "extension" that you need to see). In Windows Explorer, or a File Open dialog with the criteria set to All Files (*.*), find the file you are having trouble with. It will have a .5 extension, like Pix03.5. Click on it once, wait a second, and click again. This will let you rename it. All that you need to change is the extension, so click at the end, backspace over the "5" and replace it with "psd". That should make your photoshop file openable in Photoshop again.

Dates change from Numbers generated xls file when copy/pasted

I've saved a Numbers '09 file as xls and sent it to an Excel 2003 for Windows user. The file looks great when they open it in Excel 2003. But, when they copy and paste data into a different Excel 2003 file, the date changes about 4 years, which seems to make this a 1900/1904 issue. But why? If Excel 2003 opened up the original xls file generated by Numbers ok, why can't the dates be copy and pasted into another Excel 2003 spreadsheet?

Apple uses a year pattern that starts with the first day of the first leap year in the 20th century.
Microsoft originally adopted a year pattern that began with the first day of the last year of the 19th century (1900) which, although it was a year divisible by 4, was not a leap year.
Later, MS added the 1904 start pattern, but kept the1900 start pattern as well.
What is likely happening in the case you describe is this:
When Numbers traslates the document into Excel format and saves it, Numbers apparenly includes the flag that tells Excl 'use the 1904 start for dates.' Excel open the file, reads the code, and sets the calendar accordingly.
When the Excel 2003 user then copies the data frm that document, the copy picks up only the date serial number(s), and does not get the coded flag identifying which date system is in use.
That data is then pasted into the new Excel document, and with no flag to tell it different, Excel uses its 'normal' setting—the calendar starts on January 1, 1900—and all dates are interpreted as being four years earlier than they were in the original Numbers table or in the first Excel sheet.
I'd assume there is a setting that can be changed in Excel. Where to find it/how to use it would be a good question for an Excel community discussion site. (Although it's possible an answer might arrive here as well.)
Regards,
Barry

My homepage keeps changing from Yahoo to this file:///C:/Users/ST1/AppData/Local/TNT2/Common/pinnedSearch.htm How do I get it to stay on Yahoo?

We recently bought a new computer for the business. I have changed the homepage daily but it keeps reverting to other addresses like Conduit and just recently this is what I get in the address bar. file:///C:/Users/ST1/AppData/Local/TNT2/Common/pinnedSearch.htm I have tried to fix this a number of ways but still keep getting other homepages not Yahoo. Help!

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Further information can be found in the [[Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware]] article.
Did this fix your problems? Please report back to us!

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I have an application setup that runs on MySQL using JDBC. But, I'm having problem with the database(ConnectorJ to be exact). I just want check the functionality of this application. Can I use a flat file as opposed to the DB? How can I possibly do this?

The text driver supports a very simple SQL. Inserts, deletes are allowed. Not sure about updates. Joins on tables are not.
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Changing from MPEG-4 audio file (protected) to MP3 audio format?

i dont know if its a stupid question, if its possible or if they are the same thing.
its just to tranfer songs to my phone they need to be in mp3 format.
any info...even to say its not possible would be good.
legal too.
sami.

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Relocated originals to referenced -- file names changed

Hi all,
I think I was a little careless when I moved a year's worth of originals from managed to referenced files (on an external hard drive). All the files seem to have been renamed with a "root" from the last file that I had exported. I'm sure this was an oversight on my part and I should have taken a couple extra seconds to loof at everything.
Is there any way to re-re-name the files on the hard drive so that they have their original file name?
Thank you!

Is there any way to re-re-name the files on the hard drive so that they have their original file name?
Only individually and manually. Aperure does not remember, what the original file used to be called.
Or restore the library and the originals from your backup.
You can relocate the files again, sorted by date, and use a naming scheme close to the original filenames, perhaps by looking up the original names in your backup.
If your originals used to be called imgxxxx.CR2 or similar, you could re-relocate them with the naming scheme "Custom name with index" and set the custom name to "img".
Then edit the preset to let the counter start at the last used counter :

Version/Referenced File name changes and managing reference files.

I had an issue with wrong version names for reasons of my own DAM workflow. I changed the name in the metadata portion of Aperture and changed the name in the drive the has the referenced files for the versions (and there are no duplicated versions, etc). When I go to manage the referenced files, I get the old version names popping up in the manage reference files window/dialog. the names I want show up elsewhere in Aperture and on the reference external drive, but not in the manage reference files dialog. Is there a way to ensure that all of Aperture knows my new version names and new referenced file names?

Oh, and I did restart the application, but not the machine.

Change from managed to referenced files

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