Export aperture originals with the edits,keywords etc to external hard drive?

Question

Hi,
  I have filled more than half of my hard drive with 29,000 NEF files (mostly family photos).  I want to export them to a 2 TB external hard drive and then continue to import all new raw files in Aperture onto that same external hard drive.  I'm not sure how to do this?  I have all of the 29,000 photos back-ed up in an aperture vault on a 750 GB external drive so I feel relatively safe.  In other words, the originals and versions currently exist on my iMac internal hard drive and are backed up in an aperture vault on a portable hard drive; however, I want to have all my photos (with the existing edits) migrated/exported to an external hard drive to free up space on my iMac. Do I create a new library on an external disk?  If so, can I do that within Aperture using "Switch to new library" under File? Also, what is the safest way to get my originals and edits into that library. Is there a better plan than mine? thanks, Mike

Answer 1

Hi Mike,
I think Terence may have read your question too quickly.  I know that some definition of terms will help you express your goal, and in turn help us show you how to attain it.  I recommend _not_ proceeding with Terence's recommendation until it is clear what you want to do.
"Photo" has no fixed or usable meaning in Aperture.  You camera records data every time you press the shutter release.  The recorded data is processed and saved in a file.  That file is almost always either a RAW file, or a JPEG.  RAW described a family of proprietary sensor-data formats.  There is no standard RAW format: every camera manufacturer uses their own formats, almost always varying them significantly from one camera to the next.  JPEG is a standard image-file format.  Computers can display image-format files.  Computers cannot display RAW files — it's just sensor data until the data is _converted_.  RAW converters (software) convert the RAW sensor data into a displayable image-format file.  OS X includes a RAW converter.  Aperture uses the OS X RAW converter.
Aperture can import RAW files, and image-format files (and movies).  Once imported, the imported file is called an Original.  Importing a file creates a record in Aperture's database, and also creates a text-format file of instructions telling Aperture how to modify the imported file in order to create the Image.  Images are what you see in the Browser and in the Viewer.  The initial text-format file is null — the instructions say, in essence, "don't do anything to the Original, just display it (after converting it if needed)".  This text file is called a Version.  (Aperture also calls, wrongly and confusingly, imho, the Image you see a Version.)
Aperture is a database.  Each record in the database points to a unique Version (a text file), and an Original.  There can be many Versions (and Images) for any one Original.
You can store your Originals wherever you want.  Aperture makes it easy to relocate them, or store them inside your Library, any time you want.  They do not have all be in the same place.  The drives they are on don't even have to be on-line for you to use many functions in Aperture (if your Originals are off-line, you cannot adjust, export, or print Images).
Your Versions (the text files) must be stored in your Library.  You cannot move them.
Your storage strategy thus focuses on two things:
- where to store your Aperture Library, and
- where to store each Image's Original.
Many users run out of storage space on their system drive at some point.  The commonly-recommended response is to re-locate some of your Originals to an external (or non-system) drive.  Alternatively, you might decide to move your Library to an external drive.  Or both.
What you do depends on your needs.  With the information you've given, I recommend that you relocate your Originals to your dedicated external drive, and leave your Library on your system drive.  Select the Images whose Originals you with to relocate, and run the Aperture command "File ▹ Relocate Originals ... ", and select your external drive as the destination.
You might then continue to import as you've been doing, that is, storing your new Originals on your system drive.  When it starts to get full again, just select the Images with managed Originals ("managed" means "stored in the Aperture Library"), and again run the relocate command.  You can filter your Images by whether the Image's Original is Managed or Referenced ("referenced" means "stored outside the Aperture Library").  Use the Filter HUD Rule "File Status".
Note that Aperture's Vault _does not back up Referenced Originals_!  You must back them up yourself, using software other than Aperture.
HTH,
—Kirby.