How do I import a large Aperture library from an external disk?

I have a large Aperture library, about 110GB of photos, it currently resides on an external USB3 drive for space reasons. I'd like to migrate this into Photos, but every time I try I get an error: "There is not enough disk space to migrate your library. It is estimated that you need at least 21GB of additional free space."
From finder, if I get info on my Mac's main drive, it says I have 297.51 GB available, and on disk, my Aperture library is 105.8 GB. There is almost 3x as much space available as I should need!? And after the first time I tried this I freed up an additional 30 GB of space and still received the same message, still claiming to need 21 GB of space.
My drive has FileVault enabled, would that matter?

I experienced the exact same problem. I have a iPhoto Library in another volume (or partition) with very small free space, while main/system partition (Macintosh HD) has big enough free space.
Turned out, the one that should have big free space is the volume/partition that contains original iPhoto Library (to import from), not the system partition. So, I freed up some space, reopen Photos app (while holding Alt key), and select the iPhoto Library to import. It works!

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How do I import an old iphoto library from an external hard disk while keeping my editing and organization in tact?

I am running iPhoto '08 on a MacBook Pro 2.2 GHz Intel C2D (MacBook Pro 3,1). I backed up my hard drive contents onto an external hard drive, then formatted my computer and installed Mountain Lion. I then re-installed iPhoto '08 and ran all the updates. Now, I would like to import my old library from the external disk onto my computer without losing my editing and organization; however, when I select "import to library" from iPhoto, the old iPhoto library is not a selectable option.
I know how to "show package contents" and import directly from the Original and Modified folders, but I don't want to lose my organization. Can I simply drag the content of those folders into my new Original and Modified folders? Will iPhoto read that correctly?
I tried to open the old library from the external disk, thinking to export them all to a folder and import from there, but that just opened my new library and none of the old photos were imported or available.
I'm running out of ideas and would appreciate any help you guys can give. Thanks!!

You don't import it.
Just drag the iphoto Library from the external to the Pictures Folder.
Then open it:
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
Never import one Library to another. Every version and thumbnail is imported like a distinct photo, you lose all your Albums, Keywords etc., the link between Original and Previews is destroyed, the non-destructive editing feature is ruined and so on. In summary: it's mess.

Copying aperture library from one external disk to another fails with error -36

I am trying to duplicate my aperture library (449 GB) from one external hard disk to another. I get an -36 error and the copying fails before 1 GB is copied. I have repaired permissions and repaired my aperture library and have repaired both the source and destination disks. I am using a MB Air with a 256 GB HD (155 GB free) to perform the copy operation. Any help will be appreciated.
Thanks!

Rahul,
I have also used the Aperture First Aid to repair the perminssions and the library (just the first two options out of three provided).
What else can I do?
Sorry, I overlooked that you already had done the repair options.
To prevent permission issues, I'd enable the "Ignore Ownership" flag on both drives, if you have not already done so.
Your copy-problem may be caused by a bad media file in your library.
You could try to copy in small installments.
Open the Aperture library package in the Finder by ctrl-clicking (right clicking) the Aperture library.
You will see a Finder window with folders like Masters, Previews, etc.
Create an empty folder on your new drive, name it something like ApertureLibraryBackup and drag the items from your current Aperture library on by one to this new folder.
When the copy fails, e.g. for the Masters folder, check, how much could be copied. The first file, that not could be transferred, is probably the bad image or video.
Delete this file from your Aperture LIbrary (using Aperture) and then try to copy the rest.
Post back, when you discover what cannot be copied.
Regards
Léonie
P.S.
You enable the "Ignore Ownership" flag from the "File > Get Info" panel of the drive.

How do i import a large organised library from NAS into iPhoto without it re-organising my photos?

I have a large library of photos, (20,000 or so photos - 58 GB) stored on my NAS Drive, they are organised into yearly folders, and then individual event folders, among other folders such as 'favorites'. When i click import, and leave it to do its thing, will it re-rganise my photos on the NAS or leave them as they are and simply index them? (i have unchecked the 'copy photo's to iphoto library') Hope somebody can give me an answer.
Thanks in advance Gaz

It will index them as a Referenced Library but I strongly urge you not to do this when you have the Library on one volume and the photos on another.
iPhoto uses a very simple tool for workign with Referenced Libraries: Aliases. Aliases are perfectly good when the Library and the photo are on the same volume - the alias will track when the original moves and so on. However, if anything changes in the path to a file on another volume the alias will break, and you'll have to repair it manually. Now what happens if the path to the NAS changes... Like if you upgrade your machine, move the files on the NAS or on to another one? You'll find yourself repairing the aliases for everyone of these 20k photos, manually, one by one.
Iphoto is not the app for you if you want to do this. You can't put the library on the NAS (because the NAS is not an appropriate disk format for it). Aperture has no problems with this kind of set up.
There is a broader principle there though: If you use apps like iPhoto, Aperture, LIghtoom, how you organise the files on the disk is not important. It's just storage. You never access the files via the Finder or File Browser. You do every thing via the app - whether it be iPhoto, LR or Aperture. The point of these apps is tht you organise in the Applications, not on the HD.
Regards
TD

How can I migrate an Aperture library from an external HDD with Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) format?

How can I migrate an Aperture library from an external HDD with Mac OS Extended (Journaled, Encrypted) format?
I used to store my pictures on an external hard drive using the latest version of Aperture. Now I tried migrating my Aperture library to Photos. However, after a short moment an error message popped up telling me that "Photos was unable to make a copy of your library before preparing it. Photos does not have the necessary permissions...".
My external HDD doesn't need any permission repairs nor is the system prohibited to read from or write to it.
Thanks for any advice in advance!
Gohtac

My guess is that the encryption is the problem for the new app.

How do I import my library from an external disk to my new MBP hard drive?

My old MBP was running out of space so I exported my Aperture library (250GB) to an external drive. I just replaced my old computer with a new MBP with a 1TB flash drive. Now that I have the space, I want to put my library back on my computer but I can't figure out how bring it in from my external hard drive. Any ideas? Many thanks.

Why do you say " I exported my Aperture library"? Did you actually use "File > Export > Items as new Library" in Aperture to create a new library on your external drive? A simple drag and drop of the library should have sufficed. What is your Aperture version?
My old MBP was running out of space so I exported my Aperture library (250GB) to an external drive. I just replaced my old computer with a new MBP with a 1TB flash drive. Now that I have the space, I want to put my library back on my computer but I can't figure out how bring it in from my external hard drive. Any ideas? Many thanks.
Connect your external drive and use the Finder to drag the Aperture library from the external drive back to the Pictures folder.
Then double-click the library to point Aperture to the new location and open the copied library in Aperture.
If your Aperture library uses referenced originals, select the referenced images and use the command File > Consolidate originals" to move the originals back to your internal disk.
If you should encounter any error messages (like error -36) while moving the library to the internal drive, post back.

I am changing to a larger hard drive on my Mac. Can I copy the Aperture library from my backup disk running Time Machine without loosing anything?

I am installing a larger harddrive on my Mac. Can I copy the Aperture library from my backup disk running Time Machine without loosing anything? I am getting help migrating everything else on to the new harddrive, but since copying the 350Gb Aperture library takes a lot of time, I am planning to do that part myself.

I found the following information on Time Machine help about restoring Aperture library from TM
Restoring Your Aperture System
If you buy a new computer or use another system at a different location and want access to the Aperture library, you can install Aperture and then transfer the library from your vault (on your backup disk) to the other computer. If you experience equipment failure or other unexpected events, such as fire or weather-related damage to your equipment, you can easily restore the entire library to your new computer from a backup disk.
HideTo restore the entire library from an external backup disk
Restoring Your Aperture System
If you buy a new computer or use another system at a different location and want access to the Aperture library, you can install Aperture and then transfer the library from your vault (on your backup disk) to the other computer. If you experience equipment failure or other unexpected events, such as fire or weather-related damage to your equipment, you can easily restore the entire library to your new computer from a backup disk.
HideTo restore the entire library from an external backup disk
If you buy a new computer or use another system at a different location and want access to the Aperture library, you can install Aperture and then transfer the library from your vault (on your backup disk) to the other computer. If you experience equipment failure or other unexpected events, such as fire or weather-related damage to your equipment, you can easily restore the entire library to your new computer from a backup disk.
HideTo restore the entire library from an external backup disk
Connect the hard disk drive that contains the most up-to-date vault to your computer and open Aperture.
Choose File > Vault > Restore Library.The Restore Library dialog appears.
Choose the vault you want to use to restore your library from the Source Vault pop-up menu.If the vault doesn’t appear in the Source Vault pop-up menu, choose Select Source Vault from the Source Vault pop-up menu, navigate to the vaults location in the Select Source Vault dialog, then click Select.
Click Restore, then click Restore again.

Importing a large (7500) photos from an external HD used with a PC into an

How can I Import a large (7500) library of photos from an external HD used with a PC into iPhoto? I know how to import, but can't figure out how to keep my folders (by year) and the sub folders in order. When I import they all end up in the library unorganized.

Hi AzBill,
I hope the following info might help you a little bit...
Importing Images from the hard drive, CD, or DVD
To import a folder with subfolders of images maintaining the same organizational structure (or close to it):
Drag the folder with the subfolders into iPhotos viewing area.
A film roll will be created with each sub folders name (the subfolder has to have images in it. To view the rolls in the Library you need to first go to the menu bar and choose View>by film rolls.
To make each roll into an Album, highlight the title of the roll
Go to File>new album from selection.
You will now have an Album in the source column with the images from that roll. Do this for each roll if you want them to be an Album. This is your choice.
Next, go to the menu bar and hit File>new folder
Name this new folder with the year or whatever the name was of the Parent folder containing the subfolders that you had dragged into iPhotos viewing area.
Next drag all the Albums into the respective new Parent folder you just made.
Albums- collection of images from one roll or many rolls. The Albums will be listed in your source column when you make them. The albums only contain placeholders for the images that are still in the library. They are not duplicates.
Rolls- rolls are created when you import folder of images. It will be given the name of the folder you are importing.
Rolls are also created from each import from your camera. You are given the option to name the roll at import.
Folder-a folder you create manually using the File>new folder command
Folders can hold Albums, slideshows, books, another folder, etc.
One other way you can import a folder of images and have an Album created for it as the same time it is imported as a roll in the Library view:
Drag each folder of images into the source column of iPhoto. When you see the plus sign, drop it in the source column.
An album will be created in the source column, and the roll that the album was created from will be in the library view window.
Hope this helps!

How do I transfer/copy my itunes library from 1 external hard drive to another one?

How can i transfer/copy my itunes library from 1 external hard drive to another one?

http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1449

Disconnect Large Aperture Library from FCP X

Hi,
I have a large Aperture library of over 200 gigs that takes over 10 minutes to load when I start FCP X. I'd like to disconnect Aperture altogether from FCP X and then just save the few jpgs I need, when I need them to a folder that I can then pull the photos from. How can I do that?
Thanks,
Don

I experienced the exact same problem. I have a iPhoto Library in another volume (or partition) with very small free space, while main/system partition (Macintosh HD) has big enough free space.
Turned out, the one that should have big free space is the volume/partition that contains original iPhoto Library (to import from), not the system partition. So, I freed up some space, reopen Photos app (while holding Alt key), and select the iPhoto Library to import. It works!

How do I import my type file library from an older version of cs2

I recently upgraded to cc from cs2 and now need to know how to import my type font library from my older version. All of my current artwork is not being displayed correctly because the fonts aren't recognized.

There are a some fonts that gets installed with the Adobe app, and only get loaded when Ilustrator is booted.
/Applications/Adobe Illustrator CS6/Adobe Illustrator.app/Required/Fonts/
To better help you will need answers to these questions
What OS you are on
What fonts you are having trouble with
Do you use any font utility such as an Extensis product, or fontbook on mac to manage you fonts.
as this also may be a problem with your font cache needing to be reset.

Restoring aperture library from an external hard drive?

I have a major issue with my aperture library. It crashed completely and it turns out that the back up I have on my time machine was corrupted because of a hard disk error. I found this out after buying a new mac and while trying to migrate the old library to the new mac. I kept getting error message -36.
The situation is now as follows:
- I have the full Aperture library on an external hard disk that I recovered from my crashed mac
- I can acces and copy the indivial pictures via the master folder, but cannot copy the entire library. If I try this it give me an error (-36)
- I can see the individual photo files via (click, 'view content'), and can copy them in groups, but not as a whole. It turns out that If I try to copy the master folder, there are some corrupt images there and the copy exercise then quits automatically. It does not allow me to delete the corrupt images.
- when i try to restore the the library via aperture (so opening it with aperture) it keeps saying that my 'permissions' are not set correctly.
Does anyone have an idea to copy the library (24gb worth of photos) without having to go in and copy group by group eliminating the corrupt files?
There must be some way to rebuild the library on my new mac, from the hard disk, as I can see and access the individual pictures?
Thanks!
Alco
- My old mac ran on Snow Leopard.

+the problem is this, almost every time i start my imac, launch itunes and then play a track purchased from an old itunes account, it keeps asking me to authorize that account. even though i have had previous macs containing itunes content on this old account, it has always played with no issues at all. now then... to try and remedy this, i first of all uninstalled itunes COMPLETELY and reinstalled. this seemed to do the trick but after a few days, it all started again.+
Did you unauthorize your old Mac and authorize this one? You only get a maximum of 5 machines, so maybe you're past that or haven't authorized the new one - to do that, open iTunes, click on Store in Menu. Now, there should be two options: authorize or de-authorize this computer. Click on authorize and report back with whatever message you get.
+on to my second issue, Aperture. the app works fine except, like itunes it constantly asks me to enter the serial number from the box. please note that this is a legitimate copy purchased from the apple online store and i used it for about a year on my old macbook pro with only having to enter the serial during the initial installation.+
The Aperture SLA states that you can install it on two computers - a desktop and a laptop. I don't know if there is any protection embedded in the DVD (if you've already had it installed twice), but if the issue persists, I'd contact the Apple store (since you said that is where you bought it) and ask - or, if you're covered by warranty, simply call Apple. Or, if not, make an appointment at your nearest Genius Bar and get answers there. It is perfectly legal to install it again as long as it no longer exists on the old machine - and I don't think it has anything to do with hardware, sounds more like a glitch. Oh, and have you tried to install it fresh, enter the serial, open it to see if it works and then copy over the library?

How do I move my old iPhoto library from my external hard drive to my new Mac?

Hi guys!
I recently bought a new MacBook Air as my MacBook Pro was on its last legs... I have my backup for my old MacBook Pro on an external hard drive and I'm trying to put a selection of albums from my old iPhoto onto my new MacBook Air iPhoto. I can't simply click and drag it over as I get an error message "The iPhoto library is a Time Machine backup, and so cannot be used as the main library...". I've tried to reopen iPhoto while holding option and selecting my old iPhoto library from my external hard drive to open... AND I get the same message.
If anyone could help me out that would be amazing!
FYI: The hard drive I am using is a G|Drive mobile with Thunderbolt 1 TB.
Thank you very much in advance!
Cheers,
Kendall

I may sound like a real rookie here, but on my new MacBook Air there isn't a "Pictures" folder under "Users/kendallwilson" like there used to be on my old MacBook Pro (Early 2011). I'm still working out the new software on my MB Air, so where exactly should I open this new window to start following the steps you just provided me.
Thanks again!

How do I import a large iPhoto library into an iMac running Yosemite without losing the existing division of the library into albums?which file do I look for on the older Mac, running Snow Leopard?

Import of library

You don't import one library into another. Simply copy the library from the older Mac to the Pictures folder on iMac. If you already have a library on the iMac rename it first.
Next launch iPhoto on the new iMac with the Option key held down and select the newly copied library.
If you have photos in the original library on the iMac you can merge that library into the larger, copied library with the paid version of iPhoto Library Manager. Or if you also have Aperture 3.3 you can use it to merge the two libraries.

How to use iMovie with Aperture Library from an external drive?

Hey,
Some problems:
1. My first video, I stored the project on my own laptop and used the library from the HD. This seems to give some problems, but I now figured out I have to consolidate the media etc. so now my files don't get missing after unplugging the harddrive. I figured it would be a better idea to make all new projects on the HD, so I have everything in place all the time. BUT. look at the picture: there seems to be something wrong with the way iMovie recognizes the aperture library: i'ts not listed in the events library under the HardDisk (named Passport) but under my own drive... ??? (+ I don't understand the idea of events when I have my aperture library: Do I need to make events for all projects I make? how is this possible when the library is not in the correct position?)
2. I made a movie, but I'm unable to export a large/high quality version of this project. That's why I want to move my project to the HD and then open it on my partners Mac Book Pro to make a good export. Unfortunately, his macbook doesn't recognize the files and the files can't be opened in iMovie... (files stay gray and unclickable)
To sum it all up:
I want the best way to work with this set-up: mac book air, external drive with all my files and iMovie. And I want to be able to open the project on a different computer to make high quality exports.

First thing that comes up with videos in your 'picture' library is the videos are always under the full control of the picture library program. Which means Aperture is the keeper and master, and it decides what will be displayed in iMovie's Event Library. If Aperture is having difficulties sometimes it cannot or will not display the videos you are storing there.
Right now, I think the problem is your Aperture Library is on the internal Mac HD, not the external. You would have to move Aperture's Library to the external HD (along with all the pictures and videos). Then try to add the videos back into a project.
In extreme cases I have recommended moving the videos out of the picture library and re-importing them into iMovie Event folders to let iMovie manage it.

How do I import a large Aperture library from an external disk?

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