I want to export to Flickr as backup and then delete originals

Question

This is puzzling me.
I'm hoping to backup a bunch of my photos to Flickr, then delete them from Aperture. But after I have exported my photos to Flickr and I try to delete the originals, I get a message asking me if I'm sure I want to move the selected photos to the trash. It further warns me that the versions will be "removed from all Albums, Books... Flickr Albums..." etc.
What is the best process for doing what I am trying to do? This seems very counterintuitive. Thanks.

Answer 1

Hi Michael,
Imho, what you're proposing is an elegant but flawed solution.  Backing up (or archiving) data must be 100% reliable, and, using the common methods, isn't expensive.  Using Flickr to do two tasks (publish your work on-line, and serve as a back-up copy) is clever, but Flickr is not, in my judgement, 100% reliable.  The gain simply isn't worth the cost -- especially since you already have an excellent back-up system (Time Machine + Aperture Library Vaults).
One of the truism I rely on when decided what to keep and what to toss is, "If it's good enough to show to people, it's worth keeping."  Certainly one should retain much more than a _minimum_ amount.  The second truism I rely on is, "If it's worth keeping, it's worth keeping the entire Image-production-module of the RAW (or camera-made) file and the instructions I labored to create that produce the picture I want from that file."  So my advice is to keep, in Aperture, any Image that is worth putting on Flickr.
The Image is made from two files: the Original, and the Version.  The Version is a text file that is always stored in the Aperture Library package.  The Original is simply the image-format file you imported.  Aperture -- brilliantly -- allows you to store you Originals on any, and as many, directly-attached storage devices as you want, and furthermore allows you to move them whenever you want.
The issue you are dealing with (afaict) is how to _archive_ Images that have been fully developed.  My first question is: why archive them at all?  If your Library is too large, move older Images' Originals to a dedicated external storage device.  If your dedicated external storage device is not big enough, purchase another (data storage is one of the greatest bargains of our time).  If you've moved almost all of your Originals to a dedicated external storage device, and your Library is still too large, move the entire Library to a dedicated, fast, external storage device (today, use USB-3 or Thunderbolt).  If the problem you are trying to solve is one of organization rather than storage, then you'll have to look at your workflow and make improvements.  One of the simplest things to do in your Library is to create a new Folder (call it "Archive" or whatever) and move Projects that contain Images with which you are finished into it.  Use the disclosure triangle to collapse the Folder.  Out of sight, out of mind -- but safely archived and doesn't require any additional effort to be backed up.  If that doesn't fit your workflow, then we need to know more about your workflow in order to suggest improvements.
If you have a set of Images that make up a fully self-contained set and you really want them out of your Library (e.g.: scans for a completed project), export them into their own Library, put that Library with your general documents, and delete the Images from your main Library.
A general (and slightly out-of-date) post about the workflow I use and recommend, is here.
HTH,
--Kirby.