Migrate large Aperture library to Photos

I have a 450 GB Aperture Library that I am trying to migrate to Photos. The Aperture Library is located on my external hard drive. There I right-clicked on it and chose "open with Photos".
I tried this 3 times now and it always get stuck at 34% for hours.
Is anybody else experiencing this problem? Is there a solution?
Thanks!

The article does not explain what is imported into PHOTOS if your original IPHOTO library only had the addresses of the pictures not the source vs if you imported the full picture. That may be where the confusion lies on this issue.
The article only mentions "links" to the original library. Actually, the "Links" are hard links.
Instead, Photos saves disk space by creating links to the original and preview versions of your images.
When Finder reports the file size of your Photos library, it includes all your originals and previews. It may look like your remaining iPhoto or Aperture library is taking up twice the space on your hard drive, but it isn't—your images exist only in one location, even though you may have more than one photo library.
A hard link is different from the Aliases and symbolic links used for referenced originals.
A hard links is a duplicate entry in the file table and looks for all purposes like the original file. It will be reported with the same size as the original, but the entry in the file table will reference the same disk blocks as the original.
There is a big advantage to hard links: You can delete the original file and the hard link will still work, because the disk space will only be released, when all (hard)links to the files have been deleted. So you can safely delete either the original library or the Photos library and your images will not be deleted. The storage will only be freed, when both libraries have been deleted.
If you migrate a library with referenced images, they will remain referenced like before.

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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 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!

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!

Sorting In the Aperture library entitled "Photos"

In the Aperture library entitled "Photos", is there an easy way that I can I sort all the photos according to the chronological order in which they were taken?

If you select "Photos" in the Library and set the Browser to "Split View", you can sort the images by Date. Set the Selector on top of the film strip to "Date Ascending" or "Date Descending", like this:
This will sort them by capture date.
Léonie

Unable to open Aperture library in Photos

Hi,
I am unable to open my Aperture library in Photos.
In the attempt to get this fixed, I carried out from within Aperture (by pressing alt-cmd during Aperture startup) in 'Photo library first aid' all three options that are offered: Repair permissions, repair database, rebuild database - nothing helped. I also had corrected before some dangling references to pictures that are not managed in the library; there are no offline or unreferenced pictures in the library.
In 'Photos' I am getting a pop-up windows with the message at stage "Preparing library ... 69% completed": "The library could not be opened. Photos has attempted to repair the library xxxx, but is unable to open it."
However, that same library opens fine in Aperture, and also in iPhoto.
What is the problem?
Thanks
Wolfgang

I talked to apple support. They recommended doing a basic level permissions repair using the following procedure:
The advice is a little outdated, and you just have to run the disk utility program to repair the permissions on your main drive and the drive upon which you store the databases. I have tried the following procedure and have re-run the importation procedure. Just at 1% now - so I hope that it will work this time. If it doesn't, I will report back after talking to a Level 2 person at Photos support.
JF
In the newest versions of OS X, there is an additional Repair Permissions application utility hidden away. This tool is located inside boot Repair Utilities. Here’s how to access it.
Restart OS X and hold down the Command and R keys.
You will boot into the Repair Utilities screen. On top, in the Menu Bar click the Utilities item then select Terminal.
In the Terminal window, type “resetpassword” (without the quotes) and hit Return.
The Password reset utility launches, but you’re not going to reset the password. Instead, click on the icon for your Mac’s hard drive at the top. From the drop-down below it, select the user account where you are having issues.
At the bottom of the window, you’ll see an area labeled ‘Reset Home Directory Permissions and ACLs’. Click the Reset button there.
The reset process takes a couple of minutes. When it’s done, quit the programs you’ve opened and restart your Mac. Notice that ‘Spotlight’ starts re-indexing immediately.
Great tip, thanks for sending this in Tony R!
Update: This works in OS X 10.7 Lion, and 10.8 Mountain Lion, OS X 10.9 Mavericks, OS X 10.10 Yosemite, and newer.

Large aperture library on external drive; too large to move to internal before switching to photos

I have a 395gb aperture library on an external drive. It used to reside on my old macbook pro, but i got a new one (retina) with a smaller hard drive and i haven't found a way to bring it over yet. My plan was (and i started) to slim it down by getting rid of photos and projects that I don't need, but it'll take a while.
I was hoping i could bring it over piecemeal, like by exporting some folders/projects as aperture libraries, and then importing them into photos, but i'm not sure that's possible.
I tried opening the aperture library (on the external) in photos so it would migrate, but it said i need much more space (the external is pretty full). Any ideas?
Thanks,
Adam

jpvp wrote:
Hi,
NoisyScott: do I understand it correctly that your masterfiles on the server are just sitting in a folder individually, or are they within an aperture library that is on the server that just has your masterfiles???
And FINALLY: can you back up your referenced files (or versions) as well, and how do you go about that?
My master files are just sitting in folders on the server. I leave the Aperture Library on my laptop hard drive as it just contains thumbnails, previews and the actual Aperture database.
You can back up your master images any way you want; a separate hard drive, a Network Attached Storage device, Mozy.com, Amazon S3, etc. The issue is that backing up these images is now up to you as you can't use the Aperture Vaults with referenced masters.
For what it is worth, moving master images around in Aperture is ridiculously easy once you get used to it. You can Reference your masters to a new location at any time you want, as many times as you like then change your mind and consolidate them to your Aperture Library (and thus make them managed masters again) all without Aperture missing a beat.
The critical thing to remember is you must do any and all Master Image file operations through Aperture.
If you decide to re-organize your Master Image folder structure through the finder, Aperture will no longer be able to connect to those Master Images and you then have to attempt to re-connect the images to the references in the Aperture database. This sounds like it should be easy, but for some reason Aperture has a very difficult time doing this. If you only ever use Aperture to move the files around, everything works swimmingly.
Try all of the Relocate and Consolidate Masters functions with a small test project or two at first until you are comfortable with how you want to organize all of your files and then go for it.
Good luck.

I only import referenced pictures, why y do I have large Aperture library?

Firstly, thank you all for your answers to my previous posts
You are helping me wonderfully in migrating to Aperture
Given my increasingly limited disk space and other management reasons, i only import referenced pictures leaving them in their original locations.
1. I seem to have a what i think is a large and growing Aperture library even though i save no images to the library (eg 1.2G for 2000 pics averaging 300K in size). Is this just the overhead required for using the application and all its edits, previews and references or could i be doing something wrong?
2. If i drag and drop a picture into a project and folder, will it always be a referenced picture or wil it depend on some setting somewhere to determine what happens with a drag and drop import?
Thanks in Advance

I'm a relatively new Aperture user, but I think your library size is comparable to what I'm seeing, and it is previews, editing info etc that takes up the space.
As I understand it, if you drag and drop within Aperture, a referenced file will simply be re-indexed in the new location but remain a references file. If you drag and drop from a folder outside Aperture into Aperture, you will import the file rather than reference it. So far, from my experimenting, you need to use the import dialogue to keep it to referenced files.

Import an additional Aperture library to Photos?

I successfully upgraded and imported my iPhoto library to the new Photos app.
I have an other, Aperture, library as well.
How do I import that?
If I try via the Import dialog from the file menu, the Aperture library is greyed out.
If I drag and drop the Aperture library onto the Photos app, it asks me if I want to switch libraries.
What is going to happen to my already imported photos if I switch?
How do I consolidate my previous Aperture library into my existing Photos library?
Any thoughts would be much appreciated!
J

If I drag and drop the Aperture library onto the Photos app, it asks me if I want to switch libraries.
What is going to happen to my already imported photos if I switch?
When you switch, Photos will create an additional library and you can switch back and forth between libraries. To switch libraries, hold down the alt/options key while launching Photos.
If you have several libraries, you have to decide which library should be the System Photo Library. Only the System Photo Library can upload to iCloud and is visible in the media Browser for Desktop/Screensaver, other applications. You enable a library as System Photo Library in the Photos Preferences > General.
A second library can be convenient, if you do not want to upload all photos to iCloud Drive because of lack of storage on the synced devices. You could have one small library, that syncs with iCloud, and another large library for the photos you d not need in iCloud.
An add-on to Old Toad's post: To merge with Aperture, see this link: Aperture 3.3: How to use Aperture to merge iPhoto libraries

Backing up and Restoring a large Aperture library

One of our departments is looking to backup their Aperture library (170 Gb and growing). They would like to do an initial backup of everything, and then incrementally from that point. We tried using Retrospect it backed up fine although it took about 30 hours to do it, but when we tested the restore after the full back up a good portion of the photos were inaccessible.
We then backed up a small portion of the library and then tried a restore and all the photos are there.
Any suggestions?
Does Vault allow for incremental backups?
Thank for any help
Denny

I simply copy Aperture Library file (approximately 76 Gb) on an external Hard disk (FW800).
Time of copying approximately 1 hour.
Thus backup copy works perfectly. I have one more Mac and Aperture (MacBook). I once a week copy Aperture Library file on MacBook, it as reserve working station for me, and also on some photos session I take MacBook with myself. Aperture (witch backup library from iMac) works on it fine.

Which iMac for large Aperture library

I want to continue using Aperture to manage my 100G plus library. I'm looking at iMac 21.5 versus 27 inch. I'm used to the portability of the MacBook Air but USB 2 is much too painful.
I plan to upgrade to the 1 TB fusion drive but do I need 8 versus 16 G RAM?
Is it worth upgrading to I7 versus i5?
I use my computer for photos and short videos (display only) - no gaming - basic web surfing and basic word apps.
How realistic is it to drag the 27 inch PC around the house?
Screen size isn't that important to me.

If you intend to use a 21.5" always get 16GB becasue Aperture can use RAM and you cannot upgrade the RAM on the 2012/13 21" iMacs. As far as the CPU, either the i5 or i7 are fine, Aperture is not CPU intensive. New MBA's use USB 3 which is considerable quicker than USB 2. However they are limited on storage space, what you can (and probably should do) is save your Aperture library on an EHD.

Large Aperture Library 250GB

Afternoon App,
I have a large 250GB Library for Aperture - which is currently backed up on my External hard drive via Time Machine.
Im looking to update my laptop Mac Pro 2012 to Mac Pro 2013 Retina - but as these come with SSD im never going to fit it all in with my current setup (Used 550GB) this runs off a Hybrid SSD and Normal Disc drive.
Question - I dont think you can upgrade the retina drive to a normal drive ? - if you can then this wouldnt be a problem as I would swop the two drives over.
Question 2 - If you cant and have to use SSD - then what is the best way for me to keep my libary in tact - ie one folder structure - but off load the orginal images onto a drive ? Im guessing this would be the way todo it' ?
If someone could help I would be really greatful ?
Mick

Hi Mick,
Swapping out an unused CD-ROM for a useful HDD is a good exchange. OWC can likely help you determine what you can do and what parts you need.
I run a mixed Library on my personal machine (rMBP w. 500 GB SSD, no second drive bay). People generally think that it's the Library that is either referenced or managed, but it is more properly each Image's Original that is referenced or managed. I keep my Library on my laptop's SSD, import all new files into it with managed Originals, and once every month or so relocate the Originals of any Images that are older then 45 days. So my Library functions as a kind of processing tube: files come in, they are indexed, they are adjusted to my needs, and then the files are moved to an external HD. The index, and the Previews, stay with the Library, which stays on my laptop. With some tweaking for portfolio Images and incomplete projects, this system works well for me.
Note, though, that bus speeds for external drives are no longer the bottleneck they used to be. IME, you lose nothing perceptible if you put your entire Library on an external drive connected via USB-3 (or, I assume, Thunderbolt).
Having your system files on a large SSD, and your Library on a second internal drive, is almost ideal for a laptop.
In all cases I recommend leaving 100 GB unused on your SSD. OS X and Aperture are good at using this "scratch" space.
HTH,
--Kirby.

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john beardsworth wrote:
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Aperture library and photos folder

Hi.
I have a file '' aperture library'' that is 40gb on my mac's hdd and a folder named my photos on an external hdd that is 80 gb.
Is it possible to move them all to one place to organise them better without losing my photos.
I have already organized with projects and i need to free space on my mac .
thank you

I have a file '' aperture library'' that is 40gb on my mac's hdd and a folder named my photos on an external hdd that is 80 gb.
Are your Aperture library and the folder "My Photos" on your external HD related in some way? Does this folder contain referenced originals, or are this photos that are not in your Aperture library?
You can simply drag your aperture library to an external drive, when you want it somewhere else. And if your folder "Photos" has nothing to do with Aperture, you can drag it in the Finder somewhere else as well. But id the folder "Photos" contains original image files that Aperture references, you need to use Aperture's "Relocate original" command to move the image files to a different place.
Regards
Léonie

Migrate large Aperture library to Photos

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