Move my Aperture Library

I have just bought a new 3T Time Capsule and will use the old 2T Time Capsule as an additional drive (also extending my network). How can I move my Aperture from my MacBook Pro to the old 2T Time Capsule? Is this a good idea?
Regards
Nelson.

there's no way I know of to easily tell the aperture on the Air to transfer the pictures to the main library.
If you create a small travelling library for each travel you would import this library completely into your main library on the iMac, using File > Import > Library.
If you can connect your iMac and your MBA using Firewire, you could mount the MBA in Target mode; then the iMac will see it as an external disk and you can directly import from the MBA.
See OS X Lion: Transfer files between two computers using target disk mode
If target disk mode is not possible, transfer the small library by copying it to a thumbsdrive or another disk and then import that. any drive you use to transfer libraries needs to be formatted MacOS X Extended (Journaled).
And though I'm interested in that, I'm also looking for advice on whether I can dispense with the iMac or not.
That is a possibility, if your new macs are fast enough and have enough memory for graphics processing. Simply try it out on your current MBA, if you are happy with the performance and the screen size.
In this case copy your main Aperture library to a fast external drive (Fire wire, Thunderbolt, USB 3), connect the drive to your MBA and open Aperture by double clicking the library.
Your external drive should have the "Ignore Ownership on this volume" flag set. This way you can use the library on all your macs in turn.
To set this flag, select the drive, then use the Finder command "File > Get Info".
In the "Info" panel click the padlock icon, authentificate as administrator, and disclose the "Sharing&Permissions" brick.
Léonie

Similar Messages

What is the best way to move an aperture library from one full drive to an external drive?

Just want to make sure I move my existing Aperture library on my internal drive (which is full) correctly to an external drive that has plenty of space.
Thanks for the help!

As I use a MBP with limited internal drive space, my approach is to have the image files on an external drive, while leaving the library itself on my internal drive. The library takes up about 80GB while the images are closer to 1TB.
The library always contains 'Thumbnails' of the images which it shows in place of the disconnected image files.
This means I can still open the library even when the external drive is not attached, and I can still do keywording and rating and organising and so on.
I also maintain 'Previews' for my best images. Previews are like thumbnails but larger in size and can be shared with other apps, so I can still use and share these copies of the images, again even while the external drive is not attached.
I don't like the idea of having the actual library on an external drive connected to a laptop (although I have done so from time to time without issue). There's always a chance it can become accidentially disconnected (kids, pets, etc) and if this happens while using Aperture it can corrupt your library. A corrupted library can be repaired with Apertures first aid tools, but it's better to avoid it in the frist place when you can.

Can you move the aperture library without losing images?

my library is defaulted to imac..
but can you house it on external drive..I know, yes, as a referenced library.
but I already have some [lots] images in library.
can I move the library and maintain contents?
also..
once you import into library, is the original image in folder it was in before? or it's deleted?
just trying to see what will work best for my needs?
as I sometimes travel/live in 2nd home and just carry external drive
thanks for input/suggestion

Menu>File>Vault
Creating what Ap[erture calls a 'Vault' seems like the easiest way to do it.
Here is the complete Help section on backing up your library.
QUOTE:
As you begin working with Aperture, it’s important to perform regular backups of your photos. Using the Aperture backup system, you can create backups and update them whenever you wish. Aperture tracks your backups and indicates how up to date your most recent backup is. In the rare event of equipment failure or an unforeseen catastrophe such as a fire or weather-related damage, you can easily restore the entire Aperture library onto your computer or a new computer.
You set Aperture to back up a copy of the library to a designated storage area called a vault. For safety and redundancy, use external hard disks to hold your vaults. You can create as many vaults as you deem necessary.
When you back up your photos, Aperture makes a complete copy of the library in its current state. If you remove items from the library, those items are removed from the backup when it is next updated.
All originals for managed images, all versions, and all metadata, previews, and adjustment information associated with your photos are backed up. The versions, previews, and metadata associated with referenced images are also backed up in the vault.
Important: Referenced images’ originals are not backed up in the vault with the library. Because the originals for referenced images are stored outside of the library, you must manage the backup and archiving of them yourself.
A typical backup system used with Aperture might look like the following:
This system backs up the Aperture library to two vaults stored on external hard disks. You routinely back up the library on one external hard disk. You use the second hard disk as a backup that you keep offsite. You can then rotate your onsite external hard disk with the offsite hard disk to keep all your vaults updated.
To set up your Aperture backup system, you need to do the following:
Determine the number of vaults you need. For example, do you need one for routine backups, one for weekly backups, and one for offsite storage?
Determine the number of hard disks you need for routine backups.
Determine the number of hard disks you’ll use for storing backups offsite.
Connect your hard disk drives to your computer.
Open Aperture and create the vaults you need, assigning a hard disk to each vault.
Update the new, empty vaults with copies of the Aperture library.
Disconnect one of the vault hard disks and take it to an offsite location for safekeeping.
When planning the amount of storage space you’ll need, estimate the amount of disk space needed to hold your existing digital images (photos you plan to import into Aperture) and the amount of space you might need for new projects. For example, RAW images typically require 8 to 25 or more megabytes (MB) of disk space per file. Estimating the number of photos in a typical project and the number of projects you usually create in a year, you can make a rough estimate of what might represent a year’s storage space.

How do I move my Aperture Library to Synology NAS

I am trying to set up a Synology DS1512+ and want to store my Aperture library on it. I'd appreciate any tips on how to best move the library from my iMac internal drive to the NAS device. The main reason I purchased the DS1512+ was to store my library on a device which I could expand as needed and which provided some data redundancy in case a drive fails.

Aperture will not open the library on a drive that is not formatted MacOS X Extended (Journaled), at least the newest Aperture versions are checking the formatting of the drive.
In addition to that - Apple advises against using network volumes, see: Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library,
There is a risk of transmission errors and database corruption.
Also, the access to a NAS will be a lot slower than on a directly connected drive. Aperture will be less responsive. It is preferable, to have the Aperture library on the fastest drive you have.
See this long thread in the "More Like this" to the right: Re: Nas (Synology DS413j) and Aperture
If you want your NAS primarily for backup, create a writable disk image on the NAS with the correct formatting, and store the library on that disk image.

I want to move my Aperture library to Lightroom. All of my photos are on a hard drive. Do I just click import on Lightroom or is there more to it? All of my photos were shot in RAW.

Originally, I moved the photos in each album one by one. The task was tedious but the photos did transfer. Eventually, I ran out of disk space. Now I have an 8 GB dual Thunderbolt hard drive. This time, after speaking with Adobe, I was told to just "move the photos to Lightroom by clicking import." Is that all there is to it? All of my photos were shot in RAW.

No, no, no. Can't believe they still don't understand the plugin after all this time. Adobe support is abysmal. And you pay a subscription fee!
The plug-in is a great alternative, but it does have issues. And the most important steps for migration need to be done in Aperture, which may explain their skills gap.
See this post for a partial explanation.
How did your migration to Adobe Lightroom go?
The key to NOT running out of disk space is to relocate your images from "managed" status to "referenced". You can specify a better folder structure for your resulting Lightroom library. Be aware that you will need some overhead, as your Aperture library (metadata) takes space, as your Lightroom catalog will, too. But migrating "managed" Aperture images results in a full copy.
There's other considerations for Aperture previews. Although much smaller, all previews "should" be copied. I've actually found that the plugin fails to copy a majority of previews.
Lightroom will copy managed raw files, but will just point to referenced raw files. If you choose to copy previews, it will copy all previews. Not much to the plugin, but it helps to know to pre-tag images in Aperture, and make sure you do some sort of file-level compare to make sure everything is copied over. I've made several posts on these issues under "Photo Enthusiast" in this forum.
https://forums.adobe.com/community/lightroom/content

Best way to move the aperture library to a new machine?

Hi Folks,
This must be an FAQ I just can't find it.
I've just got a new machine and want to move Aperture to it. I have backed up the vault to an external drive. I 'think' you would restore the library from that. Any advice from those who've done this already, would be much appreciated.
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.9) Quad-Core Intel Xeon 4GB memory

What it won't do is copy across your preferences, presets and keyword lists...
Preferences - copy 'your home folder'/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Aperture.plist to the same place on the new computer.
Presets and keywords lists etc. - copy the entire 'your home folder'/Library/Application Support/Aperture folder across.
If you used Migration Assistant these have probably been copied across already.
Ian

Aperture Library movement

I need to move my Aperture library to another internal drive due to space considerations. Looked over this forum. I did move the library and redirect Aperture, rebooted, but I see that all the raw files of "projects" are still in my Pictures part of operating system drive - same as original Aperture library. And that's what most of the file space is used up by -raws. When I move these to the new library, they do not seem accessible - I get the warning icon which i think means i'm only seeing a thumbnail.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Robert
www.robertholland.com

HI Robert
you need to brush up on the difference between the two workflows, managed and referenced, see
http://www.apple.com/au/aperture/tutorials/
http://photo.rwboyer.com/
At this stage you are wanting to either "Relocate Masters for Project" or "Consolidate Masters for Project".
One moves the files and they remain referenced, the other will bring the files into a managed environment within your Aperture library.
Tony

Can I store my Aperture library on an external Hard Disk?

I have a MacBook Pro with very few free space on its internal hard drive. My Aperture library is getting very heavy and i would like to move my Aperture library to an external HD. I know that you can keep files where they are and see them in your aperture library, but the thing i'm trying to do is to STORE AND OPEN MY APERTURE LIBRARY (.APLIBRARY FILE) FROM AN EXTERNAL HARD DISK. Is this possible?

It is possible to put the Aperture library on an external HD as long as the HD is formatted correctly see: Format external drives to Mac OS Extended before using with Aperture
However keep in mind that depending on the HD type and the way it is connected to your Mac performance may be an issue. For the best possible outcome the external drive should have a large cache, high RPM and be connected via firewire.
The other option to explore is to put the masters on an external drive and keep the library on the internal. This will give you relatively good performance using a standard USB drive.

My aperture library won't open - it's stored on an external R6 pegasus drive?

Have been through the various other threads and followed most of the ideas - repair disk permissions, plist delete, rebuild database.
The application works ok and when it is not trying to access the library stored on the pegasus it works fine - I guess the librray on the pegasus must be corrupted some how but can I get to the unerlying files and re-import?
Help!?

Yes it's Mac OS extended. I've had it working before but since the file size became so large (200GB+) it has started to have problems. I just tried it with another laptop where I installed a new version of aperture and it said that the library rebuild had been interrupted. It restarted the rebuild and now I can get access but I'm worried about the stability going forward and every time I try to move the aperture library (by copying it to another external drive) or update the vault it just hangs.
So I'm not sure whether this is an imac issue, an aperture issue or a problem with the compatibility of the pegasus storage (I suspect the latter)?
Any thoughts on what to do or just cross my fingers and hope it doesn't happen again??

Transfering aperture library via vault to new comp

I apologize in advance if my question already have been answered in another thread. But I couldn't find any threads matching my problems.
I recently bought the new iMac after my old 24" could not handle the pressure anymore. I wanted to move my aperture library from the old to the new. And ofcourse I wanted all info (adjustment changes and so on) to come with in the move. After reading a few threads on the subject I created a "Vault" that I later opened up in the new comp. At a fist glance everything looks great in aperture but when opening up a picture to make adjustments it says "image offline".
On my old comp I can see (where my pics are stored) two aperture files:
Aperture Library
Aperture Library_original
…so far so good.
But then that are tons (well, many) folders named like my projects in aperture. And not folders within the aperture library file but stand alone…if that makes any sense.
What am I doing wrong? I get all the pics over to my new comp with the help of Vault but can't edit any of my pics from a few months back (when for some reason aperture started to create folders outside the library file)
On my new iMac i have 2 files
Aperture Library
Aperture Library_old
...so no folders got transfered
/Jonatan, sweden

It looks like your Aperture library were a referenced library. When you imported your image files you did not import the originals into the Aperture library, but stored them in folders outside the library. That are folders named like your projects that you are seeing. When Aperture needs to access the originals to render edited versions, it will reference the image files in those folders, see this section in the Aperture 3 User Manual: Aperture 3 User Manual: Working with Referenced Images
When you create a vault, Aperture will only include images that you imported into the library, not the originals you stored outside. You need to copy the folders with projects as well to your new mac and reconnect them to the image versions, otherwise you will not be able to edit your images.
But it looks like you did create these folders outside accidentally and did not intend to use referenced original files. If that is so, I'd suggest to repair this, by consolidating your library.
Select the "Photos" view in the source list of your Aperture Library and select all your images at once.
Then use the command "File > Consolidate Originals" from the main menu bar. This will move (or copy) all referenced images from the folders outside into your Aperture library.
When you now create a vault, it will contain all images. Use this new vault to recreate your Aperture library on your new mac. You can also simply copy your Aperture library itself to your new mac. You do not need the detour using a vault.
BTW: Where Aperture will store the originals image files depends on the settings in the "Import" panel. Make sure the "Store Files" option is set to "In the Aperture Library".
Regards
Léonie

When I try to open my aperture library, I get the message "There was an error opening the database for the library "/Users/alyssabouma/Pictures/Aperture Library.aplibrary". help!

When I try to open my Aperture Library, I get this message: "There was an error opening the database for the library “/Users/alyssabouma/Pictures/Aperture Library.aplibrary”.
I have already uninstalled and reinstalled the library....Help!!

lyssalou,
what is your Aperture version and what is your MacOS X version?
What happened, before this problem occurred? Did you import images, install software, move the Aperture library?
I have already uninstalled and reinstalled the library....Help!!
What do you mean by reinstalling the library? Did you reinstall Aperture?
You might start the trouble shooting with using the Aperture Library First Aid Tools - repairing the permissions, repairing the library, and rebuilding, if necessary, see:
Aperture 3 User Manual: Repairing and Rebuilding Your Aperture Library
Before rebuilding the library, make a backup of the Aperture Library, if you do not have one.
Regards
Léonie

Help!!! There was an error opening the database for the library "/Users/davidwindebank/Pictures/Aperture Library.aplibrary"

There was an error opening the database for the library “/Users/davidwindebank/Pictures/Aperture Library.aplibrary”

Tell us more please - what is your Aperture version? What version of MAcOS X?
What happenend directly before the problem occured? Did you update software? Install new software? Import new images?
Did you move your Aperture library? Run a cleaning app for your mac?

I can't open aperture- I get this message: There was an error opening the database for the library "/Users/Kristy/Pictures/Aperture Library.aplibrary". :

I can't seem to open Aperture, don't know how to back up the library (I have pics I just put on Aperture last week that aren't backed up) so I can just rebuild the library. Will I lose all my pics if I choose to rebuild the library?

don't know how to back up the library
Simply drag your Aperture library to an external drive with enough free disk space to make a backup copy for now.
What happened before you first got this error message? Did you import new images into Aperture? Did you install new software? Or update software?
Did you move your aperture library to a new location?
Does the panel with the error message show an error log? What does it say? The first 50 lines will suffice.
Will I lose all my pics if I choose to rebuild the library?
Rebuild is a save standard trouble shooting operations. But it may take a long time, and if your mac has other problems, in interruption of the rebuild may make things worse, so don't do it without copying your library some where safe.

Having Aperture library on its own drive?

I'm wondering if it would be advantageous to move the Aperture library to its own drive. I currently have 2 different internal RAID 0 volumes. One of them is comprised of two WD Raptor drives and is my boot drive and contains my applications and Aperture library. The other drive contains (some of) the referenced files and my data. Given that I am a heavy Aperture user (350,000 referenced images in a 150gb library) I'm wondering if I wouldn't be better off having the library be the only thing on the Raptors. I'm guessing that with a library this big, disk fragmentation could be a major bottleneck, plus I would also gain some speed advantages by having my volume only be 50% full (instead of 75%).
Do you think I am making this overcomplicated for a small speed advantage, or I might I see significant gains?
thanks,
Dave
Message was edited by: davidwittig

Hi both,
Firstly i typo'ed the RAID number (sorry but sounds like you realized).
Subjective / empirical results from my own tests with my needs in mind:
I've noticed small performance improvements moving from FW400 to eSATA externals but frankly with 8Mpix/24Mb files sizes for the RAW's it's not been a significant contribution to decision criteria for me. Moving from USB 2 to FW400 was significant, esp. for launching Aperture, importing and exporting. During editing/adjustments, FW400 was quite acceptable.
As for RAM, moving from 2.5Gb to 4.5Gb gained me some when I was also running PS CS3 and other apps. (Mail, Safari, MS Office 2004/Rosetta etc.). At 4.5Gb, I rarely run into much virtual memory paging. My suggestion is to launch Activity Monitor and just see how you are using RAM for your workload. More RAM will achieve nothing at all if no paging to disk is taking place.
Aperture is reasonably multi-threaded but import to some extent and export primarily are the best examples of where the extra cores add value. Once into image manipulation, my 4-cores tick along at idle for the most part and sadly I Activity Monitor doesn't show GPU performance. Maybe the X1900 G5 card is maxed out (likely) but I don't know. I did a test with 2 x graphics cards under Aperture v1.1 but it showed no improvement whatsoever. Unknown whether Aperture v2.x will multi-thread gpu calls but I think not .... possibly core image limitation in Leopard.

Need Step-by-Step Instructions for Moving Aperture Library to New iMac

I've been using Aperture on an old MacBook Pro and am totally out of memory on it (I have less than 4GB free out of 465 GB). I'm needing to move my Aperture library over to a newly purchased iMac.
I have already installed Aperture on the new iMac and have updated the version to 3.5.1. Aperture on my old MacBook Pro is version 3.4.5. Will this difference in versions be a problem as I move the library over?
On the MacBook Pro, I use a referenced library, housing all of my masters on an external drive. I had to do this because of insufficient memory/storage capacity.
I do not have any vaults.
While I had been backing up to an old TimeMachine, I ran into problems with it a few months back (would spin and spin and spin and never complete a backup) and stopped attempting to back up to it. We have purchased a new TimeMachine for use with the new iMac, but have not had our AV guys out to the house to connect it to an otherwise overly complicated whole-house AV system. So, I'm afraid TimeMachine is not the useful mechanism in transferring the library to the new computer.
The thunderbolt connection evidently will not work with the old MacBook Pro, so this isn't the transfer mechanism either.
Please tell me in very simple steps how to move my library over to the new computer. Please! I have read through the Aperture users manual and do not see this topic addressed directly, though it is vaguely mentioned within the discussion on vaults. I have searched this community and do not find a simple enough explanation.
Do I need to run out and get another external drive and set up a vault to do the transfer? But, would that even work with the referenced library? There is no way I can convert to a managed library on the MacBook Pro, as I am out of space.
Please help! I have tons of photo projects that I was wanting to complete for the holidays gift-giving, but I'm at a standstill until I can get up and running on the new computer.
Many thanks for your feedback

If you cannot connect the old mac via thunderbolt or firewire in target mode, an external drive - large enough to hold the library plus some additional free space - would really be the best option for the transfer. I would not use the network to copy a referenced library. You do not need to create a vault.
Connect the drive to the old Mac.
Make sure the external drive is formatted for Mac - MacOS X Extended (Journaled).
Set the "Ignore Ownership on this volume" flag on the external drive.
Copy the Aperture library over to the external drive by dragging it in the Finder.
Now double-click it to open it in Aperture.
To move all references images to the external drive select all images in Aperture in the Photos view and use the command "File > Relocate Originals" and select a folder on your external drive as the destination.
Once the library and the referenced files are safely on your external drive, I'd run a "Repair" using the First Aid Tools: See this Manual page: Repairing and Rebuilding Your Aperture Library: Aperture 3 User Manual
Test the library on the new drive and check, if everything transferred safely.
Now dismount the drive and connect it to your new mac.
Copy the library to your new Mac by dragging it in the Finder from the drive to a folder on your new mac.
Now double-click it to open it in Aperture. Aperture will now upgrade it to version 3.5.
Use the command "File > Relocate Originals" to move the originals where you want them.
Regards
Léonie

Move my Aperture Library

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