Moving from Iphoto Buddy to Iphoto Library manager

Could someone give me instructions for moving several Iphoto Buddy Libraries to Iphoto Library Manager.
I am using Iphoto 5, and have moved from OSX 10.3.9 to OSX 10.4.11. My libraries are currently organized with Iphoto Buddy on OSX 10.3.9 on internal and external drives( I have each OSX system installed on different internal drives). I would like to move the libraries over to OSX 10.4.11 and use Iphoto Library Manager to organize them.
I would prefer to get your advice on how to proceed with this move before doing something that could damage the integrity of the files.
Your recommendations will be appreciated.

Trash your Photos library and do it again (Hold down the option key while launching Photos and select your iPhoto library to open)
LN

Similar Messages

How does iPhoto relate to iP Library Manager?

Once upon a time, I had my libraries & albums set up just fine. (In iP4). Then, I upgraded from like Panther to Leopard, etc. I don't know what iP version I upgraded to doing that. Anyway, everything got fouled up & the only way I could access my libraries was using iP Library Manager (thank god!). All of my photos are still in the original iP main library. I'm confused about duplicaion of images between iP11 and iP Library Manager. Where, exactly, are the original files? What images are aliases, and which are not?
This is what my home folder looks like:
(Folder) iPhoto My Vision (rebuilt)
(Folder) iPhoto Library
(Folder) iPhoto My Family (rebuilt)
When I want to add images, do I still do it in iPhoto11, where the other two Libraries do not appear? Exactly what is the relationship between iP & iP Library Manager?

You have three Libraries. iPhoto can open any of them by going
Hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library'
Library Manager (apart from its many other excellent qualities) does the same job.
Library Manager holds no photos, no aliases or anything like that. It's just a tool to augment iPhoto.
So yes, the only way to add photos is to use iPhoto.
You can choose which Library to add the images to - iPhoto will only add images to the open one.
Regards
TD

IPhoto Import - Need some library management Ideas...sound off please

I just got Aperture and love the functionality. I have been using Iphoto pretty faithfully for about a year after migrating from a PC. I have about 13,000 (40GB) jpeg photos in Iphoto. I will exclusively use Aperture from now on as far as I can tell. Do I import the Iphoto library or use them where they are? IS there an advantage to using the managed files vs referenced files? IF all new photos going forward are imported directly into Aperture, I will infact have two libraries, right? I figure I am about 2-3 months away from having to migrate my libraries to an external drive from my MBP. If I do that, can I still view and show photos if I migrate my master files to the external. I like to travel and work my my MBP and having my entire library, at least a low res copy of it would be useful.
I am looking to hear from people who have 30 - 60GB libraries on their laptops and have recently migrated from Iphoto and what they found workable and what was not.

Couple of things.
Your by line shows you are still running 10.4.6 is this true? You really should update to 10.4.8, all the most recent firmware and iLife updater to be integrated with Aperture 1.5 (and now 1.5.1), and the most recent raw camera updater. The most recent raw updater actually fixes a output bug on Aperture 1.5 as well as adding recent cameras.
I have close to 20k photos (mix of raw, tiff and jpeg files) all referenced on an external drive using MBP and have no speed reliability issues. Like you, I have 2gb RAM. The reason it is running slow is probably due to creating preview files. Many people have reported slow start (some turn off previews but if you are referencing master files, this will not work) but once it creates all the previews, you should be fine.
Just make sure that you manage the size of preview files. The default file size may be as large as your original jpeg, depending on what you shoot. I have my preview limited to 1440x1440 (I have 15" MBP -> 1440x900 screen, 17" is 1680x1050) with compression for browsing. I use a large external monitor when working with an external HDD so full res, original file is used for editing the images.

IPhoto does not open back-up library and requests library manager which does not work either

Hello,
I have a problem and NO idea how to fix it. I try to write it in bullet points to make it easier to read:
- My MacbookPro (from 2009) with current software (mavericks, all updates) went offline due to lack of battery while I was working in iPhoto
- When I rebooted the Mac, iPhoto said that the library is damaged and should be repaired
- The "repaired" version had lost tons of organizing elements (e.g. the order of the pictures and so on) so I used my time machine and took a back-up of the library from 1 hour ago
- The back-up library was copied successfully in the according file (user-pictures) after I deleted the current one
- When I wanted to open iPhoto now it requested to use the library manager as the version of the pictures are "old"
- I downloaded the library manager and tried to use it, however, this tool explains me now that the pictures were used with a newer version of iPhoto so I shall open iPhoto instead
- Again, when I then try to opne iPhoto, it requests the library manager and so on
So, I am not able to get access to my pictures again, although the library in the folder seems to be of correct size (around 55 GB). Does anyone have any idea how to fix that problem?
Many thanks in advance!!!
Johannes

Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Repair Database. If that doesn't help, then try again, this time using Rebuild Database.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. (In early versions of Library Manager it's the File -> Rebuild command. In later versions it's under the Library menu.)
This will create an entirely new library. It will then copy (or try to) your photos and all the associated metadata and versions to this new Library, and arrange it as close as it can to what you had in the damaged Library. It does this based on information it finds in the iPhoto sharing mechanism - but that means that things not shared won't be there, so no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your events, albums and keywords, faces and places back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one.
Regards
TD

Moving from folder-organized photo library on networked NAS to iPhoto...

Hello,
This is a fairly broad question, I know, but I've been researching for almost a full week and still at a loss as to what to do, so I thought some of the kind souls on here might be able to cut thru the forest of info out there to help me.
I vetoed iPhoto long ago but am now interested in trying it out & testing it against Picasa. However, I have a fairly large photo library that I keep on NAS, and definitely want to keep it there. Basically the research I've been doing has scared me, with all the horror stories about mixed libraries and the dangers of referenced libraries (which is what I was thinking would probably be the way to go), so now I'm a bit frozen.
My photos are currently folder-organized, mostly by date, but the level above date is by major categories (such as child's name, etc). I realize the date organization becomes redundant if I migrated to iPhoto, and even the categories seem redundant too if I can tag them all instead, etc.
The Picasa part was pretty easy, since I can just point it to the externally stored library and it does the rest, not moving anything. That part of Picasa is brilliant and makes a strong argument for going that route. My big hangup with it is the lack of nested collections - particularly in the web environment. The organizational aspects of Picasa seem a bit lackluster - and iPhoto sounds to be pretty good at that.
But with iPhoto, I'm having trouble deciding how to structure things and get started. I've read up on moving an existing iPhoto library to an external drive, but my impression is that to achieve what I'm trying to, I would need to import the entire library into local iPhoto library FIRST, then go backwards and migrate that iPhoto libary back onto NAS - which would then be a duplicate of the entire library since I'd be leaving the original intact to continue using with Picasa. Is that indeed the way to do it? I'm a little worried about ending up with an undifferentiated mass of 50+ Gigs of pics in iPhoto that i'd then need to go thru individually to tag (a monstrous task), as opposed to, say, having the names of folders turned into tags on all the pics within those folders (wishful thinking?).
To complete the picture of my situation for whoever may be kind enough to read all this, we have an iMac & a MBP, and would love to be able to share the NAS library on our respective iPhotos, and be able to keep "sync'd" up to what the other has done. From reading around it seems this is a little trickier, and the stuff I've been seeing about speed issues with WiFi-connected NAS libraries is not making me any more comfortable.
I was somehow able to rig just this situation up for iTunes (the library for which is shared & kept on NAS), which works pretty good (although I'm now concerned that that is also a 'referenced library' and liable to the same horror stories and cautions as external referenced libraries for iPhoto - is it the same? - so far so good...).
I've seen Terence Devlin mention a few times about using 'external managed libraries' instead of referenced libraries, but I'm not sure how to do that. The other vague conclusion I've come to from reading around is that I should probably use iPhoto Library Manager to achieve my goals here, and although I'm aware of what IPLM does, I'm not totally clear about how I would use it most effectively in my situation.
Whew - sorry for such a long rambling 'question'! This has probably been addressed elsewhere in the boards, but I've been reading for hours and can only get glimpses into a possible strategy for my situation - I thought just asking might nip it in the bud.
THANKS!

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
A long question with, I'm afraid, a short answer.
a fairly large photo library that I keep on NAS, and definitely want to keep it there.
Stick with what you have. iPhoto needs to have the Library sitting on disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Users with the Library sitting on disks otherwise formatted regularly report issues including, but not limited to, importing, saving edits and sharing the photos. That pretty much rules out having a Managed Library on that NAS.
In some more detail:
My photos are currently folder-organized, mostly by date, but the level above date is by major categories (such as child's name, etc). I realize the date organization becomes redundant if I migrated to iPhoto, and even the categories seem redundant too if I can tag them all instead, etc.
Here's a fast way to tag them:
Start at the bottom of your Folder hierarchy and drag a folder of images to the Album Heading in the iPhoto Window. iPhoto will import the pics and make an Album of the same name as the Folder. Now: Want to tag all those pics with the same keyword: Select all (Command - a) and apply the keyword.
You can work through your images quite fast in this way.
Alternatively, use an app like Keyword Manager which has Nested Tags as a feature. So, for instance, you can set a hierarchy: John is your Son so tagging 'John' will also add a 'Family' tag and so on. In my case I have tags like 'Seattle' that add 'Washington State' 'U.S' and 'Travel' to the pics. WIth auto completion all I have to type is Sea...
but my impression is that to achieve what I'm trying to, I would need to import the entire library into local iPhoto library FIRST, then go backwards and migrate that iPhoto libary back onto NAS
No, all you need to di is start a Library, then move it to an appropriately formatted disk. You don't need to complete the Library first.
we have an iMac & a MBP, and would love to be able to share the NAS library on our respective iPhotos, and be able to keep "sync'd" up to what the other has done.
Again, noting that the NAS is not the way to go here, you can simply enable iPhoto Sharing or use the same Library with both machines - very easy.
I know that these a pretty short answers, and by all means post back if we can be more helpful.
Regards
TD

Moving Photos from IPhoto to the Picture Library

I'm a heavy IPhoto user and have over 9000 photos in it. The main reason I moved to IPhoto8 was its greater capacity. But I now find that IPhoto runs much more slowly and I constantly need to close IPhoto and start again. Before I add the thousand or so photos from our recent travels, I would like to move some of these photos out of IPhoto into my Photo Library on my Imac. Is this the best way to free up capacity? If so, how do I do it? I'd also appreciate any other hints on managing IPhoto capacity. Would adding extra RAM make a real difference? (I already have 1GB of Memory on my Imac.) Apologies if these are obvious questions.......

Essentially, I'm trying to find a way to avoid having IPhoto slow to the point of stopping while I'm working on my photos. When this happens, I close IPhoto and start again. This works fine, until the program slows and stops the next time.
The problem has only arisen since I have had between 8000-9000 photos on IPhoto8 (Initially I used the previous version and upgraded to IPhoto 8 to gain additional capacity). Most photos have been adjusted (exposure, cropping enhanced etc) and I've usually added titles and other details. I was surprised when this problem occurred, as I knew that capacity shouldn't be a problem with IPhoto8.
I have only used about half my available disk space, so that isn't the problem. This is why I thought of increasing the RAM.
Can I delete photos from IPhotos and retain them in the Picture Library? In the short term, this seems to be a possible "work around".
Any other suggestions?

HT2638 I tried absolutely every trick, from reinstalling Mountain lion and iPhoto to buying iPhoto library Manager. NOTHING worked

Your photo library is damaged or unreadable and cannot be opened. Please restore from a backup.
I went through all the repair/rebuild options when pressing cmd/optn and pressing the iphoto icon
I reinstralled Mountain Lion, ran software update, reinsalled Iphoto and ran software update,
I restored old copies of the iphoto library from Time Machine.
I bought Iphoto Library Manager and tried to retrieved and/or rebuild the library
ABSOLUTELY nothing worked and I still get this error message.
I went to the Apple store in Geneva and they told me that deleting Iphoto, reinstalling it and running software update will fix it. It didn't
Can anyone please help or shed some light on what could be wrong ?
OSX 10.8.2 and Iphoto 9.4.2 on Mac Pro 15 in

Library Manager opens the Iphoto Library and I can see all of the photos, about 12,500 of them. But when I open Iphoto afterwards, I get the error message again "Your photo library is damaged or unreadable and cannot be opened. Please restore from a backup."
I tried to create a new Iphoto Library using Library Manager, but LM was unable to create one as it needed to access Iphoto back and forth and Iphoto would not allow it access because of the error, therefore LM was unable to create a new clean library.
After opening the iphoto LIbrary within the Library Manager, I opened Iphoto and tried to repair/rebuild etc.. without success.
The problem first occured after I upgraded my Iphone to IO6.02 then I transferred my Iphone photos to Iphotos. I alo synced the Iphone with itunes.
Thank you for looking into this on Christmas day !!!!

Suggestions for library management in Aperture, coming from iPhoto

A little background....
I have been an iPhoto user for a number of years, using a Sony W1. Recently, I have upgraded to a new Canon Powershot G7, and with this almost DSLR-like camera, am finding that I am taking WAY more pictures, and getting better pictures too! The faster shutter speeds, and the excellent continuous modes on the G7 (and a 2 gig memory card) are meaning that even shooting my 13 month oldd son, I have way more images to look through.
My current workflow was simply import into iPhoto, basic edits w/ iPhoto, and use PSE 4 for more significant edits. I am trying the 30-day demo of Aperture, and so far, even though the UI is immense and somewhat intimdating, I am beginnng to learn the basics with various web resources, and Apple's Quicktime tutorials, and I like the robustness of the program as well.
My question(s) are as follows. I did the iPhoto import into Aperture, but now am not "thrilled" with my existing library structure in APerture, from this massive import.. Having the separate iPhoto Library folder in Aperture, and all the albums/rolls, just doesn't seem very well manageable. I ended up cancelling/deleting Previews, because of how long it was taking (10gig iPhoto import) I feel I just use "Projects" more, and then selectively set Previews for projects, and export to iPhoto or elsewhere. I guess I am asking for some advise from someone coming from iPhoto albums, who has not necessary used lots of metadata within iPhoto, rather just static albums. I pretty sure I want to use Aperture Library managed mode (not referenced) and am willing to export out of Aperture to iPhoto for the wife to use.
I am willing to redo the import selectively if I had some suggestions from you Aperture experts . Currently, I have been organizing pictures of my kid(s) by month (at least in his 1st year), and creating separate albums (in iPhoto) for special occasions. Maybe with the organization powers of Aperture, there is a better way..
Open to any and all suggestions...thanks for listening.
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8)
Mac Pro/Mac mini Mac OS X (10.4.8)
Mac Pro/Mac mini Mac OS X (10.4.8)
Mac Pro Mac OS X (10.4.8)
Mac Pro/Mac mini Mac OS X (10.4.8)

i am goin to point both of you in the same direction as i just did for another poster.
http://homepage.mac.com/bagelturf/aparticles/aparticles.html
he has FANTASTIC articles on use and setup of aperture ... rather than re-explain everything he has, your best bet at this point (imho) is to read over what he has ... digest that ... and then come back here for more details ...
another solution the aperture pro training book by Luna and Long is basically an intensive course in a book ...
http://www.amazon.com/Apple-Pro-Training-Aperture-1-5/dp/0321496620
here is the o'reilly you speak of ...
http://digitalmedia.oreilly.com/aperture/

Workflow help needed, transitioning from iPhoto/iPhoto Library Manager

HI all, I am using latest Aperture, iPhoto, and 10.6.3 on lan connected macs and need some help setting up a workflow/libraries that represent some sanity amid the tens of thousands of photos that I have. Before getting Aperture3, i was using iPhoto and iPhoto Library Manager to work between an imac and an mbp; i would create a temp library to travel with on the mbp and then when I returned to the office I would merge the updated temp lib with the master lib housed on a huge external drive hanging off the imac. Using iPhoto Library Manager this is a lot of work and very slow indeed.
So with my new install of Aperture3, I am sure there is a better way, I just have not found a coherent tut that explains what I should be doing under these circumstances. I see that I can import iPhoto libraries, and that I can also use referenced files to get things into Aperture no matter where they are, or I can ??? Really confused on all the options.
Ideally, I think what we all want is a cloud like repository for all photos where users could check in and check out photos and have all the metadata preserved, but I guess they also want ice water down under, and haven't gotten that yet either.
Short of the above fairytale, what can I do? I do expect to have another mbp in the field soon, so that will be two machines/users that will need to pull things out of a master repository and check back in updated files as well as add new files to the collective.
Thoughts? Thx.
coocoo
Message was edited by: coocooforcocoapuffs

1) Import my one massive iPhoto Library into Aperture 3 - but do I use referenced or embedded options? Is there any advantage to leaving everything in iPhoto and just referencing from Aperture? Or do I get everything into Aperture and then just blow away iPhoto?
I see no reason to leave the files in iPhoto. If you agree you can do one of two things: either move them elsewhere and reference them or manage them in Aperture. Many folks recommend referencing them, but it's a choice only you can make.
I see no reason to continue with iPhoto.
2) In Aperture, I can export a set of projects from the main repository into a "traveling library", say when I take the MBP out on assignment,
Correct: File -> Export Project as New Library
and then when I return, I just import that library back and the updates I made on the road will get integrated with the whole again? If so, that's worth the price of admission!
Correct.
Regards
TD

Moving iPhoto library from iPhoto 8 to iPhoto 9

I moved iPhoto library created under iPhoto 8 to Time Capsule Disk and when I open the library under iPhoto 9 I can't see the pictures, only the names etc.
Please help. It's the only problem I have when moving from my old iMac (2007) to new MacBook Pro.
Martin

Take it off the Time Capsule disk. That's nt an appropriate place for it.
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Include the option to rebuild the thumbnails. It can take 3 or 4 goes for this to work

Moving a merged library created with iPhoto Library Manager

I merged two iPhoto libraries with iPhoto Library Manager 3.5.5 on an external hard disk using an iMac. I have tried to move the new merged library to the internal disk on my laptop, as I wish to travel taking all my photos (about 28,500). However, every time I try to move or copy the merged library it stops after copying about 123 MB (of about 62GB) and I get the following message:
"You can’t copy “Merged Library” because it has the same name as another item on the destination volume, and that volume doesn’t distinguish between upper- and lowercase letters in filenames."
The "same name" reference is to the file it makes every time before copying, which I erase before trying again. What am I doing wrong? How can I transfer this new merged library to my laptop?
Thank you.

Ok, so how do I correct for this. I ran Time Machine to back up my computer, sent it in to be repaired, and now I want to Restore my stuff. I get that error, but the only thing I've done to the drive is reformatted using Snow Leopard, and didn't see such choices go by. I just want my stuff restored. Can someone explain the difference between "case-sensitive/journaled" and "journaled", and how to change back. Where are these choices?

Import 7 iPhoto Buddy (4) libraries into 1 iPhoto 5 library

I now have many iPhoto Buddy libraries that I set up with iPhoto 4. Each library has from a hundred to 3000 photos in it. I also have several thousand more photos in a Canon Powershot Browser file from the time before I got iPhoto.
Since I'm not totally organised, these libraries have lots of duplicates from other libraries.
I also want to be able to put my entire photo collection on my 60 GB iPod.
For these 2 reasons, I want to import all my photos into one library. I seem to recall that there was some command in the old iPhoto that enabled you to just import every photo anywhere on your hard drive. I can't find that.
I tried importing directly from the libraries. That didn't work.
I tried moving the libraries to the desktop. That didn't work.
I tried finding the answer (including the idea above) in this discussion. That didn't work.
So. Has anyone done this successfully? Thanks in advance for any and all help.

If you want to maintain the organization features that are in each library, i.e. keywords, comments, rolls, etc. you'll need to get the full version of iPhoto Library Manager. It will let you merge libraries while maintaining those features I mentioned previously.
The only other way would to to create a new V5 library as the primary and the use the File->Add to Library menu option to find and select each of the V4 library folders and import them. You will get only the full sized images (no thumbnail files) imported from each library. The original files of those that you've edited will be in rolls titled Originals. You will retain some roll organization but the roll titles will be different and there will be more of them with with fewer photos in each. Haven't figured out the what and why as yet.
OT

Aperture 3 VS. iPhoto Library management policies

Let me start this off with the fact that I am new to the whole Mac scene. I am used to the PC world of managing everything neatly in folders and subfolders inside My Pictures folder. In PC land I was using importing everything automaticaly with my Nikon software. I seriously miss its ability to lable my folders exactly as I wanted them. I could then use whatever software I needed to edit from simple stuff with my Nikon software suite, to Correl Draw, to Photoshop. Sonce everything was left in the same folders, "library managment" was much simpler. Manually going in and moving pictures around was easy. Before the switch to Apple, I spent many many hours researching and studying.
So I have been usign my new MacBook Pro exclusivly for about 6 months now and still can not get my libraries organized as effectivly as I would like. The whole lack of one central folder location, has me thrown off. Okay lets start with my questions. I have a pile of them, so my apologies in advance...
1) Can I use one library for both applications? I started off with iPhoto, then purchased Aperture 3 as soon as it was avalible. I see that deleting fluff in one does not currently correspond to the other program. When setting up Aperture, I imported my iPhoto library. It seems to me that it doubled the amount of space used for my photos...
2) From what I have read, I am lead to understand that iPhoto is less of a space hog. It saved layers of edits over the pictures, while Aperture 3 saves each as a new photo. All done seamlessly behind the scenes. Is this correct?
3) When I imported the iPhoto library to Aperture, it forgot all my faces I had named. Yes I have Aperture setup to see the faces thing... I think.   Can I fix this simply without going through the whole naming process again?
4) Can I "manually" import/export the librarys simply by dropping them to the desktop, and renaming them then dropping them back in the picutres folder?
I would like to really consolidate and trim down the space being used. I have over 100 gigs of photos per library and that is being VERY choosy about what I save. All my professional work I shoot in RAW. As for the two programs, I see no real reason to keep iPhoto, as it seems all the other software programs like mail and iWork integrate just as well with Aperture.
5) How do I set a high quality desktop image from my own librarys? This is super frustrating!!! The only way I can seem to get high resolution pictures reliably, is if I can figure out how to open it in Safari, then set as a desktop.    Sometimes using system preferances it will work, but mostly I get really low resolution shots that look like maybe they are blown up preview or thumbnail images. Even delibertly using the same shot and trying to find it in the multiple locations I find, I can't seem to duplicate a process that gets me a clean shot via System Preferances. It seems that the iPhoto versions are higher quality.
I have gigs woth of personal shots I would love to browse through and use, but everytime it is a huge headache to do so.... I think most of my issues here are in understandign how to navigate the pictures in the Mac OS X. I think ideally I would like to dump iPhoto and stick to just Aperture. Mostly, I am loving the way all the programs in OS X seem to integrate and work together. Just having some serious stumbling blocks with the photography apects, and that was the primary reason I switched to a Mac.
6) So will the rest of the software like iMovie, iWeb, Mail, and Garage Band work as well with Aperture as iPhoto?
I need to sort out all the above issues and decide what direction to go and how to go about rebuilding my libraries. I have gigs worth of older family shots, downloaded images, freinds photography, and other random images I would like to keep seperated from my professional work. Aperture is without a dought a much better program for my professional, and daily use. I am just having issues accessign my work directly like I used to do on the PC no matter what program on the Mac I am working with.

I'll try to help you out a bit more:
First I'd recommend a post here by Kirby Krieger
This will get you on par with Aperture workflow and nomenclature. I can only reccomend you a good book if you're able to understand Dutch ;-) And BTW a book or manual is easier to pause then a video ;-)
The Well-trod Path. Walk it unless you have a map for a different route.
The Library is your image database. It contains all the information Aperture has about your images: where they are stored on your computer/drives/network, how you have them organized within Aperture, what adjustments you have made to them, all the pre-Aperture metadata (EXIF, IPTC, keywords, etc.) they had before you imported them into Aperture, and all the Aperture metadata (Version names, ratings, color labels, Stacks, additional keywords, etc.) you assign to them from within Aperture. The Library also contains small copies of each image (in effect, thumbnails, but in Aperture larger than actual thumbnails and called "Previews").
The image is the core record in your Aperture database. The database is a giant list of images with a whole bunch of information assigned to each image.
Within Aperture you can view individual images and any grouping of images. You can create a group based on any of the information you have about your images.
The Project is your primary image holder. It has a unique, privileged relationship with your images: Every image must be in a Project; No image can be in more than one Project. You should make a Project from every actual, out-in-the-world photo shoot that you do. Shoot=Project. Stick to this (the mis-naming of "Project" is one of the worst interface decisions made in Aperture).
You will regularly want to view your images in groups other than the Project in which they reside. Aperture provides several specific containers for this (as well as superb tools for creating ad hoc groupings). As a family, those containers are Albums. Aperture includes (regular) Albums, Smart Albums, and the following albums dedicated to special tasks: Book, Light Table, Slide Show, Web Journal, Web Page. Any image can be in any album, and can be in as many albums as you want.
As your Aperture database grows, you will want to organize your Projects and Albums. Aperture provides Folders to aid you. Folders hold groups of Projects, Albums, and other Folders. Folders cannot contain images which are not in a Project or Album: You do not put images in Folders; you put containers in Folders.
The organization of your image database is entirely for you to customize for your needs.
There are two additional pieces of the Aperture puzzle every new user needs to understand in order to make good use of it.
In additional to what I listed above, your Library may or may not contain your original image files. Each image in Aperture has an original. Aperture is non-destructive -- your original image files are never altered. If the original image file is contained within your Library, it is called a Managed Master (Aperture's pointer to this file, and the file itself, are both inside the Library). If the original image file is not contained within your Library, it is called a Referenced Master (the pointer in your Aperture Library points to a file outside your Aperture Library). Referenced Masters bring some important advantages -- but the new user of Aperture can rely on Managed Masters until the need for Referenced Masters arises. Aperture makes is easy to convert your original image files back and forth from Managed to Referenced.
A Version is the name given to the variants and copies you make of you original image within Aperture. You use Aperture's tools to make Adjustments to images. Each group of adjustments you make to one image is saved as a Version. You can (and should) create as many Versions as you need. Versions appear as images, but are simply text instructions which tell Aperture what Adjustments to make to the original image file. Aperture presents these to you on-the-fly. This is brilliant. It means that Versions are minuscule compared to Masters. The gain in storage and computational efficiency is enormous.
This also means that your images in Aperture do not exist as image format files. In order to create an image format file, you must export the image from within Aperture. There is no reason to do this until you need an image format file outside of Aperture.
Aperture, then, is best understood as a workspace for
   storing
    organizing
    adjusting
    preparing for publication, and
    publishing
digital photographs.
Your workflow is
    shoot
    import as Project(s)
    add image-specific metadata
    organize into Albums, organize Albums and Projects with Folders
    make adjustments to images (crop, rotate, change exposure, etc. etc. etc)
    prepare for publication
    publish.
If you still need to synchronize between computers (which or NOT running Aperture) you could still be using your old folder structure. Import then from the _raw folder, organize and manage them in Aperture and use relocate masters to move them to the correct position. In Aperture you could setup a Project per shoot, and then (Smart)albums in that project for what used to be subfolders when you where working on Windows. For synchronizing between Aperture using computers it best to copy libraries. (You can export a project as a new library as well)
Then for other RAW converters, take a look at why people recommend CaptureNX. It's mostly because of initial conversion. That is because CapertureNX is able to read in camera settings whereas other converters cannot. For some Nikon's color rendering in Aperture might be a bit of, but you can correct that while developing. Personally I had only one occasion where I wanted to edit in ACR instead of Aperture. (Because I needed a gradient adjustment and Aperture at that time did not have brushes yet) As you mentioned yourself already, one converter is usually the best choice. Pick one that suits you and stick with it.
For HDR, there are some plugins for that, otherwise export to 16-bit TIFF (which is essentially RAW), do the HDR in PS and import back again. Not that big-a-deal.
For there rest, when you encounter some problems anywhere on the Mac, think of the easiest solution you can imagine, that usually how it works on the Mac. That why you hardly ever have to leave your Aperture interface while organizing your photo's.

I have lost nearly all my photos and events. I received a message effectively saying that I need to upgrade from an old base. I think I may have tried to open an event that was stored in iPhoto Buddy a few days ago.

I have lost nearly all my photos and events. I received a message effectively saying that I need to upgrade from an old base. I think I may have tried to open an event that was stored in iPhoto Buddy a few days ago. iPhoto Buddy is not supported in Lion. How can I retrieve my phjotos?

What version of iPhoto?
Assuming 09 or later...
Option 1
Back Up and try rebuild the library: hold down the command and option (or alt) keys while launching iPhoto. Use the resulting dialogue to rebuild. Choose to Rebuild iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup.
If that fails:
Option 2
Download iPhoto Library Manager and use its rebuild function. This will create a new library based on data in the albumdata.xml file. Not everything will be brought over - no slideshows, books or calendars, for instance - but it should get all your albums and keywords back.
Because this process creates an entirely new library and leaves your old one untouched, it is non-destructive, and if you're not happy with the results you can simply return to your old one. .
Regards
TD

Moving from iPhoto to Aperture with limited drive space

My biggest concern is the lack of space on my MacBook Air.
I have already purchased and download Aperture.
In the Import window I see the "move files" radiobutton and the "copy files" radiobutton under the "Store Files:" dropdown, but they are disabled.
As I understand if I just import my IPhoto Library, it will duplicate the files into the Aperture Library, and that wont work since my current library (iPhoto) is way bigger than my freespace in disk.
Buying external drive is not an option now since I im saving to buy a NAS that will solve my space problems in the near future.
What i would like to achieve is just to move all my iPhoto Library to Aperture Library. I wont use iPhoto anymore.
Can someone help me with this? Im really looking forward to use Aperture....

Hello Richieto,
I have already purchased and download Aperture.
In the Import window I see the "move files" radiobutton and the "copy files" radiobutton under the "Store Files:" dropdown, but they are disabled.What i would like to achieve is just to move all my iPhoto Library to Aperture Library. I wont use iPhoto anymore.
Set the "storeFiles" selector to "in their current location".
Have you seen this support article. Moving from iPhoto to Aperture - How to move http://www.apple.com/aperture/iphoto-to-aperture/how.html
If you follow these instructions, you will import your iPhoto Library by referencing - that means, all images remain in your iPhoto library; your iPhoto Library will remain unchanged, but Aperture references the files in in the iPhoto Library. This will save disk space; your images will be stored only once: Set the "Store Files" selector to "in their current location".
If you decide to do it this way, make sure you have a working backup of your iPhoto library. Also remember at all times that your master image files now are managed independently by two applications, that do know nothing of what the other app does and are not synchronized. So you must not move the iPhoto library, and you must not delete any images that are shared by both applications. Other than that this way to import from iPhoto will be the best deal, if you need to be frugal with disk space.
What i would like to achieve is just to move all my iPhoto Library to Aperture Library. I wont use iPhoto anymore.
Once you are happy with the way Aperture handles the images you can copy your iPhoto library to a backup location and consolidate the master image files (File -> consolidate) by moving them from your iPhoto Library into the Aperture Library. This will delete them from iPhoto and store them inside the Aperture Library package. Then delete the iPhoto Library after testing that the consolidation was successful.
I im saving to buy a NAS that will solve my space problems in the near future.
Just a caution - you should not use the NAS to store the Aperture library - an Aperture library needs to bestored on a local volume formatted MacOS X extended.
Regards
Léonie

Moving from Iphoto Buddy to Iphoto Library manager

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