New to Aperture - Library vs Reference files

I'm coming to Aperture from Picasa, which replicated and managed my folder structure as it appeared on my hard-disc, which was nice.
Am I better off importing images into my Aperture Library, or managing the folder structure how I want and just having Aperture work with the reference files?
I'm not a pro-photographer, just a pretty basic user, so will not have loads of large raw image files. What's the benefit of using the Library over using Reference files? I've tried Google-ing but everything I've found just addresses folder/project management within Aperture.
If I use the reference option, can Aperture manage my photos on my hard-drive in the same way Picasa could (ie if I moved a photo from one folder to another in Picasa, it also moved on my drive)
Thanks

Hi TxH,
Welcome to the user-supported Aperture discussion group.
I'm coming to Aperture from Picasa, which replicated and managed my folder structure as it appeared on my hard-disc, which was nice.
If you use Aperture for even a little while, you'll realize that the structure of your photos in your hard drive is not as important as how you organize them in Aperture, especially when you start making albums, which merely contain a pointer to the image in your library. You can have a picture in many albums, but your library (and therefore hard drive) only contains it once.
Am I better off importing images into my Aperture Library, or managing the folder structure how I want and just having Aperture work with the reference files?
That's a matter of opinion. Some people are very opinionated that using referenced files is the only way to go, some are opinionated the other way. Sometimes there really is a better solution for you depending on what you are doing.
What's the benefit of using the Library over using Reference files? I
You will find loads of conversation if you search this discussion group for "managed" and "referenced".
You will always have a library. Your managed pictures will live in the library and you won't have direct access to them through Finder (and you should not want direct access to them for the most part). Your referenced pictures live wherever you tell Aperture to take them from, but the bookkeeping parts of the Aperture library/database are still stored in the Aperture library package.
Benefits of managed include: you don't worry about where the files are; Aperture backs them up if you use its vaults; they are always with you.
Benefits of referenced include: you know exactly where the files are; your Aperture library is significantly smaller than if all your photos were in the library; you can find them with Finder if that's important to you (and a lot of people think it's important to them but then realize they only think that because they're really not using Aperture to its full potential).
If I use the reference option, can Aperture manage my photos on my hard-drive in the same way Picasa could (ie if I moved a photo from one folder to another in Picasa, it also moved on my drive)
Yes. I've never used Picasa, but Aperture allows you to "relocate" your photos in order to manage their external directory structure. You can also choose to "relocate" a managed master to make it referenced.
nathan

Similar Messages

  • Masters in Aperture Library Using Referenced Files

    I use a MBP with an SSD to hold my Aperture 3 library.
    I use a G-RAID to store my images and use Referenced Files.
    All was good until yesterday, I deleted my Thumbnails to recreate them and remove the orphans.
    After restarting Aperture and the processing time to recreate the Thumbnails (AP.Minis, Ap.Thumbnails, and AP.Tinies) I noticed my AP library was huge.
    After inspecting the contents, there is now 65Gb worth of Masters, why would these be there since I use Referenced files and why would they have just now shown up after rebuilding my Thumbnails?

    Remember:
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    -- Aperture uses a "non-destructive" workflow. This means that it never really edits ANY file - not even a JPEG. This avoids the problem of recompressing JPEGS each time they are opened and close. So even JPEGS remain unaltered with your "edits" or "adjustments" being stored in one or more versions.
    The only time you need to "save" a file in Aperture is when you need a new file in a specific format to give to someone. Until then, Aperture happily keeps track of your original images (managed or referenced) and the corresponding "edits" which it stores in a version linked to the original image file.
    There are many reasons to prefer managed over referenced or vice versa, but fears of database integrity should not be one of them. You are making a lot of work for yourself - put the Aperture Vault on your server and/or use Time Machine. "Exporting" is a terrible way to try to make backups - it will take forever and you will end up with files scattered all over the place, defeating the purpose for which you bought Aperture in the first place.
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    DiploStrat

  • Aperture will not reference files

    I have thumbnails but when double clicked the picture is black. I have rebuilt Aperture every way possible. This happened, and has happened in the past since upgrading to mavericks. I have had nothing but problems since doing so. I get a message that the application memory is full and I have to force quit Aperture. I used exactly the same editing in Mountain Lion and never once had this problem.

    In View, Onscreen Proofing was checked. I unchecked it and i have full pictures.
    This on-screen proofing bug should have been fixed with the newest update 10.9.3. Have you updated to the newest release? You did not yet confirm that.
    Still no referenced files. There is still something odd.
    ask to locate referenced file it says there is no referenced files.
    You may have imported the images as managed. The error message above is given, when the files have been imported as managed. Have you checked with a search?  Create a Smart Album: (File > New > Smart album) with the rule "File status is referenced".
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    How much free disk spaced you have on the system drive?

  • How do I switch from Aperture Library to Regular Files in Folders?

    I want to get out of the Aperture Library thing so I have better options of backup and usability.
    How do I switch? Using 1.5.2
    Thanks,
    Josh

    You are looking at relocating your masters:
    http://homepage.mac.com/bagelturf/aparticles/ref/ref.html
    More flexibility, but also more responsibility as well.

  • Using Reference Files - Aperture Library still larger than file storage

    Still new to Aperture, and so far LOVE the metadata tagging functionality, but am troubled by the huge size of the Aperture library. Here's my stats so far, after a couple of days of importing, with no image management done so far other than assigning some metadata...
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    Size of folder where reference files are stored=883MB
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    My expectation would be that the ratio of Aperture library to reference file folder would be about 1/10. But 1.6/1 seems way out of whack. I selected all photos within Aperture and then selected "Manage Reference Files..." and all 1175 file references showed up. On that basis, I'm pretty confident that the jpegs aren't being copied into the Aperture library. But I cannot explain why the library continues to be 1.5+ times as large as the reference file folder.
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    By default, Aperture creates previews of all of your images. A preview is little more than a JPEG copy of the original. The size of these are determined by the settings in Aperture's preferences. When you're dealing with RAW images, the size of the previews are significantly smaller than the master image, but if you're working with JPEGs, then the previews can balloon the library to as large (large when you add up the thumbnails and duplicates) as the referenced files.
    You can reduce the size of the previews, or delete them and turn them off all together if you're not sharing your photos with other iLife & iWork apps from Aperture. There are some other reasons you may find them beneficial, and this article will help you determine if they are right for you:
    http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=304499

  • 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.

  • Aperture Library Issues on NAS - Advice Needed

    List-
    Need some practical advice here. I've got a 90GB Aperture library that resides on a NAS (QNAP 419P II) that is experiencing major issues. Understood that having the library live on a non-HFS+, non-local drive is not advised by Apple, but it's been there for two years with no issues to speak of.
    I had a power failure occur that seems to have done some damage to the library in some way. Upon opening the library, I got an error that said that there were inconsistencies with the file and that it needed to be repaired. I repaired it, and noticed something strange. In almost all files, the picture resolution was poor and both the camera and lens information was gone--in addition to the fact that the Adjustments capability was disabled.
    I ran the Aperture first aid and ran all three processes--concluding with the full library rebuild. It looked to be successful and resolution, previews, and picture info returned--but halfway through the preview reprocessing the process just stopped and the beach ball of death ensued. I let it run overnight and it never recovered. I had to force quit and now if I reopen the file it say that there are inconsistencies and that the library needs to be repaired, which won't help.
    I also tried to move the library off of the NAS an onto the local drive, but encountered an Error - 50 message--something that apparently is well known in the NAS world where Mac permissions get screwy when dealing with non HFS+ drives.
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    So any practical advice would be appreciated as to how I can create a new local Aperture library and get all of the existing photo files there. I am pretty much giving up on the idea of getting the existing NAS-based library to work properly, so this is more of a real-world question on how to create a new library and eliminate whatever issues there are with the other Aperture files. It looks like everything in the Aperture package is in place, but the library itself is just malfunctioning.
    I am also considering moving everything into iPhoto as well, as Aperture may simply be more than I need for my usage. If is is faster and a but simpler to manage, that could be the right answer as well.
    Thanks in advance for any ideas or guidance.

    The problem is most likely with the library itself being located on the NAS.
    But you can have a hybrid solution where the library is located on your internal drive while the actual image files are located externally, eg on your NAS. Image files stored within the Apeture library are called "managed" while image files stored externally are called "referenced". Whichever approach you take, the process is the same:
    If you try to make a new Library from your masters, you will lose your project structure. The resulting mess will be in accordance to how you created your projects. Basically, if you look at your Masters folder, that's what you'll end up with when you import your masters. If that isn't a problem, the process is simple
    Step 1: Prep.
    Move or copy your masters out of the library bundle to a folder (to make them more accesible in finder).
    Step 2: Create new library.
    Within Aperture, from the File menu "Switch to Library -> Other/New..." to create a new Library on your internal drive.
    Set the preferences to indicate previews/faces etc. I'd turn these off for now as they will slow you down.
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    Within your new library, File -> Import - Folders as Projects. This gives you a dialog where you specifiy what and where to import.
    If you choose "Import folders as: Folders and Projects" you will get a folder structure that matches the Masters folder, with projects at the end of the chain with names like 20120213-200100.
    If you choose "Import folders as: Projects and Albums" you will get a single Project called "Masters" with a folder and Album structure that matches the Masters folder.
    Neither of these will look particularly great. If you want to avoid this mess, here's what I'd try.
    Fix your library again like you did before. After the rebuild, go to the Aperture activity window (SHIFT + CMD + 0) and cancel the preview generation process before it has chance to hang. This should give you a sem-functional library, hopefully functional enough for the next step:
    Select all images and use File -> Relocate Original to move your original files out of the library. During this process you can specify that the originals are stored in sub-folders that match the project name, within a parent folder if required.
    This gives you a much neater structure for importing into your new library where the projects will get the folder names (which will be your existing project names). It may not be perfect, for example if you have the same project name in different folders and don't/can't segregate them, but it's a lot cleaner than just importing your masters folder.
    Andy

  • Is it possible to Aperture Library by copying over the Contents?

    Hi,
    My new Drobo 5D is having issues, and i'm not able to copy the Aperture File Directly over directly as its 530GB and the hard drive keeps failing in the last 30GB or so.
    so I was wondering is it possible to copy over the contents bit by bit by using the show contents folder and then somehow recreating the Aperture file from the folder of Contents copied over?
    Otherwise, is there any other solution?
    thanks!
    Derrick

    Read all this before doing anything.
    You select the library in the Finder and right click it and do Show Package Contents. That will revel the inside of the library You would then copy the files/folders out to the other drive MAKING SURE you copy them so that they are in the same relation to each other as they are in the original.
    On the destination drive create a new empty Aperture library. You'll probably have the easiest time of it if you have two finder windows open, one on the original library and on on the destination. Revel Package contents on both libraries and then copy from the source to the destination replacing the items in the destination library with items from the source. Make sure you go from source (old) to destination (new). It sounds silly to emphasis this but once you start copying it will be easy to get disoriented and go in the wrong direction. Do something to make sure the source Finder window stands out from the destination Finder window.
    I wouldn't worry about copying the previews or thumbnails those will be recreated when Aperture opens the new library BUT don't do anything with the Dobro or previews until you are sure the new library opens. In a worst case scenario you could retrieve the previews and still salvage something from your library.
    Of course the possibility exists that you will hit the file(s) that are causing the error that is keeping you from doing this in a normal fashion. If so mark the file(s) that are having problems (color label will work well) and continue with the rest of the library. It is possible that the file(s) that won't copy are not of major importance to Aperture and the new library will open anyway. If not then there may be some other way to work around it. By labeling the files you'll at least know what didn;t copy.
    That should do it if you're unsure of anything post back before starting.
    good luck
    Ps. Read  this post  Re: New iMac, Pegasus & Aperture? from a recent thread on backups and RAID. In it I explain why RAID is not a backup replacement. Once you recover from this you will need to put a true backup procedure in place.
    regards
    BTW here is OS X's definiiton of an Error -36
    Type -36 error (I/O Errors (bummers)
    This file is having difficulty while either reading from the drive or writing to the drive. The file
    may have been improperly written data to the drive or the hard drive or disk may be damaged.
    This is almost always indicative of a media error (hard error on the disk). Sometimes (rarely) it is transient.
    Solutions: Try copying the file to another drive. Use a disk recovery software, such as Disk First Aid to examine the disk. You can try rebooting with all extensions off. Once in a while this will allow you to read the data. The file in question should be restored from a backup that was stored on a different disk. Regular backups can reduce the time to recover from this error.
    Message was edited by: Frank Caggiano

  • Help!- aperture library disappeared after copy

    I'm screwed...After a long holiday with my macbook and my aperture (3.0) library (90GB) on an external drive I finally get home and decide to copy the library onto my iMac (pictured folder). I always keep a copy in my external drive as a backup and for macbook use (internal drive too small).
    Well, I connect the drive to my iMac, and try replacing the aperture library. Takes very long thinking, so I decide to delete the old aperture library on my iMac and just do a simple copy. Everything seems fine, it starts and says it has 50 minutes to go...so I leave for dinner. An hour later I come back and not only had the aperture library not been copied (only 700 mb or so of it), but the source isn't there either! i.e. it disappeared from my external drive!!
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    HELP HELP HELP....all of my photography is in there and I cannot believe I have lost everything just by trying to copy it!
    thanks for any suggestions!

    Alaninnorway wrote:
    Yes, I must agree. I have exactly the same problem. Come on Apple - do not invite us to 30 day free trial and give us this hassle for the weekend.
    Any help appreciated.
    The 30 day free trial cannot convert an Aperture 2 library.
    Using the trial you can can only import into a new Aperture 3 library, and should not have any of these conversion issues.
    We converted 6 workstations this weekend, specifically did not convert the imaging as that can be done in the future on an as-needed basis.
    All of the libraries reside on disks that are no more than 40% full, for performance reasons.
    The first library we converted was 500GB and at about 2.5 hours it froze at about 58%. I trashed the partial conversion and started over with a clean copy. This time, in Aperture 2 I did a Library rebuild before I converted. After this the conversion ran perfectly, in about 4 hours.
    I ended up with a new file called Aperture Library, and another file called Aperture Library_Original. I found that this is the way the conversion is designed if you have the diskspace for 2 full Libraries. If you do not, it will delete the original after the conversion.
    At any rate before converting run a rebuild in Aperture 2, and then make a backup of that library. You will then have a very clean original should anything happen in the conversion.
    I am happy to say we followed the rebuild and backup on the other 5 Libraries, ranging in size from 500GB to 1.2 TB, and all the other conversions went smoothly.
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    Sincerely,
    K.J. Doyle

  • Merging iPhoto libraries into one aperture library

    Hi,
    I am trying to merge my iPhoto library containing the photos of 2013 into one big library containing all pictures of the previous years.
    Until now I used iPhoto Library Manager. It did not work today.
    Apperture says it will not merge because the new library is a copy of the big one, which it is not.
    I have also tried to export the new pictures as a new library and then import this one. Apperture crashes everytime.
    Please can someone help me?
    Thank you
    Hex

    Aperture says it will not merge because the new library is a copy of the big one, which it is not.
    You can try to circumvent this, by turning the old library into a new one: Create a new, empty Aperture library and add one dummy image to it. Then import your iPhoto 2013 library into it with "File > Import > Library".
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    I have also tried to export the new pictures as a new library and then import this one. Apperture crashes everytime.
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  • Aperture Library on External Drive Keeps Locking Up

    Hello all!
    I have the aperture library that I created after my most recent wedding shoot on an external hard drive. Since I was importing photos out in the field, I created the library on my external from my laptop. I now want to edit photos on my desktop mac at home, and am able to launch aperture to my wedding library on my external, and browse for up to a few minutes, but then it freezes, and sometimes will unfreeze after a few minutes, but sometimes I am simply forced to force-quit. The external is properly formatted (Extended, Journaled), and is connected via USB 3.0. What could I be doing wrong?
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    and browse for up to a few minutes, but then it freezes, and sometimes will unfreeze after a few minutes, but sometimes I am simply forced to force-quit.
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  • Aperture Library not accessible (Aperture 2.1)

    Hello
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    Best regards,
    Gian-Reto.

    Than you for this hint. It helped - at least, my pictures are shown again.
    But now, Aperture is rebuilding my projects each time I start the application (without option/command pressed, of course). That's not very comfortable, because starting time is much, much longer now.

  • Using same Aperture library with different machines

    Hi
    I travel between locations some 7hrs apart and want to take my Aperture Libary and Vault with me to add to and work on in each location.
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    Having to reconstruct the libary from a vault each time I change locations is time consuming as I am working with a growing Libary at the moment 720GB + 500 GB of referenced files on a second HDD
    I would just like to be able to set it up so I can just plug the Aperture library and Referenced files in launch Aperture and start working
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    A few points to consider:
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    On the plus side. If you have a managed library the masters are backed-up with the vault and as libraries with masters in them tend be large the fact that the vault operation only write the changes after the initial vault operation makes for quicker back-ups. Copying a full library with referenced masters can't be a long process.
    If the library has referenced masters in it the advantages of the vault aren't as great. You still need to back-up the masters seperatly and as the library tends to remain smaller copying it isn't as big a deal.
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    Hope this helps,
    regards

  • HT204476 So what happens if I accidentally delete the Migrated Aperture Library?

    Just read the Help note on Apple's site about how Photos doesn't actually take up additional space on my hard drive. To be honest, that wasn't clear to me when I was looking around my Pictures directory this morning and I almost deleted the original Aperture Library.
    What happens if I do?

    I think I misread your question.
    The way In understand it is that the hardlinks when associated with multiple folders result in more than 1 folder referencing the same files - so long as 1 folder is referencing the items the original files do not delete - where are they? - I suspect to the user that is hidden and if you get rid of Aperture library the original files stay somewhere in the file system but remain associated to the Photos library.
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    Unless you really need to delete Aperture library might be as well just to leave it and ignore it until you're happy Photos does what you need.

  • I am trying to import aperture library from macbook to new imac the import window sees the external harddrive but does nt see library.  I can open library as a refernce library but cannot import onto hardrive as managable files  Tried to do as a backeup t

    I am trying to import aperture library from macbook to new imac the import window sees the external harddrive but does nt see library.  I can open library as a refernce library but cannot import onto hardrive as managable files 

    I may be misreading what you are trying to do but you don't import libraries via the import window. You use File->Import->Library..
    If this doesn't resolve your problem post back with more detail of what you are doing and what is happening.
    regards

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