moving Aperture library into Photos app

Question

moving Aperture library into Photos app

I bought my MBP in 2015 and it's currently running High Sierra. It's way past time to upgrade the operating system, but I've held off because I was an Aperture user and know that once I upgrade, Aperture will be gone forever. I recently read that I could import the Aperture library into Photos as a separate library, not mingled with the images I've taken with my iPhone, that are in Photos. It would be great to be able to see those images occasionally. I've backed up the Aperture library on external HDs.

I've checked that the current/only library in Photos is the System Photo Library (it's greyed out in the general tab).

What should I be doing next? In the 80's, I was pretty tech-savvy, but those days are long gone, and I'm basically terrified of screwing this up ;)

BTW, I know my MBP is ancient by most standards, but it still works beautifully. I'm prepared for when the day come that I have to get a new one - I'd just like to have this Aperture library issue resolved before then.

Thanks

15" MacBook Pro

Posted on Mar 21, 2022 9:20 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

léonie

Level 10

200,639 points

Mar 21, 2022 9:40 AM in response to Aroonie-Durby

Aroonie-Durby wrote: .... I've backed up the Aperture library on external HDs.

Aperture has an option to specify the size and quality of the Preview images to save storage.

If you have been using small previews in Aperture or even deleted the preview, I recommend to let Aperture create high quality previews of the edited images. The reason is, that the edited versions will be migrated to Photos as the previews. Also make sure, you have high quality previews, before you create your Photos Library from the Aperture Library.

Please check, if your external volume with the Aperture Library is formatted as described here:

Move your Photos library to save space on your Mac - Apple Support

The drive must not have been used for Time Machine backups and should have a wired connection.

Then you can create a new Photos Library from this Aperture Library by quitting Photos, if it is running.

Launch Photos again while holding down the options key ⌥ until the library chooser dialog appears. Select the Aperture Library and let Photos create the new library. It will be created on the same volume as the original library.

Reply

Answer 2

Mar 21, 2022 3:00 PM in response to Aroonie-Durby

Check the format. A new drive is probably ExFAT. That is not compatible with Photos. It needs to be APFS or MacOS extended. You can use the disc utility to reformat it if needed, but be aware that reformatting erases it unrecoverably - so make sure any data on it is saved elsewhere.

Reply

Answer 3

Mar 21, 2022 10:45 AM in response to léonie

Hello and thank you so much for your speedy reply.

I just want to clarify for myself, what I'm doing.

1 - check size of previews in Aperture

It probably makes the most sense for me to have Aperture create a new set of high quality previews. Then there's no question.

2 - verify external HD is correctly formatted. I used a new HD, so never touched by Time Machine & is wired.

3 - follow last instruction to create new library for Photos. This will only contain the Aperture images, so I'll have to switch libraries when I want to look at an Aperture image. The Aperture images will not be part of the System Photo Library and therefore not uploaded to iCloud (which is fine for my purposes).

Again, my thanks

Reply

moving Aperture library into Photos app

Similar questions