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Level 1

4 points

Steps to Moving an Aperture Library to External Drive

I recently acquired Aperture but don't have much space left on my internal hard drive. I'm thinking of moving my Aperture Library to an external hard drive. Someone said just copy it - that doesn't seem possible as I can't even "select" the library. I've tried copying the "projects" and putting them on the external drive. That doesn't work either.

Can anyone tell me the EXACT steps to moving an Aperture Library to an external drive or even creating one there and moving projects to it?? I couldn't find any information in the Apple documentation or Apple video demos.

Thanks!!

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.5)

Posted on Jan 17, 2011 9:49 AM

25 replies

KatieKat008 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 5, 2012 12:29 PM in response to MarkPek

To MarkPek,

Relocate Masters is under the File menu. A window comes up which I can no longer see because all my masters are now on an external drive. If I remember it asks you to choose various options if you want to rename your masters. But if you just choose "Same Project Name" and "Same File Name" or something like that, it will keep the projects the same and the names of the pictures the same if you've named them.

I was just going to test it on one picture and only selected one picture but it put all the masters from all my pictures on the external drive and I couldn't cancel or stop it. Before I started I set up a folder on my external drive and that's where I chose as the location to move the masters.

According to Frank you can move them back with "Consolidate Masters" if you ever want them back.

I haven't actually worked with the library since but it did seem just a little slower than before when I clicked through a few pictures.

mav2389

Level 1

0 points

Jun 5, 2012 4:22 PM in response to KatieKat008

Hello all,

I'm interested in doing a similar thing, however how do I select all my photographs?

KatieKat008 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 5, 2012 4:37 PM in response to mav2389

One way is to click on "Projects" right under "Aperture Library" and if you right click when that is selected, a window comes up and you can pick "Relocate Masters". Then another window comes up and if you want your Project names and File (picture) names to stay the same you can choose that there.

That's not how I did it - I was only trying to test it by selecting one picture but it moved all of my masters and I guess that all right.

mav2389

Level 1

0 points

Jun 5, 2012 4:50 PM in response to KatieKat008

Thanks, do I need to create a folder on the external hard drive first? I'm concerned each image will just appear on there as if the disc is the library.

KatieKat008 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 5, 2012 5:25 PM in response to mav2389

Yes, you need to create a folder on the external hard drive first. I'm not an expert on this. I just fumbled through it myself so all I know is what happened to me.

mav2389

Level 1

0 points

Jun 5, 2012 5:28 PM in response to KatieKat008

Thank you, one final thing - will "Aperture" automatically look for them there?

KatieKat008 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 5, 2012 5:51 PM in response to mav2389

I think so - it seems to. The one thing I'm noticing is that when I open Aperture it keeps "Processing" and I don't know why or if that's a bad thing and I don't know how long it will go on. It's been 10 to 15 minutes so far. Also, I haven't even tried to edit any pictures or do anything with them so I don't know if there will be problems or not.

When I work in iMovie, I put all my movies on my external drive because they are so big and it doesn't seem to make any difference at all.

It would be nice if someone will some expertise on this would comment. 🙂

mav2389

Level 1

0 points

Jun 5, 2012 5:54 PM in response to KatieKat008

Well, I've just done what you suggested and its whirring away as it moves them all! Fingers crossed 😉

MarkPek

Level 2

215 points

Jun 6, 2012 1:45 PM in response to mav2389

Let us know how it worked! Did you create a folder called "2012 Aperture Library" or something?

Jun 6, 2012 1:58 PM in response to KatieKat008

Here is link that I found EXTREAMLY useful in my transition to Referenced Masters, hope it helps you too!)

http://photo.tutsplus.com/tutorials/post-processing/advanced-aperture-importing- and-organizing-files/

Steps to Moving an Aperture Library to External Drive