how do i create disk space?

Either

A: Remove data - that is your files, photos, music, movies

Or

B: get more disk space. for instance an external Hard Disk..

But do it really really soon

OS X needs about 10 gigs of hard drive space for normal OS operations - things like virtual memory, temporary files and so on. Without this space your Mac will slow down as the OS hunts for space on the disk, files will be fragmented, also slowing things down, apps will crash and the risk of data corruption - that is damage to your files, photos, music - increases exponentially. Your first priority is to make more space on that HD. Nothing else can be done until you do. Purchase an external HD and move your Photos and Music to it. Aperture, iPhoto and iTunes can run perfectly well with the Library on an external disk.

Regards

TD

Dear Friend,

As I see it, what Aperture means is that you must consider increasing the size of your hard drive or to buy and install an external hard drive. There is actually no way to "create" more space. I agree the term is misleading. On the other hand, what you CAN do from inside Aperture to "create" more space is to eliminate all the pictures that you don't actually like. Is very important to clean up the trash inside Aperture to make sure the actual pictures are wiped. Doing so you could be able to save some space.

Finally, I do believe you should consider the external drive to handle all pictures. I will actually recommend to use two hard drives (one for libraries with all masters and the other just be used as a Vault).

Hope it will help...regards !

Buy another external.

Regards

TD

What TD said: "...get more disk space. for instance an external Hard Disk. But do it really really soon."

Repeat: really really soon.

Hard drives are cheap. What you need to do is (A) buy at least one additional hard drive; the Time Machine drive is for backup, not to be used as a working drive. Then (B) convert to a Referenced-Masters Library with Masters on your new external hard drive and the Referenced-Masters Library on the internal drive.

Original images should be backed up on yet another external hard drive prior to import into Aperture or any other hard drive. Yes many workflows skip this step, which contributes to the many "Aperture ate my images" threads we see here.

In any event the internal drive should as a guideline be kept less than about 70% full for speed and stability.

HTH

-Allen Wicks

I am following this with great interest as my internal hd has less than 50g and I have over 20,000 photos. They r backed up to an EHD via time machine. What exactly do u mean when u say that time machine is not a working drive? I thought it was just a program u can use to backup your files to an EHD.

Also you mention converting images to a referenced masters library with masters on the new EHD and on the internal drive-I assume to save space. Then u say to back up the originals on another hard drive prior to importing into aperture or the hard drive. How do u do that? This of course makes sense to experienced users but I am brand new and can't even use aperture on my iMac because my internal drive is choking on files.

Lastly- can anyone point me to a detailed step by step tutorial on how to actually "move" my photos off my hard drive-the apple one seems to leave out some information. I am so nervous about screwing this up that I haven't done anything. My internal is backed up on one EHD. My photos currently reside in iPhoto '11.

Sorry this is so long and I appreciate the help?

Thanks in advance.

1macprincess! wrote:

I am following this with great interest as my internal hd has less than 50g and I have over 20,000 photos. They r backed up to an EHD via time machine. What exactly do u mean when u say that time machine is not a working drive? I thought it was just a program u can use to backup your files to an EHD.

Sorry, I used bad verbiage. It is a working drive. What I meant was that ideally the TM drive should be used for backup only.

Also you mention converting images to a referenced masters library with masters on the new EHD and on the internal drive-I assume to save space.

Correct.

Then u say to back up the originals on another hard drive prior to importing into aperture or the hard drive. How do u do that?

Sorry again badly written. What I meant to say was "Original images should be backed up on yet another external hard drive prior to import into Aperture or any other image management application." The workflow I suggest as copied from another thread:

============================================

Back up originals on external drives prior to import into Aperture or any other images app. I cannot overstate how important that is, and various manuals, texts, etc. present workflows that skip that critical step.

I strongly recommend developing a rigidly followed routine like this one:

• Create a new empty folder on a hard drive. Name the folder appropriately for the camera image files that you intend to store there. Something date-based plus a name IMO is good: e.g. "20110530_Jones_Wed_mstrs." In database nomenclature 20110530 is today. In my workflow I use "110530_1238_Jones_Wed_mstrs," where 1238 is the Job Number.

In the event of multiple different projects (small "p" as differentiated from a specific Project in Aperture) on the same camera card I break out and label the different projects during this copy-to-hard-drive-folder process.

• Copy your originals from camera card to that folder then eject but do not erase the camera card.

• Back up that folder on to another hard drive.

• Review the contents of the (identical) folders on both hard drives to see that they have all the image files copied properly.

• Reformat the camera card in-camera (never in-computer) if you will immediately be using it.

In my case I have plenty of large CF cards so I store cards in a card wallet labeled "Save cards stored face down, store cards to be Erased face up." If for some reason I have not made the requisite two different-drive copysets described above the camera card gets stored face down, and is not reused until two different-drive copysets exist.

Note that there has been no usage of Aperture or any other images management program (except the Mac OS X Finder) up to this point.

-------

Finally we involve Aperture:

You can import each folder into Aperture as a separate Aperture Project to fully stay within Aperture's natural flow. I recommend it.

Masters are the original images, never changed by Aperture. When you make edits Aperture records the changes and Master+Edits=Versions.

An Album is just a collection of pointers to Versions, so Albums can be created and discarded at will, changing nothing and taking up negligible space. Very powerful tool. Albums are often created by searching on Key Words, another very powerful tool.

Also back up the Aperture Library using Aperture's Vaults, which are designed for that purpose.

=============================================

Lastly- can anyone point me to a detailed step by step tutorial on how to actually "move" my photos off my hard drive-the apple one seems to leave out some information. I am so nervous about screwing this up that I haven't done anything. My internal is backed up on one EHD. My photos currently reside in iPhoto '11.

Sorry this is so long and I appreciate the help?

Thanks in advance.

Others have written better descriptions of this. Also look at "Relocate Masters" under the Aperture Help menu I believe.

HTH

-Allen Wicks

HI Allen-Big big thanks for taking the time to spell this out for me. I will be bookmarking AND printing this reply as I delve further into Aperture. First I have to spend some serious time culling my images. My iMac is mid-2007 and only has a 250g drive, so it's quite boggy. Combine that will all the other items and you have a lot of beach ball time.....Aperture really can't run since there's just not enough room for it. This is becoming critical for me as I fear a crash may be in the making if i don't act soon. i have a MBP with a larger drive, but it's much easier to work on the larger screen so I like to house all the images on one system....although my MBP has a faster processor, etc. so we'll see. i could hook up an EHD to my MBP and work from it I suppose.

anyway, sorry to ramble and again-big thanks!

love this place-so many people sharing and helping.

SemajP wrote:

...it took me a long time to 'get' Aperture (Apple do sort of assume you know already). I'm still not 100% on it and always fear losing my images.

Me too.

Threads with some variant of "Aperture lost my images" show up here all the time. Invariably operator error of course, but that is not the point. The point is that we need to establish workflows that bring the opportunity for irrevocable operator/hardware/software error down to about zero.

Apple does not help with its un-evolved documentation including some flat stupid workflows. Mostly I learn Aperture by trial-and-error and from the excellent counsel here.

Most important is to back up images on to a backup external hard drive prior to import into Aperture or any other image management application.

-Allen Wicks

EXCELLENT question, i was wondering as well.😕 Also, for those out there who feel proficient in Aperture, other than trial and error, is there a website you recommend for learning? i am a visual person, and just reading a book, isn't enough for me, plus most technical books are so dry, i fall asleep!

THANKS IN ADVANCE!! 🙂

For very hands-on, non-boring training, try the fabulous training book by Dion Scoppettuolo - "Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 3" which is available as an iBook from Apple or hardcover from Amazon. The electronic version is more useful IMHO, since you can search it. The training is hands on with downloaded files and you follow along on your Mac.

You'll find yourself saying "Wow, Aperture can do THAT!!? Incredible!!!"

Aperture is very rich in function and if you just jump in without either reading the User Guide or getting some training, you'll miss out on a lot, and potentially lose your work through not having a basic understanding of the product.

Thanks John, I'll check it out! Is it easy to follow for a novice? Lots of photos?? 😉 It would be nice to have video training as well. Do u know of a site that offers that? (other than what apple has) I like to learn from someone who has really drilled down into the program for those tips and tricks you can't get from the apple videos. I have viewed them though, and they are helpful, just not enough for me.

THANKS! 🙂

It's easy to follow, with a good amount of repetition. You take it your own speed. There are lots of screen shots so you can compare what you see on your Mac with what you should be seeing.

I have the book on my iPad beside the Mac. That works well.

You work sequentially through the book, and on the way, you make changes to your training library. Do not take lessons out of sequence.

I find that the DOING is much better than just watching a video.

One thing to watch out for is that you'll be doing the training on a supplied Aperture Library which is part of the download for the iBook. Make sure that you remember to switch back to YOUR Aperture Library before you import your new photos!

You might even want to consider setting up a special training account on your Mac to do all your learning. I just thought of that, and I think I'll go back and do that myself. The more I think about this means of isolating training from the real account, the better I like it. Do not give that account administrator capability.