I imported my iPhoto Library into Aperture using the standard import setting, only to find that the size of the Aperture Library is about 90GB whereas the original iPhoto library was a mere 38GB. Is there anything I can do to keep the Aperture library at about the same size as my original iPhoto library? More than doubling in size is just too much!
MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.1)
iPhoto and Aperture store images differently - in the long run you should be better off with Aperture's storage scheme, but initially, when migrating from iPhoto to Aperture, Aperture is cautious and stores some images you may want to delete.
The problem is, that for any image that you have edited in iPhoto, there are two versions of this image in iPhoto - the original master and the edited version. Since Aperture does not know the sequence of adjustments to create the edited version from the master, Aperture will import both versions as new masters and tag them with keywords, so that you can tell which is the original and which is the edited version.
Probably you can delete half of these redundant copies, but Aperture can not know if you prefer to keep the original o the edited version. The pairs should have been stacked automatically on import, so that you know which images are versions of the same image.
The Aperture library will be larger than the iPhoto library, until you have weeded out those pairs, because you also have a preview image for each of the masters. If you have set the preview settings to high quality, this may require a lot of additional storage. Usually it should suffice to set the preview size (inthe Aperture preferences) to match the size of your largest screen.
Before you start to delete originals or versions, make a backup of your library.
Regards
LĂ©onie
Thanks Leonie! I checked my Aperture Library and found the following tagged images with their respective "Keywords":
- "iPhoto Original" - 22.302 photos
- "iPhoto konvertiert" - 708 photos
- "iPhoto extern bearbeitet" - 63 photos
- "mit iPhoto bearbeitet" - 8 photos
So at least to me it seems there are not really many photos with a tag that indicates that there are multiple versions inside the Aperture library. Or did I overlook something here or look elsewhere to find the duplictaed/edited images to delete?
I will need some more clues, then:
Can it be that your iPhoto Library was a referenced Library? Not all masters included inside the iPhoto Library package? And now your Aperture Library is managed? Then it would be natural that the library now is considerably larger.
Have you looked inside the Aperture Library Package (ctrl-click the Library -> Show Package contents)? How large are the Folders "Masters" and "Previews"?
How are the settings for the Preview Quality (Vorschau in deutsch) in the Preferences ? If you have large, high quality previews, that will blow up the library.
Leonie, that's about what I can tell you:
Can it be that your iPhoto Library was a referenced Library? Not all masters included inside the iPhoto Library package? And now your Aperture Library is managed? Then it would be natural that the library now is considerably larger.
--> I didn't know iPhoto would have a referenced library at all - thought this is unique to Aperture. I had imported all my photos to iPhoto via iPhotos "Import in Mediathek" command so I would expect it is NOT a referenced library but all photos are stored within the iPhoto library
Have you looked inside the Aperture Library Package (ctrl-click the Library -> Show Package contents)? How large are the Folders "Masters" and "Previews"?
--> Masters is about 70GB, Previews 8,88 GB
How are the settings for the Preview Quality (Vorschau in deutsch) in the Preferences ? If you have large, high quality previews, that will blow up the library.
--> Set to "Half size" at Quality Level 8 (Medium) - but with "Previews" folder ust 8,88 GB, that shouldn't be the problem.
That is really weird: You are saying the "Masters" folder is twice the size of your original iPhoto Library?
Can it be that you imported it twice, or accidentally imported something else?
If you import with
File -> Import -> iPhoto Library the select the library
Your Masters Folder should be somewhat smaller than the iPhoto Library.
And yes, iPhoto ->" Import in Mediathek" will create a managed iPhoto Library.
But just to be sure: Woud you please check the current setting in iPhoto, if it is still set this way? đ
I strongly suspect that you somehow managed to import your library twice, or you have master images not imported from iPhoto.
To find duplicate imports you could select the "Photos" View in the Inspector, to display all images, and then set the Browser to "List View" and sort by date. This way duplicates will be displayed side by side.
To find any stray images, not imported from iPhoto, create a smart album or use a search with a rule to find any images "keywords do not include any of the following" "iPhoto Original" ...
Cheers
LĂ©onie
Where are you seeing the size of the iPhoto Library? In the iPhoto Window? In the Finder?
Regards
TD
Hi LĂ©onie, thanks again for the detailed advise! I checked both my iPhoto Library and my Aperture Library and they are almost idendical as to the number of photos they show (22.424 photos in iPhoto, 22.884 photos in Aperture - and that's due to some new photos I have imported into Aperture since I imported my iPhoto Library to Aperture). Also, when following your advise to disply photos sorted by date, I only find very few duplicates in my Aperture Library (probably just a few dozen).
Searching for stray images, I only get 104 photos listed that seem to be not properly imported into iPhoto.
What's strange, though, I kept the folder-structure that I had created for my photos before I even started using iPhoto and where I had always put copies of the photos that I had imported into iPhoto Library (call it paranoia or whatever, but I neve fully trusted iPhoto that it would hold all my valuable photos safe ...). So there I have originals of all my photos and this folder is a full 70GB of data - as opposed to the 38GB of my iPhoto Library which has almost the exact number of photos as my folder-structure does.
So I essentially have the following:
- iPhoto Library with 22.424 photos and 38GB
- Aperture Library with 22.884 photos and 90GB
- A folder-structure where I hold duplicates of all my photos outside of iPhoto and Aperture (and NO, I don not use iPhoto nor Aperture as referenced databases) with 22.512 objects and a total of 69,44GB of data.
Anything else you could think of? I'm lost the more I dive into this ...
Rgds, Berthold
Hi Terence, I see th sicze of the iPhoto Library as well as the Aperture Library in the Finder.
Hello Berthold,
This looks as if you imported the master image files fromyour safe-keeping folder, and not those in iPhoto, since the sizes match. What do you see, when you open your iPhoto Library in the finder (ctrl-click the library, Show Package Contents)? Look at the size of the Masters Folder and compare the masters inside with those in the Aperture Library.
Maybe this will give us a clue
LĂ©onie
Berthold,
To add to Leonie's post, it seems suspicious that your iPhoto library is smaller than your duplicate folder (Eigene Fotos). Is that part of the puzzle here?
nathan
Hi LĂ©onie & Nathan,
I think we're coming closer! When going back to when I first started using iPhoto, I believe I started to simply drag & drop photos from my folder-structure into iPhoto, since I only learned some time later how to properly import photos into iPhoto, using the "Import to iPhoto" command. Once I had learned this, I continued importing properly, but since all initial photos had been in iPhoto already (and worked fine!) I saw no need to change anything. Could this mean that all photos that I placed in iPhoto via "drag & drop" were not actually copied into iPhoto's Library but only referenced in it - and all "new" photos I properly imported to iPhoto later were actually copied into the iPhoto Library - resulting in an overall smaller iPhoto Library as compared to the actual combined size of all my photos?
And then when creating my Aperture Library properly from the beginning (not drag & dropping any photos into it but creating via the "Import/Iphoto Mediathek ..." comand), Aperture was "smart enough" to "convert" my "mixed iPhoto Library" into a fully managed with all photos actually inside it?
Would Aperture be smart enough to do something like this?
Is there any way I can safecheck that all my photos are actually IN the Aperture Library and not just reference links to outside folders?
If this is the case, I could finally delete my iPhoto Library AND delete all my photo folders from my system, leaving only a managed Aperture Library which holds all my valuable photo data in it!
Berthold,
You can check in iPhoto, if there are some references iPhoto Masters.
If that master is inside iPhoto, this will reveal the "Masters" folder, else your backed up originals.
And no, iPhoto is not smart enough to consolidate such a mixed situation automatically, so it was very smart of you to keep the originals đ
LĂ©onie
To reveal the Master Files in iPhoto:
To sort in iPhoto by Date:
LĂ©onie, now the question is: was Aperture smart enough to consolidate the library when importing from iPhoto? This could explain why the Aperture Library is so much larger than the iPhoto library. Are you able to say if this was actually the case or if there is a way for me to check this in Aperture, just the way you recommended Ocheck my iPhoto librar (I.e. to verify that all my photos are actually inside the Aperture Library with no more referenced "leftovers"?
Rgds, Berthold
LĂ©onie, now the question is: was Aperture smart enough to consolidate the library when importing from iPhoto?
I think so, but better make sure.
To check, use Aperture to scan all images in the Aperture library:
In the first album you should see no images, in the second you should see all your images. Compare the counts with the count you get, when you select the "Photos" View in the Library Inspector.
Regards
LĂ©onie
Berthold,
Once you figure this out, please post what you found in your iPhoto library and in your Aperture library. I would be very interested in knowing what you found when following Leonie's advice.
nathan
Library more than doubles in size when importing form iPhoto
