Importing from iPhoto to Aperture failed

Question

Importing from iPhoto to Aperture failed

I have iPhoto 9.2.1 and Aperture 3.2.2 and Lion 10.7.2 with a newly re-installed Lion. After buying Aperture, I imported my entire iPhoto library. There are 16,182 pictures in iPhoto. In Aperture, I now have 19,568 pictures. But, in Aperture, not all of my Events transferred. Also, there are many pictures in the Events in iPhoto that did not transfer to the same Event name in Aperture. I have no confidence in my iPhoto library being properly imported into Aperture.

What should I do? Import another library in Aperture? What can I do to make sure all the iPhoto Library file is transferred properly with all my pictures going over to Aperture?

My iPhoto library size is 81.53 GB.

My new Aperture library is 73.95 GB.

I have 113 GB remaining on this HD.

Thanks for helping!

MacBook Pro HD, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Feb 28, 2012 6:56 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

194,755 points

Feb 29, 2012 9:59 AM in response to William Hooper

Hello, William,

can you tell us please a little more about how exactly you have imported your iPhoto Library to Aperture?

Did you import using "File -> Import -> iPhoto Library" or did you use the iPhoto Browser?
Are both your iPhoto Library and your Aperture library managed libraries or referenced?
Are both libraries located on your system drive or on external drives?
If you iPhoto Library is managed, can it be that some of your iPhoto images are referenced and were offline during the import?
Can you give a more detailed example of what went wrong during import? Project and event names, types of the images? Is there anything specific to the iPhoto events that are missing in your Aperture Library? Are those images edited image versions?

Regards

Léonie

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Answer 2

Feb 29, 2012 11:41 AM in response to léonie

Thank Leonie for helping:

1. Once I had downloaded Aperture from the App Store and launched it, I was prompted by Aperture to open or import a file, as I recall. From Aperture I imported my iPhoto Library

2. I am not sure what you mean by managed libraries or referenced. In Aperture preference, General, I am using: ~/Pictures/Aperture Library.aplibrary

3. Both Libraries are on the same internal HD

4. It took several hours, especially for Aperture to work on Faces, to import the iPhoto Library. I did not open iPhoto Library during the importation. I was not using an external drive or internet site for iPhoto.

5. I was not aware of anything going wrong during the Importation.

6. In iPhoto, I have come to learn that both: a) several Events were never imported into Aperture, and b) other Events in Aperture were incompletely imported in that several pictures are missing. For example, one Event in iPhoto has 24 pictures. The imported Event in Aperture has 11 pictures. When I look at the pictures in iPhoto that did not transfer over, there is nothing I can see that is unusual about them. The size of the pictures range from 300 Kb to 1.2 MB.

I tested the pictures that were not sent over to Aperture. Indeed, some had been edited as I found in iPhoto>Edit that I could "revert to original". However, others that were not sent over had NOT been edited in iPhoto as I could not revert to original for them.

7. I have 822 Events in Aperture, but I am not sure how to find the number of Events in iPhoto to learn how many did not come over.

Thanks.

W

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Answer 3

léonie

Level 10

194,755 points

Feb 29, 2012 12:15 PM in response to William Hooper

Hello W,

In iPhoto use the "Events" view in the Library panel, then click the "Info" button at the bottom of the window.

In the Info Panel you will see the total number of events and images.

In Aperture use the "Photos" View, then you will see the total number of images in the Browser Window.

The total number of images in Aperture should be greater or equal to the number of images in iPhoto if you imported successfully.

I'd love to post a screenshot, but my internet connection here is very slow.

Regards

Leonie

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Answer 4

léonie

Level 10

194,755 points

Feb 29, 2012 12:55 PM in response to William Hooper

2. I am not sure what you mean by managed libraries or referenced. In Aperture preference, General, I am using: ~/Pictures/Aperture Library.aplibrary

Managed vs. referenced:

In Aperture and also iPhoto you can control where the master image files will be stored:

Managed Library: The master image files are managed by Aperture or iPhoto and stored inside the Library. This is the default.
Referenced Library: The master image files are not included inside the library and stored in folders outside the library, typically on an external drive. Usually you turn your library into a referenced library, if you need to free space on your system drive.

Since you were not sure what I was asking about, I assume your libraries are managed. But sometimes it happens, that you accidentally turn images in referenced images on import; in iPhoto by deselecting "Importing: Copy items to the iPhoto Library" in the Advanced settings, and in Aperture by setting the "Store files" selector to "in their current location" in the "Import settings".

I asked about managed vs. referenced, because referenced images cannot be imported from iPhoto, if the referenced image is missing or off-line. So that might explain some missing images after import.

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Answer 5

Feb 29, 2012 2:04 PM in response to léonie

Thanks again.

In iPhoto, I have 832 Events. In Aperture, I have 822 Events.

In iPhoto, the checkbox is checked next to iPhoto>Preferences>Advanced>Import>Copy items into iPhotoLibrary.

In Aperture, I do not see in Aperture>Preferences>Import anything about "Store Files" in my version. All that I see is in Aperture>Preferences>General that I am saving my file to "Home">Pictures>Aperture>"filename Aperture Library.

Would you suggest that I erase my Aperture file and start over? Should I do a re-import or is there another suggestion to achieve a successful Import?

W

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Answer 6

léonie

Level 10

194,755 points

Feb 29, 2012 9:18 PM in response to William Hooper

In Aperture, I do not see in Aperture>Preferences>Import anything about "Store Files" in my version. All that I see is in Aperture>Preferences>General that I am saving my file to "Home">Pictures>Aperture>"filename Aperture Library.

In Aperture you can set the location where to store the master image files on each individual import. These settings are not part of the Preference settings, but are set in the Import dialogue.

When you import an iPhoto Library using (from the Aperture Application menu)

File -> Import -> iPhoto Library

you see a File Chooser, and in tle lower brick is a selector: "Store Files"

To import "managed" this selector should be set to "in the Aperture Library".

If you imported using different settings, then I would indeed recommend to redo the import rom iPhoto to Aperture (and to make sure you have a working backup of you iPhoto Library).

Regards

Léonie

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Answer 7

Mar 1, 2012 12:04 PM in response to léonie

I erased my Aperture Library to start over.

I then launched iPhoto with Command-Option and rebuilt its database and preferences.

I quit and reopened iPhoto and then closed it.

I launched Aperture and Imported the iPhotoLibrary to my hard drive in Pictures>ApertureLibrary.

Aperture has 822 Events while iPhoto still has 838 Events.

Pictures are also missing and failed to be imported.

Any suggestions?

W

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Answer 8

Mar 1, 2012 1:39 PM in response to William Hooper

Second question:

Is there any way of obtaining a text list of all my photographs and Events in both Aperture and iPhoto? That way, if worse comes to worse, I could Export the missing Events and Photos from iPhoto and individually import into Aperture.

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Answer 9

Mar 1, 2012 1:40 PM in response to William Hooper

Alternatively, is there a way of comparing the Libraries in Aperture and iPhoto put them side by side and see what is missing in one Library?

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