Moving from iPhoto to Aperture with limited drive space

Hello Richieto,

I have already purchased and download Aperture.

In the Import window I see the "move files" radiobutton and the "copy files" radiobutton under the "Store Files:" dropdown, but they are disabled.What i would like to achieve is just to move all my iPhoto Library to Aperture Library. I wont use iPhoto anymore.

Set the "storeFiles" selector to "in their current location".

Have you seen this support article.Moving from iPhoto to Aperture - How to move http://www.apple.com/aperture/iphoto-to-aperture/how.html

If you follow these instructions, you will import your iPhoto Library by referencing - that means, all images remain in your iPhoto library; your iPhoto Library will remain unchanged, but Aperture references the files in in the iPhoto Library. This will save disk space; your images will be stored only once: Set the "Store Files" selector to "in their current location".

If you decide to do it this way, make sure you have a working backup of your iPhoto library. Also remember at all times that your master image files now are managed independently by two applications, that do know nothing of what the other app does and are not synchronized. So you must not move the iPhoto library, and you must not delete any images that are shared by both applications. Other than that this way to import from iPhoto will be the best deal, if you need to be frugal with disk space.

What i would like to achieve is just to move all my iPhoto Library to Aperture Library. I wont use iPhoto anymore.

Once you are happy with the way Aperture handles the images you can copy your iPhoto library to a backup location and consolidate the master image files (File -> consolidate) by moving them from your iPhoto Library into the Aperture Library. This will delete them from iPhoto and store them inside the Aperture Library package. Then delete the iPhoto Library after testing that the consolidation was successful.

I im saving to buy a NAS that will solve my space problems in the near future.

Just a caution - you should not use the NAS to store the Aperture library - an Aperture library needs to bestored on a local volume formatted MacOS X extended.

Regards

Léonie

So basically, I could

Import to Aperture leaving files in their current location

Check how everything goes

See through my photos and then if im satisfied

Consolidate with moving

That's it. Exactly.

Consolidation is between the 2 Libraries and as nothing to do with the Backup . Correct?

Correct. I recommended to ensure you have a working backup, because consolidating will remove the master image files from your iPhoto library; so your iPhoto Library will afterwards be useless. Just to be on the safe side 🙂

"Consolidate " is an operation that will move (or copy) referenced master image files into your Aperture Library and turn the library into a managed library. Thit makes it easier to copy the library or to move it.

You will want to move the master image files and not to copy them, since you do not have disk space to spare.

Regards