How to make importing images into iPhoto automatic BUT where I want them to be!

Mac OS X 10.7.4 iPhoto 11 v 9.3

I have my photos (25,000+) stored on an external HDD in a folder called IMAGES where all the sub-folders become an "event" in iPhoto. This is backed up to a second ex-HDD.

I unchecked the <Importing> box in iPhoto advanced preferences. I add new folders as needed to IMAGES, drag and drop the new images into their new folder “Event” and then in iPhoto IMPORT TO LIBRARY that new "event". iPhoto correctly points to the IMAGES folder on my ex HDD and Photos and Events (sub-folders) show correctly in iPhoto. This keeps the folder on my Ex HDD, as an event and does not duplicate the images.

I have been experimenting with Auto Import and made an alias of the folder “Auto Import” found in “Pictures” in the iPhoto Library (right click and expand package). The alias is now on the desktop and if I drop an image in it, iPhoto, when loaded, imports it automatically BUT it places it is its “Masters” folder in the iPhoto Library on my Mac’s HD. If I drop a folder with an image inside it, iPhoto imports just the image and ignores the folder. It then tells me there is a file/folder that it can’t read (the now empty folder).

I have also just purchased Aperture and I presume that it is iPhoto that imports not Aperture?

So the question is: Can I import photos automatically that do not reside inside “Masters” and will recognize a folder as an event and will not be stroed on my Mac's Hard disk?