Aperture Can't Import iPhoto Library Even Though There's Enough HD Space

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Level 1

5 points

Aperture Can't Import iPhoto Library Even Though There's Enough HD Space

I'm trying to merge various disparate iPhoto libaries into one Aperture library. Now that iPhoto 9.3 ('11) and Aperture 3 both share a "unified" library, I thought it was high time to clean up.

The problem is that when I try to import the very last iPhoto library, I get an error about there not being enough disk space.

Here's the thing:

My Macintosh HD has about 302 GB free.

The Aperture library is currently about 33 GB, and the iPhoto library I'm trying to add is 16 GB.

Why would it need so much more disk space (it claimed it would need 310 GB) to import this one library? What's going on here?

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4), Late 2009, 8GBRAM, WinXP/Parallels7

Posted on Jul 10, 2012 11:40 PM

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Answer 1

léonie

Level 10

195,013 points

Jul 11, 2012 12:00 AM in response to Azurite

This is buggy behaviour, that has been reported before.

Has your iPhoto Library already been upgraded to iPhoto 9.3 format? And is it without any corruption? I'd run the First Aid Tools on it, to be sure: Hold down the option and command-keys ⌘ while double clicking the Library to open it, then run "Repair Permissions", followed by "repair Database". If you then still cannot merge the library into your Aperture library, try this:

For me the following work-around help; maybe it will work for you too: Aperture requires not so much space, if the library to be imported is also an Aperture library, so convert your iPhoto Library to an Aperture library (this seems to be pointless, since both libraries are supposed to share a unified format, but still the type seems to matter).

Open your iPhoto Library in Aperture by ctrl-clicking it and selecting "Open with Aperture"
Then select all library items: folders, projects, albums in the Library Inspector and select "File > Export > Library" from the main menu bar.
The exported Library will be an Aperture Library; try to import this library into your main Aperture library.

Good Luck

Léonie

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