Original serial number after migration

So what can I do? I am a legal owner of Aperture through to v3.x.x - is there a (hidden?) ID file on the old mac that I can move across?

Charles, any IDFile - ProAppSystem ID is bound to the hardware of your old Mac, so you cannot copy these files over. And your Aperture 3 Upgrade serial is only valid in combination with the Aperture 2 serial.

But other than that - how do I get Aperture working on my new Macbook Pro? I can't really go to Apple with no receipt.

Ask Apple for a replacement Seriel number: Pro Application Replacement Serial Numbers

You will need a proof of purchase, to be able to do this. Talk to the Store, you bought your new Mac from and show them your Aperure 3 upgrade serial.

Alternately - since Aperture 3 is running on your old Mac - is there any chance to upgrade the old mac to Mavericks and Aperture 3.5 as well? Mavericks needs Snowleopard 10.6.8 installed. The upgrade from Aperture 3.4.5 to 3.5 will turn your retail licence into an AppStore licence bound to your AppleID. If you succeed to upgrade your old Mac to Mavericks, and Aperture to 3.5., you will be able to install Aperture from the "Purchased" tab on the App Store on your new Mac, if you sign into the Store with the same AppleID.

-- Léonie

In the 3rd paragraph of my question, it meant to say 'Aperture 2 DVD'. I was unable to find a way to edit the original question.

You can edit your posts only within an interval of 15 minutes, after that, only our community hosts can do that. For the original posts, when you start a new question, the "Edit" option is in the "Actions" menu to the right of your question.

😁 I just noticed, my 15 minuts are up and I cannot correct the typos in my other post either any longer.

Just one more thing - if you did not keep your original installers and registration numbers for all applications, I'd make an additional backup of your system - back up your old mac by creating a bootable clone, not only a Time Timemachine backup. This way you will always able to restore your current setup from the cloned system drive.

It is odd that my old macbook pro does not recognise that there is an update from 3.4.5 to 3.5.x.

Is your Aperture application installed in the Applications folder? Only then will the AppStore be able to recognize it as installed. If you have moved it, put it back and make sure, it is named simply Aperture and nothing else.

Does your Mac meet the technical specifications for Aperture 3.5? http://www.apple.com/uk/aperture/specs/

Also, this update really needs to be done using the App Store, because the App Store will convert the licence to an App Store licence. There is no download link on the Support page.

Are you in the United States or in another country? For some forum members in Europe it helped, to pretend to be in the states, by setting the primary system language to English U.S. and the region to U.S., then restart teh system and sign into the App Store again with the Apple ID they want to use for the Aperture licence. Then Aperture appeared on the Updates page, after reloading the page with ⌘R.

But before updating all macs to Aperture 3.5 for compatibility with Mavericks and iCloud, check the compatibility with your plug-ins. For example, the Nik-collections seems to have problems with Aperture 3.5.

You are welcome! 🙂