Help with simple steps to incorporate iPhoto library into Aperture and move on my NAS

Hi there

I assume that you can open your iPhoto library in Aperture.

What you are trying to do is create a referenced library which sits on an external HDD rather than a managed library which holds all the photos in the Aperture Library.

Might be worth searching on Aperture Referenced Library, but it's is quite straight forward - File Menu - Relocate Masters (or Originals) depending on your version of Aperture. You need to specifying the location and then wait for all the image files to be moved which could take some time depending on the number of images you have.

You need to remember to use Aperture to move any images rather than file manager and you will need to tell iPhoto where the new library is located if you intend to use both programmes.

Good luck

Aperture shouldn't have its library on a NAS either. Use direct attached storage. Well unless you don't mind losing your library, that is.

I understand that iphoto is no good for this but Aperture is.

iPhoto is problematic with referenced original files, because iphoto has no tools to recover from broken references, but Aperture has been designed to handle referenced images and libraries distributed across several drives well and has tools to fix broken references.

But both, iPhoto and Aperture, are not network databases.

Apple says: Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library

Putting your originals on a network storage will make Aperture slower, and you are risking library corruption by transmission errors. The safest and option, and the solution with the quickest access to your original files will be a directly connected drive.