Would I be able to migrate to new Photos app from Aperture 2.x ?

I contacted Apple Support with the same question.

First level support tech told me it "would be fine", should work, "probably be okay" under repeated questions about how certain he was. I asked to be transferred to Pro Apps technical support. This guy understood my dilemma. I cannot, and frankly should not, have to justify paying for Aperture 3.6 at this juncture, considering it will be discontinued. But, I want to be certain that my Aperture 2.X libraries will migrate to Photos. I no longer require the editing power of Aperture, but of course, do not want to lose access to my thousands of photos in Aperture 2.0.

It was as if this tech in Pro, had not been asked this question before. He consulted "senior" support reps and still was not able to definitively say.

1.) Recommendations Apple has: Bite the bullet and pay for Aperture 3.6. Be certain that way.

2.) Join the Public Beta program (new, separate partition) and "try" Photos migration. I can't do this because of hardware constraints. Another external hard drive would cost as much as the software for example.

3.) Take my Aperture libraries on a backup drive to an Apple store and ask them to update them to Aperture 3.6 format. < This alone tells me there is an update process and a difference in the database organization and perhaps foretells that migration from 2.X will not work.

Apple is supposed to get back to me with a definitive answer. I am frankly not surprised as most manufacturers assume users, especially "pro" users will keep up to date and Aperture 2.X is, what, five years old?

Will repost when I hear back from pro support.

Regardless of whether Photos can import an Aperture 2.x library, you will not lose access to your photos. Your photos are in the library, and can always be accessed with a little trickery (heck, if you uninstall Aperture completely, the Finder association will go away and it's just a folder).

What you will lose are your keywords and adjustments. If you've done lots of keyboarding and added lots of metadata and done lots of adjustments, this will be a big deal. If not, it won't be.

I have my doubts that Photos will import an Aperture 2.x library, given it's over 5 years old. But whatever the result of this test, the master photos aren't in any danger.

Thanks. I believe you're right about not transferring metadata, adjustments etc.. Again, just don't want to lose my masters, if that's all I can get to come over.

Not too are how to handle this library "package" per what you referenced. But, I have backups and can try it and see if I end up with a folder, or folders with many individual photos inside.

Thanks again.

You can right click on your Aperture library in the Finder and do "show package contents." You'll then see the contents of your library, and your masters are in there. I forget where they are in Aperture 2.x but it's just a series of folders. Note: Don't do anything other than poke around, if you don't want to risk corrupting your library.

At any rate, an Aperture library is just a special kind of folder, and inside it is a database, as well as a bunch of files (your originals, previews, and thumbnails).

If you uninstall Aperture, the Aperture library will "lose" its association with Aperture, and the library will look like a folder in Finder, so you won't even need the right click trick.

Yes. I know a little about 'packages'. I use a couple other database type programs, but have never tried to retrieve individual files except by in-app export.

When I right click on the Aperture library package, I see a number of folders that correspond to the projects I set up. I will try uninstalling aperture on my older Mac Pro and see what I get. Backed up twice of course.

Thanks again.