Migrating multiple Aperture libraries to Photos

Question

Level 1

8 points

Migrating multiple Aperture libraries to Photos

Hi,

I have stopped using Mac for two years, during which macOS was released and Aperture was no longer maintained.

I would definitely want to migrate all my Aperture libraries to Photos. Now that I have multi-TB of photos divided in to 7 libraries from 2011-2017, I wonder how I should proceed since my laptop, MacBook Pro 15 with TouchBar, has only 118GB storage left out of 512GB. This would not allow me to copy the photos to the laptop. The only option for me is to do all the file manipulations on the external hard drive. What I am trying to do now is to establish 7 new Photos libraries, migrate each of the 7 old Aperture libraries to the new ones, and finally delete the old libraries.

I realize this is a lot of work both for me and the system. Therefore, my question is that, is there a better way to solve this problem?

Thank you very much in advance!

MacBook Pro TouchBar and Touch ID, macOS Sierra (10.12.6)

Posted on Sep 20, 2017 11:50 AM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

léonie

Level 10

200,651 points

Sep 20, 2017 12:53 PM in response to JH_Pan

On Sierra you can still run Aperture 3.6. Do you still have Aperture installed? It may help to be able to run Aperture to merge libraries into one or to prepare the metadata for the migration to Photos.

Aperture can merge libraries, but Photos cannot. If you rather would have all photos in one library, merge them in aperture, before ou migrate to Photos.

Otherwise it is straightforward - since you only have enough storage for your photos on the external drive, keep the Aperture libraries there and drag each library onto the Photos icon. Photos will create a new Photos library, preserving most of the Aperture librarie's metadata and albums, see: How Photos handles content and metadata from iPhoto and Aperture - Apple Support

The additional Photos Library will not need much additional space, because all photos will be hard linked to the Aperture Library. Photos saves disk space by sharing images with your iPhoto or Aperture libraries - Apple Support

You may want to look at these User Tips:

Notes on Migrating an Aperture Library from Aperture to Photos for Mac
And if you want to update to aperture 3.6: Updating to Aperture 3.6 After the Release of Photos

Reply

Answer 2

LarryHN

Level 10

106,142 points

Sep 20, 2017 12:09 PM in response to JH_Pan

slightly

1 - you do not need to establish new photos libraries - when you migrate an Aperture library iPhotos establishes the new library and hard links the originals and reviews to minimize storage requirements

2 - be sure the external hard drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) and is connected with a fast wired connection - Where is it safe to store a Photos Library? Requirements for the external drive

3 - this user tip tells how to do the cleanup and then migrate the libraries - -

4 - Referenced libraries do not work well with Photos so it is recommended that you convert any referenced libraries to managed libraries prior to migration - Disadvantages of a Referenced Library in Photos

5 - basically all you do is drag the cleaned up Aperture library to the Photos icon in the Dock and the migration will take place - do once for each library

LN

Reply

Answer 3

Old Toad

Level 10

215,784 points

Sep 20, 2017 12:50 PM in response to JH_Pan

I would suggest you do the following;

1 - make sure all of your Aperture libraries are managed and not referenced.

2 - merge all libraries into one library ( this makes for much easier searching and management of images once you migrate to the new Photos app).

3 - verify that the new, merged Aperture library is working properly.

4 - copy the Aperture library to the Pictures folder on your new laptop.

5 - open it with Photos and migrate the library to the new Photos system.

6 - keep the Aperture library for a month or so until you're absolutely sure the new Photos library has all your photos and is working properly, then you can delete it.

Here are some user tips from Photos for Mac User Tips that will help you in your transition from iPhoto to Photos:

Photos 2.0 vs iPhoto 9.6.1: Features and Capabilities

Moments in Photos are the New Events.

External Editors in Photos Are Here

Notes on Migrating an iPhoto Library from iPhoto to Photos for Mac

Photo Editing Extensions for Photos for Mac

Reply

Answer 4

JH_Pan Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 20, 2017 12:53 PM in response to Old Toad

Hi,

Thank you very much for you response! The difficulty is, on your step 4, any of the 7 Aperture libraries are larger than what my laptop can store now. If it is a hard copy, I am not sure if my laptop can handle it. What would I have to do under that condition? Thanks!

Reply

Answer 5

JH_Pan Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 20, 2017 12:59 PM in response to léonie

Hi,

Thank you very much for you help! I would love to merge them all into one library. However, since I have nearly 100 thousand pictures, it is really messy to manage if everything is at one place. Also, the amount of files may drag the performance of the applications, I think. May I further ask, if it is not too much, that when I drag the library onto the Photos icon, does the new library save only a snapshot/thumbnail of the pictures, a compressed version of the pictures, or the full original? I would love to try on my own, but I am afraid that if I didn't do it right, the operations would somewhat mess up my library system. Thanks a lot!

Reply

Answer 6

JH_Pan Author

Level 1

8 points

Sep 20, 2017 1:06 PM in response to LarryHN

Hi,

Thank you very much for the advice! I do have all the pictures managed in each library instead of referenced. In your first bullet point. Could you please elaborate a little more on "hard link". I am not quite sure what this means under this context. Does it mean that the originals are still in the hard disk, in Aperture libraries, while Photos makes somewhat a snapshot/thumbnail of the pictures on the laptop? In this case, when the hard disk was not around, I could still access the photos on the laptop only compressed versions. Or, does it mean that Photos makes "pointers" to the pictures on the hard disk? In this case, I would lose the access of the pictures when the hard drive was not connected because the referenced pictures were gone? Thank you very much!

Reply

Answer 7

léonie

Level 10

200,651 points

Sep 20, 2017 1:48 PM in response to JH_Pan

A hard link is very different from a symbolic link or an alias. A hard link is a complete duplicate of the original file. It has the same size. You can delete the original and the hard linked file will still be working. MacOS saves storage, because the hard linked copies are stored on the same disk blocks as the original. You have two large files of the same size, but together they will use the storage only once. If you delete one of the linked files, no storage will be released. You will have to delete all hard-linked copies to free storage. Hard links will only save storage, as long as the files are on the same drive. More on this: The (hard) link between Photos and iPhoto - Six Colors

Reply