Hi all! I've been using aperture since 2010 on my MacBook Pro. I recently got the new iMac and would like to move my libraries to the new computer, and use the laptop only when I travel. Do I need to download a new copy of aperture to my iMac in order to move my libraries? I have read countless threads on moving the libraries but now that I'm forced to do it (hooray!) I am really unsure where to start. I've watched the training for working off multiple macs and I understand how that works, I'm just not sure where to begin for purposes of installing/moving aperture to my new iMac. I appreciate the help.
Thanks,
Jenn
If you purchased Aperture through the Mac App Store … simply visit the purchased tab in the MAS app and install Aperture.
If you bought the boxed version simply install from the disc … then make sure you download and install any subsequent updates …
… or … you could move over all your apps and data from the laptop to the iMac using Migration Assistant found in User/Username/Application/Utilities … though it will move over ALL your personal data and apps … you can’t pick and choose which apps … it’s an all or nothing deal for non-OS apps and utilities.
From there you can move over your libraries and you should be good to go …
Thanks, Butch.
I can’t get the migration assistant to work. Started it yesterday afternoon (tethered with ethernet cable) and when I went to bed last night it said it would take 89 hours to complete. That’s a whole week with neither machine and I’ve got work to do and photos to edit. So I cancelled it this afternoon when it still said it had 57 hours remaining. I tried again this afternoon (after realizing that it had probably tried to do the migration wirelessly) so I shut off the wi-fi on one machine and couldn’t get them to connect.
On my new iMac I downloaded/installed Aperture as you recommended and my vault library is sitting on an external drive but I ‘m still not sure how to access all the photos that are held in my aperture library on my old MacBook.
I think I can just move each library to my shared folder and import them that way. Thanks for your help!
Except I can’t. In theory it should work, but because my laptop is on snow leopard, Aperture won’t let me update to the latest version - which is what I currently have on my new iMac. The new iMac is on Lion 10.8, so the files aren’t compatible. My laptop is a 64ghz with the max ram of 8GB so I think I can upgrade to Lion but frankly I love snow leopard, and I’m not sure there’s another work-around. Thoughts, anyone? I need this library in the same place and was looking forward to having a desktop not just a laptop. :(
Is the library you’re trying to move referenced or managed?
If the library is managed, then migrating is easy. Just move (or copy) the library from the MacBook to the iMac using the Finder and you’re good. Then double click the Library (on the iMac), Aperture will open and tell you the library needs to be updated to the newest version.
If the library is referenced, then copy both the Photo and the library to the iMac, Op de the Library (and allow it to upgrade) then choose Locate referenced files to point Aperture to the new location of the photo’s.
The only problem you will encounter is that you need to use the same version of Aperture when you want to move back and forth between iMac and MacBook. There is no real workaround for this. It is virtually impossible to get Aperture 3.2 on a new Mac. So you need to upgrade on the MacBook. Don’t worry, ML is that bad compared to SL. I actually think it is a slight improvement.