Migrating from Aperture (w/ consolidated masters) to Photos (on new computer)

[Bendondo]

I've been using Aperture for years, and due to space limitations on my MacBook Air, I have all my 25,000+ masters consolidated onto an external drive...

Since I don't do nearly as much photo editing as I used to, I'll be switching to Photos once my new MacBook arrives later this week...but I'd like to store my photos on its internal SSD and not on an external drive.

I'm sure there's an easy way to migrate my photos over to the new machine (running Photos) while still maintaining the album structure I've set up in the original Aperture library, but my concern is being able to do that while somehow moving the photos off of the external drive and onto the new machine....

Thanks!

 

[mofunk]

I just upgraded my Mac. I haven't tried it but I think the new Mac will ask you if you want to move the photos over. I didn't migrate any photos from my old Macs. But If I need to move the photos I will either use a jump drive or use the Migration Assistant app on the Mac.


You have several options to choose from. You can drag and drop from the external drive.

 

[FWRLCK]

When you upgrade your Aperture library, externally referenced files are left as externally referenced in Photos. Once you have your Photos library setup, the "Consolidate Masters" option is still available like it was in Aperture, so you can use that to move photos onto your internal SSD. Be aware that consolidation is a one way street -- once a photo is in the system library, there's no easy way to turn it back into an externally referenced file.