Migrating from Aperture to Photos crashes

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Migrating from Aperture to Photos crashes

I have a large (550GB) Aperture library. Every time I try to open in Photos to migrate the pictures, Photos crashes. I have already tried the following:

-Created a Smart Folder to find missing files and removed those pictures

-Removed all videos

-Removed a linked Flikr account

-Emptied trash

-Repaired permissions in Aperture

-Repaired database in Aperture

-Performed "first aid" on the drive with the library is stored

I'm using Mohave 10.14.5 and Aperture v3.6

The original library was created in iPhoto many years ago and transitioned to Aperture also many years ago but everything always seems to work normally in Aperture.

Any other ideas?

iMac 21.5", macOS 10.13

Posted on Nov 17, 2019 5:55 PM

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Answer 1

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léonie

Level 10

197,321 points

Nov 30, 2019 7:46 AM in response to Jeff_Cushing

Photos cannot merge libraries, other than in iCloud Photos.

But you could export a set of smaller Aperture Libraries, create Photos libraries from them as a fall back option.

Then try to merge the smaller Aperture libraries into one library by importing them as a library into one of the smaller libraries.

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Answer 2

léonie

Level 10

197,321 points

Nov 18, 2019 3:24 AM in response to Jeff_Cushing

What is the error message in the crash log?

Where is the Aperture library stored? Is the file system format of this drive MacOS Extended (Journaled) or APFS?

Photos cannot work with a library, if the drive is used for Time Machine backups.

I would create a small test Aperture Library, just a few pictures, and then try to open this library in Photos. Can Photos work with this test library on your external volume, or does it crash as well?

You have exhausted all library repair options. Sometimes to helps to recreate the library by exporting all photos from the library as a new Aperture Library.

Select all projects and albums in the sidebar and use the command "File > Export > Export items as a new Library".

Can the new library be migrated to Photos?

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Answer 3

Nov 19, 2019 2:23 PM in response to Jeff_Cushing

Hello

I have nearly the same circumstance. My wife's Aperture Library is about the same size and I have done some of the same troubleshooting attempts. Following HT209594, the process of creating full size previews takes about a day and a half. Attached is the top of the crash log.

Thanks Léonie, I was unaware one could export out of Aperture as a 'library'. I am trying a third at a time. The first third was successful and am in the process of trying the second third.

If I find a project/projects that are problematic. What can I do about that? Would you expect that there could be corrupted images, invalid links to edits? Any thoughts about what would my next steps be?

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Answer 4

Jeff_Cushing Author

Level 1

9 points

Nov 30, 2019 7:26 AM in response to léonie

Leonie,

Thanks for the ideas. I was able to export a small Aperture project and import it into Photos. However, when I tried exporting my entire Aperture library as you suggest above, it was unsuccessful. After an extended amount of time, I get an error about out of system memory. I have tried restarting and performing the export with nothing open and I get the same problem.

So, along the line of what DoctorPatient is doing below: could I export my library into a few chunks (say, 4 libraries) and then bring them each into Photos? I was under the impression that Photos can't merge libraries, so even I was able to export from Aperture in smaller chunks, I'm not sure how effective that would be.

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Answer 5

Jeff_Cushing Author

Level 1

9 points

Dec 3, 2019 8:45 PM in response to léonie

Problem solved: here's what I did...

First I moved the library to a much larger external drive with more free space. I think insufficient disk space on the primary HDD was a contributing factor.

Next I exported my old Aperture library into two separate libraries (doing it all at once didn't seem to work). I then merged those back together in Aperture. I then opened the new Aperture library in Photos and...after 1.5 days... it seems to be working.

Thanks for the help!

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Answer 6

Dec 17, 2019 9:25 AM in response to Jeff_Cushing

I'm still struggling with the conversion.

One observation I don't understand and one question if anyone knows,

(the observation) I also tried splitting my Aperture Library i.e. older and newer than 2015, The resulting Aperture libraries contained photos from 'Projects' that were not selected so the sum of the two Libraries was larger than the original. They were able migrate to photos, but I am assuming I would end up with many duplicates. I don't get why. So I deleted those attempts.

(the question) The first step in the "How To" art. Apple publishes has you create 'full size' previews that took a day and a half but now my resulting Aperture Library is around 880GB. So, my question is; is this full size preview creation essential? Why?

I am currently working from an external hard drive, so USB and spinning drive is making things slow.

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Migrating from Aperture to Photos crashes

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