We’ve touched on these topics before, but this great question came up on our new Community section and I thought it was worth returning to this.

>> I am just about out of space on my HD. aperture library needs to move to my Ext Drive. From the reading I have done, I create a new folder on my Ext Drive and then go back to my HD aperture and copy it to that new folder on Ext Drive, this is now done. I now went back to aperture on my HD, under File Relocated masters to same folder on Ext Drive. Hope all is well so far. Is it safe to now remove the contents of my library on my HD and start a new library there? Help with caution.

Were you managing your images (they live in the aperture library) or referencing (they live in their own folders on the hard drive). There are two very different answers to this question depending on which is which. Because if your files were living in your Aperture Library, what you’ve done is actually made two copies of each of your files on the new hard drive.

If your images are Managed, all you have to do is copy your Aperture Library (when Aperture is not running) from your internal drive to external. Double click the Library on your external drive to launch Aperture, and you’re done.

If your images are Referenced, you want to FIRST use File>Relocate Masters to move the masters to the new drive and THEN copy your library from your internal drive to your external drive. Double click the Library on the external drive to launch Aperture, you’re done. What it sounds like you’ve done here is move your library over, then use the Relocate Masters command to move a copy of your files to the new machine. But the Library you already moved thinks they all live internally.

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Author: David Schloss

David Schloss is the director of the Mac Create Network and the Aperture Users Network, a professional photographer, writer, editor and photographic educator who specializes adventure sports, travel and lifestyle photography. Schloss is the author of the books Blue Pixel Personal Photo Coach: Digital Photography Tips from the Trenches and Blue Pixel Guide to Travel Photography: Perfect Photos Every Time. Schloss is the former Technical Editor for Photo District News, a position he held for six years.