Hi Joseph,
I hope I'm not being too much of a pest with my questions as I'm learning Aperture 3. Hopefully this is a quick and easy one for you. When importing photos into A3 as a managed library, is it making a copy of the photo behind the scenes the way iPhoto does? For some reason I thought it didn't, and that's one of the many reasons I wanted to switch. I was hoping to save a ton of HD space, but I just compared the size of the A3 Library Package in my Pictures folder with the size of the folder I'm backing up to when importing into Aperture, and the A3 library is over 100 GB bigger. Yikes! 189 GB vs 86 GB. How is that possible? TIA!
Debbie
David,
Jolly holidays? ha, I’m moving cross-country (again)! It is fun though ;-)
Debbie,
The duplicate you’re talking about in iPhoto is when you modify the image, iPhoto will duplicate it first. So yes, Aperture is much more conservative in this way.
The previews do take a lot of space; you can change the preview settings in the Preferences to make smaller previews, and I discuss ways to manage this at length in the “ApertureExpert’s 15 Tips on File Management in Aperture 3” ebook.
Also as David says, if you’re syncing to your iPod/iPad/etc then previews are made for that too.
That 100GB does seem quite large though; is it possible you have duplicates in the library?
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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Thanks guys for your replies. I just poked around in the Aperture Library Package (yes, as a former iPhoto user I know I can’t fool around in there, just poke for some info). ;)
Currently my Aperture Library is 203 GB. Of that, the Masters are 139, the Previews are 29 GB, and the Thumbnails are 34 GB. Wow! This was shocking to me. I guess I need to learn more about Previews and Thumbnails. More than 99% of my photos are jpegs, so I’m wondering if I need Previews at all? If not, can I dump the folder from the package and turn off the Preview pref so no more are generated? I haven’t imported any photos from A3 onto my iPad or iPhone, so no previews have been generated for those. What about thumbnails? I suppose they’re necessary, right?
The Preview size I chose at first was 1920x1920, but now I’m at 1680x1680. Frankly, I was just guessing what I needed for my 27” iMac screen. Also, I have my A3 Library on my main hard drive since I only use a desktop and had plenty of HD space for my photos. I keep my back up on a couple of EHDs.
The current figures are Aperture Library = 203 GB
Back-up being created as I import = 97 GB
So, after accounting for the Previews and Thumbnails, I still have 44 GB of bloat, with some I’m sure being due to duplicates (even though I keep that box checked during import some photos may have different file names), and it’s possible I wasn’t creating the back-up during import in the very beginning, but honestly can’t remember now. That would explain some of the difference though.
So, I guess I need to figure some things out. I’ll check to see if I have your File Management EBook, Joseph. I thought I had both and have been reading your first EBook a lot lately now that I’m actually using A3. I was sure I had purchased both of them way back in 2010 sometime. I’ll poke around in the user forums here too for some ideas. I’ve also purchased and watched all seven of your videos, but may need to review the Import videos again.
I was so sure using A3 was going to end the bloat problem I had in iPhoto, but it seems to be worse, not better. Kinda bummed about this.
Thanks again to both of you… off to figure this out.
Debbie
~Debbie
Just want to add that I’ve been doing some research and have found out I can delete previews if I don’t think I’ll need them, such as for bad photos that I’ll delete eventually anyway. I’d like to delete all previews so I can only generate them where and when I need them, but I’m not sure if it’s okay to just drag the preview folder out of the package and trash it? Will keep reading.
Also, please ignore my question about thumbnails. DUH! I guess I need those. ;)
~Debbie
The previews are only required if you want to share Aperture images with other programs without exporting. For example, in iLife apps when you select media and then Aperture, it uses the preview images. Same thing in Pages, Keynote, etc. There’s also a media selection in most Open dialog boxes where you can select your images without going into Aperture and exporting first.
Thomas
Hi Thomas
I think you also need previews for quick preview mode - useful when sorting and rating shots.
d.
d.
Debbie,
Read up on these posts:
A Comprehensive Look at Thumbnails, Previews, and More in Aperture 3
A Good Reason For Larger Previews
Don’t trash anything from the Package unless advised here. You can delete previews from within Aperture. And yes the thumbnails are surprisingly large; I’d like to have a way to reduce those, but you can’t.
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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Thanks, Joseph! I did read the first one you listed, and will go read the second one now. I won’t trash my previews either. I did delete the preview on one photo to see how it affected what I could or couldn’t do.
David, I couldn’t do a Quick Preview when I tried to on the photo with no preview. I also couldn’t drag a photo out to my desktop. I was able to export a photo though.
I guess I’m gonna have to live with previews and the space they take, unfortunately. On my 27” iMac the preview size recommended is the largest one too. But, at least they’re not taking as much space as the thumbnails. ;)
Thanks again, guys!
~Debbie
Debbie,
You may want to re-read that first post I mentioned above, now that you have a better idea of what you’re looking at. The descriptions of Previews is pretty comprehensive in there. You lose QuickPreview and drag-and-drop, and previews will need to be generated (although it’ll happen automatically) to play a slideshow, but that’s about it.
You can delete previews, but only from within Aperture—not from within the package.
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
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Thanks again. I mentioned previews when responding to my other thread. I think I have them figured out now. :)
~Debbie
Hi Debbie
I’m sure that Joseph will give you a more thorough answer when he has a minute (he’s off on his jolly holidays) but Aperture is making previews when it imports - one for whatever screen res you’ve asked for; and one each for any iPads and iPhones/Pods you might be syncing to. None of that would explain 100GB though. But you might like to look at Settings, Previews for the size of the main previews it generates.
You could turn off preview generation and a bit of poking back through the user questions will give you some clues, as will searching the manual for ‘preview’.
I’m sure there’s more to it than that, but it’ll get you started.
d.
d.
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