StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY

When Apple indicated it will no longer support Aperture/iphoto and create a new program, I switched to Lightroom. I presently use Lightroom, Photoshop and Topaz, and I am very pleased the the results and relative ease of use. When I switched to Lightroom, I made the decision to keep most of my 30,000 photos in Aperture (on an external drive). It seemed unnecessary to import all the Aperture photos to Lightroom, and take up all my hard drive space. There are a number of photos I need to work on, and I import them individually into Lightroom, as needed. This works well. My concern is that Apple will eventually make it impossible to continue to use Aperture, and I will lose access to all of my photos stored there. Does anyone know if there is a "time limit" on how long Aperture will continue to function, and if Apple has any plans to make it unusable?

Mac Loc: Pittsburgh, Philadelphia now Hernando Co. Fl.

Apple has stated that Aperture will continue to function on OS X Yosemite, but no guarantees beyond that.

LPigott Loc: Monterey Peninsula, CA

Do you have an Apple Store in your area? The guys at the Genius Bar can help you if you make an appointment ...

Steve_m Loc: Southern California

They really don't know. Apple operates in their mysterious ways.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

The first thing you need to know is that Lightroom won't copy the image from your external drive to the hard drive unless you ask it to do so. So if I were you, I'd import but only add the images from the external drive to your catalog in LR. Now you can start to edit, categorize, rate, and apply key-words to your already huge inventory of images in LR and when Aperture is no longer usable for use on a new computer you will have already made the move to LR. It's too bad that Adobe hasn't designed a way for LR to grab this info from Aperture so you don't have to re-edit, categorize, rate and key work your images over. This can be a lot of work.

StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY

Thanks.
I'm not sure what you mean by, "I'd import but only add the images from the external drive to your catalog in LR. Now you can start to edit, categorize, rate, and apply key-words to your already huge inventory of images in LR and when Aperture is no longer usable for use on a new computer you will have already made the move to LR."

When I do import images from aperture, I do them one at a time or a few at a time, as I need them. I drag them from aperture to my desktop, then Import into LR, just as they were images on my hard drive. They of course go into the catalog, and I do not lose any edits I have made. The issue is, I don't want to import 30,000 images, as I don't need most of them in LR. However, I don't want to wake up one day and discover Apple has eliminated any ability to use Aperture 3, and that I have no way to access my photos in Aperture 3, and import them into LR, if I desire to do so. In other words, I want to keep all of them in Aperture, in perpetuity, until I have need for them in LR. And, it is that, that I need to know if it is possible to do.

StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY

You're probably right. But, I really don't want to import 30,000 photos. That is very, very time consuming, can be brought with problems, and wastes a huge amount of space.

StevenG Loc: Long Island, NY

Sorry. This last message is for Steve M.

jethro779 Loc: Tucson, AZ

Try this: Open finder and go to the external drive. Open the external drive and pick one small folder of files(say 10 0r 15). Pull that file to your desktop. Open pictures in finder and see if it has a folder labeled Lightroom pictures. If not then make a new folder with the name "Lightroom pictures" and direct this folder to be copied to your external drive. Import the pictures from your desktop into Lightroom and direct Lightroom to put the folder in "Lightroom Pictures" on the external drive. Close finder and Lightroom and re-open Lightroom and see if the pictures transferred and if the edits you made in aperture transferred.

You could also choose some other name for the folder on the external you are making in Lightroom like Files from Aperture..

Gene51 Loc: Yonkers, NY, now in LSD (LowerSlowerDelaware)

You need to contact Apple on that. In the meantime, get Lightroom 6.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Yes, your fears are justified. The Apple Police have already started making nighttime raids and removing Aperture from Apple computers. Locking your doors won't keep them out. This is Apple, afterall.

Seriously, you should be able to keep using Aperture forever.

martinfisherphoto Loc: Lake Placid Florida

I continue to use Aperture as my Library and will as long as I own this computer..

katbandit Loc: new york city

i love my Aperture program ..i was told by the apple people that it will not migrate over to Yosemite..so i am staying with my system as is..once in a while i find Aperture giving me some wonky problems and i fear that i will not be able to use it forever..i don't want to install any more programs into my laptop for now such as Lightroom ..most of the photographers now are raving about Lightroom but having both on this laptop may overload it..i uninstalled my photoshop elements also from my laptop and only use it on my desktop for now..if i ever need to purchase a new laptop which i hope not too soon i will have no choice but to use Lightroom ..i hear that the new program Photos is terrible ..any news on that from anyone?

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Reading thru this makes me glad I am using Windows and Photoshop CS6. I can move what ever I want where ever I want. Time is the only enemy. Note, I have Lightroom Lr4.4 but just never got hooked.

jcwall396 Loc: Roswell, GA

Katbandit, I have Aperture and am on the latest version of Yosemite - it works just fine. Not sure who told you that it won't work on Yosemite.