Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Beginner's Questions => Topic started by: pixel eater on April 27, 2013, 03:59:56 pm
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Dumb newbie question that I've just never gotten around to investigating: I have a Nikon D800 that has rapidly filled my hard drive with giant RAW files. I import from my camera using Nikon Transfer 2, which creates some files in a Nikon folder on my hard drive. Then I import into into a library that is shared by iPhoto and Aperture. I haven't been deleting the old Nikon folders, largely because I like the fact that the files are visible in a normal folder structure, and I'm confident that I can copy/export them to any other place that I might need them. I don't have this confidence about iPhoto/Aperture, since the files are buried somewhere that I don't understand. I have a concern that at some point in the future, if I switch to using different software I won't be able to export the photos, or that iPhoto or Aperture will have somehow messed with the RAW files so that I'm stuck with some proprietary Apple files that aren't usable elsewhere. Is this something I should or shouldn't be concerned about? I've run out of hard drive and the easiest way of freeing some space up would be to delete the Nikon folders.
thanks - I'd appreciate any advice
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I heard the guy who wrote "The Dam Book" speak at a conference a few years ago. He said that hard drives have become so cheap there's no reason to ever throw anything away again and he does not. I'm sorry I can't remember his name right now and I'm too lazy to look it up. I don't go that far, but my first inclination is to buy more drives. I buy them two at a time and make one a backup for the other. Never store your files in just one place. If you buy them three at a time, make another backup and put it in your safe deposit box.
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hi pixel eater, Aperture doesn't have any propoetary fiel, it uses your RAW file. You've selected that Aperture manages your library; therefo, you cannot find it. You can reversa that and set Aperture to export to the folder you want and later select the option to relocate originals into the folder you've created. That's it, no magic in using it, no propietary file just a managing issue. I would recommend you to buy some training about Aperture, search for aperture expert.
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On import you choose whether to have Aperture copy the files into its database (Managed Library) or you choose to have it work with the files where they are (Referenced Library). I use a Referenced Library because it keeps the size of the database to a manageable size. In a Reference Library, the Aperture database contains the settings, metadata, etc but only a link to the images. I see this as the only viable method for D800 shooters. Using a Managed Library for those large files can and will cause that database to grow very, very large.
I dug through my bookmarks and found this article from Macworld that I believe I read and used to make my decision:
http://www.macworld.com/article/1161525/understanding_aperture_importing.html