I have aperture 3.2.4 running on OSX 10.6.8 with a 2.66 Intel and 4GB ram
The copy I have is pirated - the mac repair shop put it on for free a long time ago, and now I have 70,000 images saved across two external drives.
I am fed up of worrying about the pirated copy, and want to pay for the real one from the app store.
I have searched for “upgrading from pirated copies” and found similar questions, but nothing talking about whether my photos will be safe.
I know this is a risk, but I want to minimise it.
I am assuming I will have to upgrade to OSX 10.7.4 first right?
Is there a way I can just pay for aperture 3.2 and not upgrade my whole os?
Any thoughts welcome.
Hi,
To move to the last version of aperture, you need to upgrade everything.
My approach will be the following:
1. Perform a backup of everything
2. Uninstall the pirated copy of aperture but ensure not to delete the library
3. Upgrade the OS to 10.7.5 at minimum as it is required for aperture 3.4
4. Perform a new back up as a clean point after OS upgrade
5. Install aperture through the Appstore
6. Open your library in Aperture. It should start conversion process
To purchase an Aperture 3.2 licence, I dont think it is possible through standard channel. I will advise you to stop at an Apple Store to check or try to contact apple through the website.
Hope it will help,
Regards,
Joe
Just to emphasize some of Joe’s points:
1. You need MacOS 10.7.5 minimum for the current version of Aperture. That will be difficult to come by at this point since it was mainly sold on the Mac App Store and is no longer available there. Apple at one time sold it on a thumb drive but you’ll probably have trouble finding that as well. MacOS 10.8.2 is what you can currently get on the Mac App Store. Assuming your Mac is compatible, this may be your only practical choice.
2. You photos are kept completely separate from the Aperture application so deleting the app or replacing it with a newer version won’t remove any photos. The photos are by default kept inside the library file which will be named “Aperture Library” and will be in the Pictures folder if you haven’t moved it.
Assuming you’re able to get your Mac OS updated and buy Aperture from the Mac App Store, be sure to backup your library file first before running the new Aperture for the first time. Since it is a new version, it will first attempt to upgrade the format of your library. You should have a backup copy of it in case anything goes wrong with the upgrade.
Thomas