A while ago I gave up on Aperture (still version 1.5) but with the newest release there's too much good stuff going on to skip it again, plus I'm a bit dissapointed with the RAW output from LR with the Leaf files.

There is one thing I still don't seem to be able to do with Aperture which I would love to be able to speed up my workflow.

I download my files to a folder/project on my drive :/temp.
I rename the files, keytag etc.

Now what I want to do is the following.
MOVE the files to the drive Photography2008/folderx/foldery

What I have tried:

1.
Relocate masters, it moves the files to the folder (one part works) but it keeps the original files in the temp drive.
When I remove that temp project the files stay in the correct folder on the photography drive but they have dissapeared from the database.
When I import them again it works but I have to keytag again.

2.
I tried to reconnect the media to the new location.
But again when I delete the temp folder it deletes the files in the correct folders also, again leaving the files on the harddrive, so again I have to reimport and keytag again.

At the moment my only solution seems to be to immediatly import into the folder I want to use the files in in the end and work from there and relocate the renamed files to the same folder (I did not yet tried that out).

I use a PC to manage files on my Mac and simply avoid Aperture as it is so painful. As you are experiencing.
If Macs are so easy to use why is file management on them so darn difficult?

It depends on the software you are using.
I switched to the MAC a little over a month ago and now every PC in the house is a Mac.

Now when I'm behind a PC it drives me nuts (the clutter).
And no I'm not a MAC fanboy, I still love PC's (my wife owns a PC shop that also sells Mac's).
Both systems have their plusses and minnes.

What I'm talking about here has nothing to do with the file system of the Mac itself.
Moving and copying files arround in the OS is easier than it ever was with a PC to be honest .

Also Aperture has my preference at the moment above lightroom for the dB and speed.
This is the only thing for the moment I'm struggling with, and probarbly it's a simple thing.

The problem with Aperture is that you have to start thinking differently, I deleted the software the previous time because I was thinking in lightroom mode and hated Aperture.
I had a talk on the photokina with an expert in Aperture and he showed me how to do the things I wanted and to be honest it's alot easier than lightroom and more powerful once you "get" it.

Now only this problem

When importing files into Aperture (I'm using version 2.1) there's a drop down box that allows you to store the files wherever you want, either in the Aperture database itself or in a folder of your choice. You can also create new folders from here so you don't need to use the Finder to do so. Just underneath this box are two option buttons - one to move the files, the second to copy them.

Personally I do not rename files and allow Aperture to manage them for me through its database. I always store files outside Aperture but use descriptive folder names using shooting date and location. I often import directly into Aperture from the card reader - using the import command to copy the files to a new folder (then backing up before reformatting the card).

You can also relocate master images using Aperture - then Aperture will move them from one folder to another. I use this to move master image files from my laptop hard disk to external drives when I need extra space on the laptop. Given how Aperture creates and manages thumbnails and previews I can still review these images, edit metadata, etc while the external disks are offline (while I'm travelling for instance).

Hope that helps.

This should be pretty simple. When you import the files, there is a "Store files..." option in the import pane. Just choose the location you want Aperture to copy the files to, and they will be copied there and set as referenced images. All your keywords, etc., that you define at import will work just fine.

The other comments about Aperture being painful and Macs having a tough time with file management are confusing -- perhaps jjj just doesn't know Aperture well.

Problem for me is that I don't want to import in the correct folder at once.
I know how to get that working, problem for me however is that when I rename after that the files on the HDD will have another name than the ones in the dB.
For some no problem but for me it is because I use a print que program that is not supported from within Aperture, I can use show in finder but for alot of files that is not a perfect solution.

You should not change file names via the finder, for referenced images. Doing this will break Aperture's links to the files. It will also break it for Lightroom as well (and you would probably lose changes in Bridge as well, as the XMP files would lose their file association with the RAW files).

Make the file name changes in Aperture.

Correct, but that will not change the ORIGINAL file names, and that's what I want.
With the relocate masters you can do this but the originals are still there.

There are some workarrounds I'm testing now, but it would be great if Aperture would include it as a feature.

I'm confused on what these "original" files are, frankly. If you import as referenced files in Aperture, they can be anywhere you want. There is no need to copy. You can rename referenced files in Aperture to your heart's content.

I suspect what you want to do is easily possible. There's some user error on your part.

With good software there can never be a user error

I explained in my first post what I want.
But in short

I use an external drive setup with 4x1TB drives.
On those drives the files are stored in folders with correct names/keywords etc.

Importing those is no problem.
HOWEVER.
When I add new shoots I want to first get them in a temp directory.
Now rename, keytag, rate etc. them.
After that MOVE them to the new location, on one of the drives in the folder I want.

Aperture does this it seems but when you go to the location on the harddrive itself the originals are not there.
You can achieve this by using the relocate masters option, however after that you can't remove the files from your temp folder on the HDD otherwise the referenced files will not work.

Don't get me wrong I LOVE aperture.
But the only problem with it is that it won't let you rename and keytag the ORIGINAL files, if it would allow that it would be a killer app.

It's not a user fault because LR can do it, and any other software package I've used.

When you use ONLY aperture it's ok to have the database reference only however what if Aperture stops, or what if you loose your database, or if you need to access the files from another system that doesn't use aperture (my drives are portible).
That's why I need the original files also renamed, that's not an user error, that's a serious limitation of the program in my optic.