Someone on a mailing list I follow has raised the following issue, which I was unaware of. I was able to help that person, and I thought that perhaps it was worth talking about the issue here, and help more people. (This issue was also discussed in the Apple Discussions Forum.)

The Problem

Consider the following scenario: you have purchased a regular copy of Aperture 2. Since it was introduced in February 2008, Mac OS X Snow Leopard still didn’t exist at the time, so obviously you used Aperture 2 under Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard.

Now you’re using Snow Leopard and, for whatever reason, you need to reinstall Aperture 2 from scratch. The problem is that you can reinstall your copy of Aperture 2.0, but that won’t even open under Snow Leopard. So you download the Aperture 2.1.4 Update, because Aperture 2.1.4 is compatible with Snow Leopard. But although Aperture 2 can regularly be found in the /Applications folder, the updater doesn’t update.

You’ll need a copy of the full Aperture 2.1.4, or at least of the trial version, but it has to be the full package, not just the update. It’s appalling, but you won’t find it on Apple’s Website, now that Aperture 3 is available.

The Solution

I’m sure that the full (or trial) version of Aperture 2.1.4 can be found on many ‘alternative’ places, but why not take it from a trusted source? I have found it on a Time Machine backup and I’ve decided to make it available. For a limited period of time you can download it from my Dropbox Public folder, then I’ll probably put in my iDisk Public folder, just in case. I’m acting in good faith and I don’t think I’m doing nothing wrong, but I shall remove this download if I receive some communication from Apple requesting me to do so.

— Download Aperture 2.1.4 Trial (258 MB)

[Update, September 2012] – I’ve noticed from my website statistics that this page, despite being almost two years old, gets visited rather frequently. And I also noticed that the Download link is dead because it still points to my old iDisk’s Public Folder. I’m in the process of finding a new home for the .dmg file with the Aperture 2.1.4 Trial. Thanks for your understanding.

[Update, June 2013] – The link is fixed and should work now.