Using Aperture 3 with library on a shared drive

My Aperture library has become too big for my MacBook Pro 13 and I want to move it onto a 2 Tb G-RAID connected by Firewire 800 to my iMac. I hope to keep my older projects (perhaps 90% of my work) in a library on this external drive and use them with Aperture 3 on my MacBook Pro. The iMac does not have a copy of Aperture installed (not sure if that's relevant, but there it is). At the same time I hope to keep a few active projects in a library on my MBP's local drive. As work demands, I hope to import and export projects from the two libraries, merging them in and out as needed. I use Time Machine on both Macs to back up their data to a single Time Capsule.
The two Macs seem to have no problem back up their Time Machine data to the single Time Capsule. I don't think Time Machine have any problem backing up the data on that external drive, but is my scenario a practical approach to managing Aperture libraries if I want most of my projects in one place and a few active projects going with me on my MBP? Thanks.

The Aperture Library needs to be on a locally connected volume - locally connected to the mac that is running Aperture, see this knowledge base article:
Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library
To free disk space on your MBP you might consider to turn your Aperture library into a referenced library and to relocate most of the master image files (originals) to your raid, but keep the Aperture library on the MBP.
If you build high quality previews you will be able to work with your library, even if the volume with the masters is offline-
Regards
Léonie

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Using Aperture with a Network Attached Storage (NAS)

Hi,
I would like to make my Aperture library accessible from severals Macs and for different users on these Macs --- not at the same time. The idea is that only one user from one Mac can use Aperture at a given time.
The basic idea is to install the Aperture library on a Network Attached Storage (NAS) --- either will all photos included or with all photos stored in a separated folder structure --- next to the library ("externally referenced masters").
The NAS I am planning to use is a QNAP TS 239 Pro II+, which will be attached to a Gigabit Ethernet network (to which all Macs are connected too). Following the reviews, the QNAP should be capable to deliver a read/write performance in the order of 70 Mb/s ... hence performance-wise there should be no problem.
I've read through various forums and found many messages telling that using Aperture with a NAS is not possible or at least not a good idea. The posts in the forum were partially a bit confusing; people were telling contradictory things. I also had the impression that the answers depend on the actual version of Aperture. Apple itself put in the release notes of Aperture 3.1.1 about Vaults: "Fixes an issue that could sometimes cause Aperture on a computer with Mac OS X v10.5.8 Leopard to stop responding while updating a vault stored on a network volume." Hence, it seems that Aperture 3.1.1 can work with a NAS ... at least it can use vaults that are stored on a NAS. On the other hand, it's exactly the topic of vaults where many people say that this does not work with a NAS ...
To clarify things, I try to get some clear and competent answers here. The questions are:
Can one store and use the Aperture library on a NAS (whose disk is formatted using a UNIX file system, e.g. EXT4) ?
If yes, does this work in both configurations: (a) with a library containing the masters, and (b) with a library with externally referenced masters (that are also located on the NAS) ?
If a user on a given Mac on the network has opened Aperture (and thus the library on the NAS), is this library the blocked for other users ? (That should ideally be the case.)
If it is NOT possible to use an Aperture library on the NAS, is it then possible to store it on an external, HFS+ formatted drive connected to the NAS via USB ? (QNAP allows to format its external drives with HFS+).
I know that putting everything on an iSCSI target volume on the NAS is a solution, but is iSCSCI properly working under OS X (10.6). I read that one has to install an iSCSI Initiator software first ... which is not from Apple itself.
What about Vaults: According to the Aperture 3.1.1 release notes, it seems to be possible to use vaults on a NAS ... is this really the case ?
Is usage of Aperture on a NAS depending on the file protocol used to transfer the data ? I read also that if one uses the AFP protocol (supported in a QNAP NAS) then everything's fine ... Is this the case ?
Thanks a lot in advance for any clear and correct answer!
Rainer

Can one store and use the Aperture library on a NAS (whose disk is formatted using a UNIX file system, e.g. EXT4) ?
Not reliably, no. You will encounter issues. You could use Mac OS X disk images on the server, mount them on a client, and work that way. Note only one machine can mount the disk image at a time.
If yes, does this work in both configurations: (a) with a library containing the masters, and (b) with a library with externally referenced masters (that are also located on the NAS) ?
(a) no (b) no.
If a user on a given Mac on the network has opened Aperture (and thus the library on the NAS), is this library the blocked for other users ? (That should ideally be the case.)
Aperture does no locking. There is a very high likelihood you will corrupt the library if you do this.
If it is NOT possible to use an Aperture library on the NAS, is it then possible to store it on an external, HFS+ formatted drive connected to the NAS via USB ? (QNAP allows to format its external drives with HFS+).
How would you be accessing it then? If it's over a file protocol (SMB or NFS or ...) it likely won't work.
I know that putting everything on an iSCSI target volume on the NAS is a solution, but is iSCSCI properly working under OS X (10.6). I read that one has to install an iSCSI Initiator software first ... which is not from Apple itself.
Right. There is no Apple-provided iSCSI initator. I don't know how well 3rd party initators work.
What about Vaults: According to the Aperture 3.1.1 release notes, it seems to be possible to use vaults on a NAS ... is this really the case ?
I've done vaults reliably for years using a Mac OS X disk image stored on the NAS, that I mount before backing up. I wouldn't do it "naked" (i.e. stored directly on the NAS).
Is usage of Aperture on a NAS depending on the file protocol used to transfer the data ? I read also that if one uses the AFP protocol (supported in a QNAP NAS) then everything's fine ... Is this the case ?
AFP might have a better chance than other protocols but... frankly... it's a bad idea. If you MUST share a library across many machines, use something like a Promise DS4600 (direct attached) and plug it into a machine when you're using it.

Can't access iTunes Library on a shared drive

Here is my problem: I want to access my iTunes library from a shared drive.
Here is my equipment:
1. Imac running iTunes 10.6
2. 1 week old Macbook Air running iTunes 10.6
3. 1 Timecapsule that is 1 day old, bought with the express purpose of putting my extensive iTunes library on it, and was assure I would be able to stream it.
4. An Airport express hooked to my stereo.
The concept was that the Air doesn't really have the capability to hold all my music, but I want to use it as a "remote" to select songs through iTunes and play them on my stereo.
I did NOT want to leave my iMac on at all times and do homes haring that way.
Therefore, I followed intructions fonund else where and moved my iTunes library from my iMac to the newly installed shared drive on the Time Capsule.
I went into iTunes on the Air selected preferences, advanced, and changed the location of the Air's iTunes library to that of the one on the Time Capsule. It sees all the music. I close preferences.
What happens? Nothing. None of the music is listed on the Air
I've gone over this again and again, and this SHOULD work. What am I missing here? Should I take the Air and the Timecapsule back to the store?

Uh, I fear you followed some wrong directions. This is what you should have done:
iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
do not confuse moving your whole folder and library with moving just media files as in
iTunes for Mac: Moving your iTunes Media folder - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1449
It sounds as if in part at least this is what you did, at least when you say you are going to preferences and changing things.
Quick answer if you let iTunes manage your music: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Start iTunes with the option key held down and guide it to the new location of the library. Do this with both computers if the shared library file is on the external drive.
Note, the file can only be in use by one computer at a time. You will have to quit iTunes on one computer before opening it on another.

How do i use a time capsule as a shared drive and back it up to another time capsule using time machine ??

how do i use a time capsule as a shared drive and back it up to another time capsule using time machine ??

You cannot backup network drives with Time Machine.
You can simply setup the TC in the network.. it is a shared drive.

Hello! I'm using Aperture with Efex plugins and notice, what when I saving result in plugin and go back to aperture, preview mode is going to grey color and not working until I reboot Aperture. Did you saw this problem?

Hello! I'm using Aperture with Efex plugins and notice, what when I saving result in plugin and go back to aperture, preview mode is going to grey color and not working until I reboot Aperture. What is intresting - in full screen mode everything works fine. Did you saw this problem?

It seems there's a workaround here:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5566037?tstart=0

Using iCloud Photos with library on an external drive?

Hi all,
I activated iCloud photos on a Macbook pro (Yosemite 10.10.3), iPhone 6+, and iPad gen 2 and came across an issue. I use an external drive to store my iPhoto (v. 9.6.1) library because there isn't enough space on my Macbook for both photos and music. I can't get all my photos because I get a message that iCloud photos only works with the library in your system drive (assume the Macbook HD). Now, I can't access my photos from any of my IOS devices, and can only access from my macbook and external drive.
Anyone run across this and find a workaround?
Thanks.

Thanks for the link, Niel. I followed the instructions to designate the photo library on my external drive as the system library. The issue I am having now is that the upload has not been progressing for two days now. When I click on iCould in the Photos preferences, I have the "iCloud Photo Library" checked along with "Optimize Mac Storage". The status showing "Uploading 8,842 Items" for a couple of days. I let it run overnight and it did not move. I have fast internet and it is working fine. It sometimes switches and says a different number, i.e. 1100 or 9200 items, but the status bar isn't blue and nothing seems to be happening. My IOS devices do not show the correct photos and albums from the newly designated system library, so I can't access my photos from these devices. Do you know if there is there a size limit on the upload or is there something else going on?
Thanks!
Miles

Can two computers use same iTunes library on a network drive?

Can two computers use directly (rather than share) the same iTunes library on a network drive?
My media library is on a network drive attached to my Airport Extreme. Right now I share the library with my desktop Mac. I can share fine, but I would like to be able to add, delete, and make other changes in the media library from both computers. The two computers would not be accessing the library at the same time as I am the sole user of both.

I appreciate your input and I think you're right about this being impossible. But just to clarify, you say I can't "have multiple machines accessing the same music files from a shared location." I can have multiple machines accessing the same music files from a shared location--I just can't have them accessing the same music files simultaneously--which may have been what you meant. For my situation, I think it will be less work to just quit iTunes on my server when I want to run it on my client (using Chicken of the VNC). It's not ideal, but it's less time-consuming than periodically syncing three computers.
Again, thanks for the input.

Using Aperture with photos in default Photo Folder in OS X (Newbie)

Hey guys...
I'm a new Aperture user (1 day) and fairly new to Mac's (5 months). I have a MB Pro with newest OS. Since getting the MBook I've been placing/storing all my photos in /Users/"lastname"/Pictures and then giving each photo "event" a new folder. I first started using iPhoto as an organizer and was not happy with using it. I had used Picasa on my windows machine and it took a few weeks to realize that there was a Mac version for Picasa. It was probably my own fault, but I couldn't figure out how to point iPhoto to my Photos Folder/Directory (maybe its old Windows habits)??? Because of this I installed Picasa and enjoy the easy croping/red eye/face recognition.
HOWEVER!, I wanted to move on to a real photo editor and got Aperture. Now to my question,,,lol
If I "import" all my photos that are currently in a folder/directory order, will Aperture create a duplicate library? And if so, do I bite-the-bullet and use Aperture as my one and only photo organizer, verse my old school ways of organizing photo folders on the hard drive and then going to the folders view via Finder to get a photo??
While writing this I referred to my photo Folder and noticed a iPhoto "library" ...when I click on it, it opens iPhoto and I see photos that I imported these few days I used iPhoto before Picasa. I guess maybe it means I need to get in habit of using the "library" when I want to search out photo for something (emailing, uploading to FB, etc)
What should I do? Tips?
Thanks guys!

Welcome to the Apple Discussions.
and don’t understand why Aperture don’t keep my folders in sync. So if I delete / add a photo to a folder, it does not update the folder in Aperture, as what you would get in Picasa.
Well the very obvious point is that it's not Picasa and doesn't work like that. Picasa is an attempt to use two databases (the Finder and Picasa) to manage the photos. Aperture simply uses one - the Aperture database. If that's not what you want then don't use it.
If I keep with Picasa, what’s the real benefit of using Aperture?
If you cannot see the opportunities that the Aperture offers for organising, and managing your Photos - including most obviously the tight integration with the OS, so that your photos are in every Open... dialogue on your Mac - and if you cannot see the far, far greater opportunities for post processing your Photos offered in Aperture compared to Picasa, then there is no benefit for you.
If, on the other hand, instead of trying to shoehorn Aperture into your Picasa workflow, you take a few moments to learn how to use it - say by looking at the Aperture tutorials on the Apple site - I think you'll find it's a much more powerful and capable application than your current choice.
Regards
TD

ITunes not seeing the library on a shared drive

Greetings,
I recently upgraded to iTunes 11. I upgraded the application on 3 computers. All computers (2 running Snow Leopard and one running Lion) have been authorized for iTunes and access a networked library. The upgrade was successful and and all computers "see" the correct shared library.
My problem is with the unit running Lion. That computer has 2 users, myself and my wife. I generally do not use the computer, but I set up all the computers in the home, so I automatically create an account for myself. Early on I created and configured my wife's account to use iTunes.
Recently, (after upgrading) I decided to configure iTunes for my account on that computer. (My regular computer is older and I need to start using the iPhoto application on her computer, mine has run out of space.) When I tried to run the new iTunes, my account would not "see" the iTunes library.
Do I need to authorize (to use iTunes) this account, even though my wife's account on this machine was authorized awhile ago?
Why would my account library be different from her account library (I have confirmed that the library file path is the same.)
Ultimately I want to be able to use my wife's (newer) computer to sync our (3) iPads. Right now, under my account I am unable to do that.
Any suggestions?
Tim Kern

sceptomaniac wrote:
I have put the library on an external drive connected by usb to my wireless router.
what exactly have you put on the external ? the entire iTunes folder or just the iTunes music (or media) folder ?
On my iMac I can select the itunes folder on the drive in itunes advanced preferences and my music shows up in the itunes window an I can play it. But on my MacbookPro although I can select the folder, nothing shows up in the itunes window.
this leads me to believe that you consolidated the iMac's library to the external but kept the library files local. pointing iTunes media folder location to a new spot tells iTunes where to put new additions to your library, but not where the current content is.
what you need to do is to copy the entire iTunes folder to the external, then (on each Mac) launch iTunes while holding the option(⌥) key, click on choose library when prompted, and select the iTunes folder you copied to the external.
note only one Mac at a time can access the library !

Is there a way to have iPhoto NOT use the Photo Library on the Main drive?

I have thousands of pictures going waaay back to when iPhoto first came out. Most are on disc and on backup drives. I want to use the external drives to work from, within iPhoto. Is this possible?
I just got a Mac Mini and since i have a lot of external drives(over 6TB, I'm a pro photographer) I didn't need the larger main drive. I like to use iPhoto for snapshots of my family and friends and quickie uploads for them.
Thanks.

sure
Moving the iPhoto library is safe and simple - quit iPhoto and drag the iPhoto library intact as a single entity to the external drive - depress the option key and launch iPhoto using the "select library" option to point to the new location on the external drive - fully test it and then trash the old library on the internal drive (test one more time prior to emptying the trash)
And be sure that the External drive is formatted Mac OS extended (journaled) (iPhoto does not work with drives with other formats) and that it is always available prior to launching iPhoto
And backup soon and often - having your iPhoto library on an external drive is not a backup and if you are using Time Machine you need to check and be sure that TM is backing up your external drive
LN

How Realistic is it to Use Aperture with a JPG Workflow instead of iPhoto?

Hi!
(for reference, I am not a world-class photographer jet-setting all over the world with hot shot clients. I'm a serious hobbyist, enthusiast, freelancer, whatever you wanna call it. I get paid for small headshot and portrait gigs here and there. I am serious about my work, though.) I've been trying to get Aperture for a while, but spent a lot of time developing my skill as a photographer.
I no longer depend on shooting RAW. Is it really necessary to use Aperture if you're in a JPG workflow?
I don't struggle with exposure issues, color casts, and stuff like that. I rely on keywording, organizing, web galleries, and exporting to different sizes. I do that heavily in iPhoto. I've only used the demo of APerture a while ago when I shot RAW and I loved it. But, again, is it worth it if I shoot JPG?
Please give some solid advice about the fitness of the app for working with JPGs as opposed to iPhoto. Thanks so much!!!
Scott

I think Aperture has lots of benefits for jpeg users, although I would aslo advocate forgetting jpeg, even in a controlled environment.
let's go for it:
1
Aperture is structured for large libraries. if you do not put more than say, 3 to 5 hundred pix per project, you can go far without feeling the "slowing down" feeling of iPhoto users with large (20 000+) photo libraries.
2
Editing is non destructive, and you get the sliders from the previous edits where you left them. iPhoto will create a "modified" picture with your setting, then forget the settings (you can ask iPhoto to keep the original and in that case iPhoto creates a new file on your hard drive, effectively doubling the HD space used, whereas Aperture still only stores the original on disk, and makes the adjustments 'on the fly' when you call up the picture)
3
Keywording is done using IPTC and other standards, and the software allows embedding the keywords in the jpeg files when exporting... rendering your rating and keywording much more universal
4
Aperture lets you manipulate RAW files and JPEG files alongside, the workflow is exactly the same. So if you feel like switching to RAW occasionnaly or later, more permanently, all the e-learning will be on the same software (iPhoto can convert RAW files, but is very clunky for that particular use)...
HTH
yours from France
max-pol

Tips on using Aperture with Photoshop PSD files

For all the people like me coming to Aperture with hundreds of Photoshop files, I would like to offer what I've learned so far in this area.
1. If Aperture is importing your psd files but not showing an image, you probably need to change some preferences in PS. Apple has a tech note showing how to set the PS prefs here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302624
Warning: all of the choices should be set to the ones onscreen, not just "maximize compatibility". And even then, I have found I can't simply re-save the file to produce the image Aperture needs. I had to use "Save As" from Photoshop, creating a new file, to import a visible image file into Aperture.
2. Once the psd file is in Aperture, you need to realize that Aperture treats it as a master and won't let you make further changes to it. So, if you select this psd file and choose "Edit in external editor," Aperture will create a duplicate file and send that to Photoshop, thus protecting you. If you don't want two full-size masters of the same image in your library, there are two work-arounds.
Very Important Tip: in the Aperture preferences you must tell Aperture to use the psd file format for the "Edit In External Editor" command. My copy of Aperture defaulted to the TIFF format, which is bad if you want your layers preserved as you should.
One work-around is to import the psd file(s) as referenced masters. When you want to make changes to the file in PS, choose the file in Aperture and select "Show in Finder." From the finder, open the file in PS, make your changes, save, return to Aperture and update the preview if Aperture hasn't automatically done so. I don't like this method because it requires referenced masters and I want all of my files managed by Aperture.
Second method works with managed masters in the Aperture library or referenced masters for that matter. However you cannot use this technique if a psd file in your Aperture library has versions you want to save. You can only do this with files that have not spawned versions which you want to keep. In other words, be very careful. Best to do this as shortly after the import process.
Pick the file, choose "Edit in External Editor." Aperture duplicates the file and opens that in PS. Make some changes, save and return to Aperture. Notice the original master and this new changed version are in a stack. There should be a badge on the changed version indicating it has been edited externally. Here's the trick: Unstack the two images and delete the original master. Now you have only the externally edited master in your Aperture library. If you choose "Edit In External Editor" with this file, Aperture will not duplicate it and send the duplicate to PS, it will send the selected file.
Apple has a useful FAQ on using "Open With External Editor" here: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302820

My suspicion is that Aperture is going to try loading the video card VRAM with your image .... 600Mb worth. So, paging in/out of system memory is going to be a royal pain.
Check that you haven't any alpha channels saved, as Aperture will save them but will not composite them.
Finally, to disable previews, uncheck in preferences, AND also uncheck Maintain previews under the library projects list gear icon.
Cheers!

How to use Aperture with iPhoto without needing double the disk space?

I've just purchased Aperture. I already use Iphoto and have several gigs of imagery in an iphoto library file.
I want to direct Aperture to import all from my iphoto file.
But....I only don't want Ap to simply create a duplicate of this file and use up several more gigs of space.
Is there any way I can get Ap to just create thumbnails rather than complete copies?
I should say that I will onlybe using Ap from now on, so what happens to the iphoto is of little consequence.

Hi,
You can use the referenced master in Aperture to get this done. When you import pictures from iPhoto, you can "dig" into the iPhoto library with Aperture and choose which photo you want to import where. In the import dialog, you can choose from "import to Aperture library" or "leave the file where they are". This will do the trick.
Personally I imported the files into my Aperture library, this created duplicates. But while importing them, I reclassified into Aperture to better fit my workflow based on Aperture capability. Then I archive my iPhoto library (just in case) and deleted it from my main disk. This freed up the space, but gave me a much better managed Aperture library. With a managed library in Aperture, you can have the vault feature as an extra measure for backups.
Considering you want to move on to Aperture, I would consider using the Aperture managed library that I describe in my second part of this message.

Using a iTunes Library on a network drive

I would like to have my itunes library on a external HDD plugged in to my airport extreme and have all my macs use this common library for itunes.
I have copied the itunes folder to the drive and pointed all of the itunes to use this as the default library but it is not working the way I would like it to.
When i close itunes on any of the computers it goes back to using the default library,
What am I doing wrong?

When you copy the content to the network volume, do you copy the media, or the iTunes library files as well? If you copy the library files as well, then you can delete them from the local computer, and when you open iTunes the next time it should tell you that it can't find the library and give you the option to locate it. Just point iTunes to the copy of the library files on the network disk and you should be fine.
One thing to keep in mind is that in doing this, you can not have 2 computers attempting to access the iTunes library at the same time. Perhaps this is what is happening that is throwing your computer back to the "default library".

Using Aperture with PS CS2 (Win) running in Parallels

Does anyone know if it's possible to use Aperture's "Open with External Editor" option with the Windows version of Photoshop CS2 runnning within Parallels?
MacBookPro Mac OS X (10.4.8)
MacBookPro Mac OS X (10.4.8)

Ian is correct.
One option is to output to 16-bit TIF (set the preset to AdobeRGB vs. sRGB). Open this in CS2, adjust, save (still as 16-bit TIF and make sure "Maximize Compatibility is set to "Always"). Then, import this back into Aperture and regroup it into the stack (<Apple><Click> the images to group and then from the menu line, choose Stacks/Stack).
The good news is that I'm now down to around 2% of my images that go into CS2 for image adjustment purposes. If you are in a similar state then the above could be workable.

Using Aperture 3 with library on a shared drive

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