External drives in Aperture

How do move photos to external drives in Aperture?

I don't know if mine ia a 'managed' or 'referenced' library, evidently not knowledgeable enough on this.
That is a basic design question for an Aperture Library. You can either store the original master image files inside the Aperture library package, or you store them outside, usually on an external volume, or mixed - some inside, some external. For your purposes it might be useful to relocate your older master image to the external and to keep your newer images managed.
Set the preferences to build high quality previews of the images; then you still will be able to browse and tag all your images and to use them as screensaver, even when your external volume is not connected. But you will have to study the Aperture online manual to get familiar with this storage concept, otherwise it would not be safe for you to use it. You need to understand what you are doing, if you are using a referenced library - it is too easy to make mistakes otherwise.
Aperture 3 User Manual: http://documentation.apple.com/en/aperture/
I want to move some of my photos off my hard drive to free up space,
To move only the master image files, select the images that you want to move in the browser in Aperture,
then use "File > Relocate masters" from the main menu bar to move the master image files to the external volume.
And don't forget to make a working backup of your library, beforeyou do such a major reconstruction.
Good Luck
Léonie

Similar Messages

Re: Leone's post May 2014 about how to best use an external drive with Aperture

I am trying to find Leone who had a great post May 2014 to Diane. I posted tho same message as a 'Reply' to the Leone/Diane posts but then was worried it would not show up since that was some time ago so I decided I should post it as new. Apologies if it comes through twice. I am having trouble as indicated below:
I found this response to the question about Aperture and external hard drives from last May. I bought a WD My Book 4TB and need to back up photos I have in Aperture (many!) to free up space. I am a photographer and need to be able to plug the external drive in as needed, pull a photo out from the WD and back into Aperture to work on it if needed.
I read your directions to Diane and have the external drive formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled). I read the two ways you suggest to move part or all of my library to an external drive and still be able to use it in Aperture with all the metadata saved, as I need to continue to work with the images. I am not completely clear about the advantage of the 'referenced' method but decided to go with the Split Library because it sounded like the Referenced method would still keep originals (and take space) in Aperture. I'm not sure about this, but that was what I chose.
I have backed up my computer, formatted the drive then went to Aperture to begin. I do the 'Export' and it shows the external drive it will go to but when I click 'OK', it says "EXPORT LIBRARY FAILED - Library could not be create because the file system of the destination volume is not supported." I doubled checked to be sure the drive was Journaled which it was. I did call WD and talk to them but they told me this was outside their area.
Also, in Aperture, I have my photos in Projects by yymmdd. Is it possible to transfer Projects into the ext. drive without having to break them out of the Projects?
Any direction anyone might give would be greatly appreciated, Sandy

Hi Sandy,
I suggest taking a week or two to get to know Aperture better before proceeding. Aperture can do many things, and can do what you want. It's important to be specific about what you want, however. From what you've said, it appears that you don't yet know.
bybeeler wrote:
[1] I found this response to the question about Aperture and external hard drives from last May. I bought a WD My Book 4TB and need to back up photos I have in Aperture (many!) to free up space.
[2] I am a photographer and need to be able to plug the external drive in as needed, pull a photo out from the WD and back into Aperture to work on it if needed.
[1] A back-up is a copy of digital files stores on a separate device. A back-up is recommended because drives fail, and humans make mistakes. A back-up is not used to free up storage space.
[2] Aperture can be set up in many equally-usable ways. The program files reside (almost always) on your system drive. The data files can be anywhere you want them, as long as they are on locally-mounted drive(s). The main data file is your Library. The best place for it is on the drive that has the fastest throughput to your logic board. This is, in nearly 100% of machines, the system drive. But Aperture functions well with Libraries of secondary drives — internal or external — with sufficient throughput. USB-3 and Thunderbolt I (& II) provide sufficient throughput for using an Aperture Library on a secondary drive.
Nearly all photographers will fill whatever storage space is available (making data is what photographers do). The question is: what do you do when your Library no longer fits on your system drive? (And remember, you should leave at least 10% (I recommend 20% for heavy users of Aperture) of your system drive free.) The answer depends, primarily, on whether your computer is portable or fixed in location.
If fixed, just buy a more-than-large-enough secondary drive of USB-3 or faster throughput, mount it permanently, and move (using Finder) your Library to it.
If your computer is portable (and you can't increase the on-board storage), you have to select the best from several confusing alternatives:
• Put your Library on an external drive with throughput at least as fast as USB-3
— Pros: Easy to maintain and back-up.
— Cons: Must have drive with you in order to use your Library.
• Leave your Library on your system drive, but relocate your Images' Originals to an external drive.
— Pros: You can work on your Library without having the external drive available.
— Cons: You can't export (except Previews), Print, or make adjustments until your external drive is mounted. Significantly more difficult to administer, especially importing and backing-up.
• Leave your Library and and _some_ of your Images' Originals on your system drive, and relocate most of your Image's Originals to an external drive.
— Pros: You can do any work on those Images whose Originals are stored in the Library regardless of where the external drive is.
— Cons: Yet another level more difficult to administer.
If you are comfortable with the administrative overhead, the third set-up will be the most rewarding. Keep all _current_ Images Originals inside your Library, and routinely relocate the Originals of Images no longer current to the external drive.
In no case is it recommended that you at any time remove from your Library an Image (not the Original — the Image in Aperture) that you expect to ever use again.
HTH,
—Kirby.

How to upgrade a Library on an external drive created in a previous version of aperture so I can re-import it from the external drive into Aperture 3.5.1 on my MBP ?

I have exported earlier Projects [which were created in Aperture 3.4.5] to an external hard drive. Now I wish to reimport them into Aperture 3.5.1 - which I use after having upgraded to Mavericks - but am given an error message saying I can’t reimport because the external drive is storing a Library created by an earlier version of Aperture than I’m using now. It tells me to upgrade that externally stored Library.
The Question - one can only upgrade a Library on one’s computer, not on the external drive. How can I upgrade it if I can’t get it back into Aperture [3.5.1] on my MacBookPro in the first place ?
Thank you
Bob

The Question - one can only upgrade a Library on one’s computer, not on the external drive. How can I upgrade it if I can’t get it back into Aperture [3.5.1] on my MacBookPro in the first place ?
You can upgrade the library on the external drive. Connect your external drive to your computer.
Then select the library with the exported projects on the external drive and double-click it to open it in Aperture. This will upgrade the library to Aperture 3.5.1. Since upgrading can sometimes be problematic, I recommend to make a backup copy of the library before you try to upgrade the library.
After that you should be able to merge the library into your main library using File > Import.

Moving a lot of masters from an external drive to Aperture library

I have just treated myself to an iMac, 3.06 GHz with 1 TB Hard drive. I have some 2,000 pictures that I have done a lot of work on already on an external Firewire drive. I have copied the Aperture library to the hard drive on the new iMac - but, they are referencing them from the external drive. I would like to import all the 45 project containing all the photos masters into my Aperture library so that I have them all together.
What is the best way to do this? Do I have to do it with individual pictures - which will take forever! I cannot seem to get the option of Relocate Master. When I tried to import - from the external hard drive - I was not able to see any pictures to import. Was this because they were already in the library and I had checked 'Do not import duplicates"
Do I need to make a new Aperture Library?
Any advice would be most welcome!

Hi William These are the two reports that seem to relate to Aperture. It is all "Gobbledygook" to me!
May 24 12:13:19 MacBook-Pro Aperture[1001]: * NSRunLoop ignoring exception 'Exception in Aperture: [<BKiPhotoFolderItem 0x28841d90> setValue:forUndefinedKey:]: this class is not key value coding-compliant for the key itemiPhotoEventDisplayName.\nBacktrace:\n0x00071fea (in Aperture)\n0x91e8beb7: +[NSException exceptionWithName:reason:userInfo:] (in CoreFoundation)\n0x90c25510: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) setValue:forUndefinedKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x90b1b028: _NSSetUsingKeyValueSetter (in Foundation)\n0x90b1aa8e: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) setValue:forKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x26a5bfe6: -[BKiPhotoEventsFolder loadFolderSubfolders] (in iLife)\n0x26a5274d: -[BKiLifeFolderItem itemsFoldersOnly] (in iLife)\n0x90b1c81a: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) valueForKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x010078ea (in BrowserKit)\n0x90b1c81a: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) valueForKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x01003016 (in BrowserKit)\n0x0100341c (in BrowserKit)\n0x90b1c7a7: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) valueForKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x90b4a39a: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) valueForKeyPath:] (in Foundation)\n0x93992e48: -[NSBinder _valueForKeyPath:ofObject:mode:raisesForNotApplicableKeys:] (in AppKit)\n0x93992a50: -[NSBinder valueForBinding:resolveMarkersToPlaceholders:] (in AppKit)\n0x9399253c: -[NSObjectParameterBinder _updateObject:observedController:observedKeyPath:context:] (in AppKit)\n0x939921bc: -[NSObjectParameterBinder _observeValueForKeyPath:ofObject:context:] (in AppKit)\n0x90b7958e: NSKVONotify (in Foundation)\n0x90af5f22: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueObserverNotification) didChangeValueForKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x01003c94 (in BrowserKit)\n0x01002447 (in BrowserKit)\n0x90b1aa8e: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) setValue:forKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x9399276a: -[NSObjectParameterBinder _updateObject:observedController:observedKeyPath:context:] (in AppKit)\n0x939921bc: -[NSObjectParameterBinder _observeValueForKeyPath:ofObject:context:] (in AppKit)\n0x90b7958e: NSKVONotify (in Foundation)\n0x90af5f22: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueObserverNotification) didChangeValueForKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x01013b9f (in BrowserKit)\n0x90b78914: _NSSetObjectValueAndNotify (in Foundation)\n0x90b1aa8e: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) setValue:forKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x9399276a: -[NSObjectParameterBinder _updateObject:observedController:observedKeyPath:context:] (in AppKit)\n0x939921bc: -[NSObjectParameterBinder _observeValueForKeyPath:ofObject:context:] (in AppKit)\n0x90b7958e: NSKVONotify (in Foundation)\n0x90af5f22: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueObserverNotification) didChangeValueForKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x00ff2ee4 (in BrowserKit)\n0x90b78914: _NSSetObjectValueAndNotify (in Foundation)\n0x00ff39a8 (in BrowserKit)\n0x90b2e02d: __NSFireDelayedPerform (in Foundation)\n0x91e12b5e: CFRunLoopRunSpecific (in CoreFoundation)\n0x91e12d18: CFRunLoopRunInMode (in CoreFoundation)\n0x969da6a0: RunCurrentEventLoopInMode (in HIToolbox)\n0x969da4b9: ReceiveNextEventCommon (in HIToolbox)\n0x969da32d: BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInMode (in HIToolbox)\n0x937cd7d9: _DPSNextEvent (in AppKit)\n0x937cd08e: -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] (in AppKit)\n0x00369f54 (in Aperture)\n0x937c60c5: -[NSApplication run] (in AppKit)\n0x00979e5a (in ProKit)\n0x00003252 (in Aperture)\n' that raised during posting of delayed perform with target 0x2694c080 and selector '_setOutputSourceProviders:'
May 24 12:13:38 MacBook-Pro [0x0-0x62062].com.apple.systempreferences[1012]: objc[1012]: Class O3Panel is implemented in both /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Con trast.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/Contrast and /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Geo metry.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/Geometry. Using implementation from /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Geo metry.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/Geometry.
May 24 12:13:38 MacBook-Pro [0x0-0x62062].com.apple.systempreferences[1012]: objc[1012]: Class O3Panel is implemented in both /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Geo metry.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/Geometry and /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/VPT .monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/VPT. Using implementation from /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/VPT .monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/VPT.
May 24 12:13:38 MacBook-Pro [0x0-0x62062].com.apple.systempreferences[1012]: objc[1012]: Class O3Panel is implemented in both /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/VPT .monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/VPT and /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Bez el.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/Bezel. Using implementation from /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Bez el.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/Bezel.
May 24 12:13:38 MacBook-Pro [0x0-0x62062].com.apple.systempreferences[1012]: objc[1012]: Class O3Panel is implemented in both /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Bez el.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/Bezel and /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Ext endedTouchSwitch.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/ExtendedTouchSwitch. Using implementation from /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Ext endedTouchSwitch.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/ExtendedTouchSwitch.
May 24 12:13:38 MacBook-Pro [0x0-0x62062].com.apple.systempreferences[1012]: objc[1012]: Class O3Panel is implemented in both /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Ext endedTouchSwitch.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/ExtendedTouchSwitch and /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Pow erMode.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/PowerMode. Using implementation from /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Pow erMode.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/PowerMode.
May 24 12:13:38 MacBook-Pro [0x0-0x62062].com.apple.systempreferences[1012]: objc[1012]: Class O3Panel is implemented in both /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Pow erMode.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/PowerMode and /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Aut horization.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/Authorization. Using implementation from /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Aut horization.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/Authorization.
May 24 12:13:38 MacBook-Pro [0x0-0x62062].com.apple.systempreferences[1012]: objc[1012]: Class O3Panel is implemented in both /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/Aut horization.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/Authorization and /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/TVO ptions.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/TVOptions. Using implementation from /System/Library/MonitorPanels/AppleDisplay.monitorPanels/Contents/Resources/TVO ptions.monitorPanel/Contents/MacOS/TVOptions.
May 25 17:55:41 MacBook-Pro Aperture[1018]: * NSRunLoop ignoring exception 'Exception in Aperture: [<BKiPhotoFolderItem 0x2375da50> setValue:forUndefinedKey:]: this class is not key value coding-compliant for the key itemiPhotoEventDisplayName.\nBacktrace:\n0x00071fea (in Aperture)\n0x91e8beb7: +[NSException exceptionWithName:reason:userInfo:] (in CoreFoundation)\n0x90c25510: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) setValue:forUndefinedKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x90b1b028: _NSSetUsingKeyValueSetter (in Foundation)\n0x90b1aa8e: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) setValue:forKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x2c9a6fe6: -[BKiPhotoEventsFolder loadFolderSubfolders] (in iLife)\n0x2c99d74d: -[BKiLifeFolderItem itemsFoldersOnly] (in iLife)\n0x90b1c81a: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) valueForKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x010078ea (in BrowserKit)\n0x90b1c81a: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) valueForKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x01003016 (in BrowserKit)\n0x0100341c (in BrowserKit)\n0x90b1c7a7: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) valueForKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x90b4a39a: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) valueForKeyPath:] (in Foundation)\n0x93992e48: -[NSBinder _valueForKeyPath:ofObject:mode:raisesForNotApplicableKeys:] (in AppKit)\n0x93992a50: -[NSBinder valueForBinding:resolveMarkersToPlaceholders:] (in AppKit)\n0x9399253c: -[NSObjectParameterBinder _updateObject:observedController:observedKeyPath:context:] (in AppKit)\n0x939921bc: -[NSObjectParameterBinder _observeValueForKeyPath:ofObject:context:] (in AppKit)\n0x90b7958e: NSKVONotify (in Foundation)\n0x90af5f22: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueObserverNotification) didChangeValueForKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x01003c94 (in BrowserKit)\n0x01002447 (in BrowserKit)\n0x90b1aa8e: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) setValue:forKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x9399276a: -[NSObjectParameterBinder _updateObject:observedController:observedKeyPath:context:] (in AppKit)\n0x939921bc: -[NSObjectParameterBinder _observeValueForKeyPath:ofObject:context:] (in AppKit)\n0x90b7958e: NSKVONotify (in Foundation)\n0x90af5f22: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueObserverNotification) didChangeValueForKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x01013b9f (in BrowserKit)\n0x90b78914: _NSSetObjectValueAndNotify (in Foundation)\n0x90b1aa8e: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueCoding) setValue:forKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x9399276a: -[NSObjectParameterBinder _updateObject:observedController:observedKeyPath:context:] (in AppKit)\n0x939921bc: -[NSObjectParameterBinder _observeValueForKeyPath:ofObject:context:] (in AppKit)\n0x90b7958e: NSKVONotify (in Foundation)\n0x90af5f22: -[NSObject(NSKeyValueObserverNotification) didChangeValueForKey:] (in Foundation)\n0x00ff2ee4 (in BrowserKit)\n0x90b78914: _NSSetObjectValueAndNotify (in Foundation)\n0x00ff39a8 (in BrowserKit)\n0x90b2e02d: __NSFireDelayedPerform (in Foundation)\n0x91e12b5e: CFRunLoopRunSpecific (in CoreFoundation)\n0x91e12d18: CFRunLoopRunInMode (in CoreFoundation)\n0x969da6a0: RunCurrentEventLoopInMode (in HIToolbox)\n0x969da4b9: ReceiveNextEventCommon (in HIToolbox)\n0x969da32d: BlockUntilNextEventMatchingListInMode (in HIToolbox)\n0x937cd7d9: _DPSNextEvent (in AppKit)\n0x937cd08e: -[NSApplication nextEventMatchingMask:untilDate:inMode:dequeue:] (in AppKit)\n0x00369f54 (in Aperture)\n0x937c60c5: -[NSApplication run] (in AppKit)\n0x00979e5a (in ProKit)\n0x00003252 (in Aperture)\n' that raised during posting of delayed perform with target 0x2373bbd0 and selector '_setOutputSourceProviders:'
May 25 17:55:09 MacBook-Pro [0x0-0x79079].com.apple.Aperture[1018]: CoreImage failed to create context: CGLCreateContext return: 10002

Exporting to external drive via Aperture

I can't figure out how to export to my external drive. I've done it previously but can't seem to repeat it. The format currently on the drive's folder is Month, Date and Year. The format for the files in the folder are Year, Month, Date at 08-28-10, 08-28-52. I'm assuming at this point it's 08:28:10 and 08:28:52, respectively. Anyway, when I go to Aperture, Library, select date to export, Export, Masters, nothing happens. It says "exporting" but it's not seen on the drive. Any links on this topic?

I hope it has nothing to do with "size" because I have 278 Gb free on the destination partition. Backup and accessible from other profiles.

Can Aperture store projects on an external drive?

Is it possible to store my aperture projects on an external drive or must it reside on the Mac drive? I use an external USB drive to store all of my photos on and just cannot see using HD space for these photos.
Is it possible?

Just physically move the Aperture project file to the external drive (when Aperture is not running). Then, when you re-launch Aperture, go to preferences, select library location, and find it on the external drive. You'll have to quit and re-launch, but voila you're done.
A bit hairier than it could be, but it's a one time thing -- takes about 30 seconds and you're done.

Work Flow + Two External Drives + Aperture -vs- iView MediaPro

Greetings!
Hoped for end result: 30 GB of photos available at home and office. Freed up hard drive space on MacBook Pro. An organized system for locating photos.
I am seeking to break my old photo workflow paradigm.
Recently, I have moved 30 GB of images from iPhoto to an external drive (actually to two different external drives). I do not plan to use iPhoto in the future (only minimal use). Insights on the following would be appreciated:
(1) I have two - FreeAgent Pro - hard drives - 750 GB. One at home and the other in my office. The data on both drives (i.e. 30 GB of image) is identical. A GENEROUS amount of space is still available on these external drives. Just completed this process / setting up both identical drives last night ... identical images at the office and home.
(2) My hoped for outcome is to be able to access my photos at work / home and have some program (Aperture -vs- iView MediaPro) to manage the work flow. Thus, keeping my MacBook Pro hard drive freed up.
(3) The majority of Apple Discussion users seem dedicated to using Aperture. What do you see as the benefits of Aperture -vs- iView MediaPro? Yes, I know the latter in now owned my MS.
(4) Still not totally sure, the best way, to workflow my photos with with the dual external drives and Aperture. Your guidance, please.
(5) Here is a possible scenario (example):
STEP ONE - (at home) download a new batch of photos (Olympus E-1, high res jpeg's, no raw) onto my macBook Pro (MBP) into folder "A".
STEP TWO - process (ingest) ... move the new photos into Aperture.
STEP THREE - load them into my home external drive.
STEP FOUR - The next time I am in the office load the original jpegs (folder "A") onto my office external drive.
STEP FIVE - Delete the originals photos from folder "A", keeping my MBP hard drive space freed up.
STEP SIX - unsure ... somehow connect the new photos on the office external drive with Aperture (or iView MediaPro).
Where have I missed the boat?! Scrambled things up?! Does this make sense?
For what I am seeking to accomplish, will iView MediaPro accomplish what Aperture could perform?
Kind regards,
Bill Siegrist
[email protected]

Bill-
If all you are doing is managing 30 GB of pre-existing JPEGs in 2007 iVMP is probably superior. However I would venture a guess that you also intend to capture new images with your DSLR. For that you very much want Aperture. And IMO moving to 2008 and beyond Aperture's potential far exceeds iVMP's.
And you did note that iVMP is now owned by MS; not good.
Solving an entire workflow is not something easily done in a few forum paragraphs. I strongly recommend that every DSLR photog with adequate computer hardware first spend $33 and work through the tutorial CD Apple Pro Training Series: Aperture 1.5 (Apple Pro Training) by Orlando Luna and Ben Long (Paperback - Oct 18, 2006).
Have the CD and a MacIntel with 2 GB or preferably more of RAM prior to ordering the Aperture trial so you don't waste time of the 30 day trial. Note that the value is in the tutorial, not in using the book as a manual. Due to the limited hard drive capacity, anyone with a laptop should focus on developing a "Reference Masters" workflow.
You say JPEGs, no RAW. I would in the strongest possible terms recommend that you consider switching to a RAW workflow. In addition to allowing extraordinary post process editing, RAW image files contain much more image data. I believe that your DSLR will capture up to a dozen RAW pix before the buffer fills. Shooting JPEGs is a serious under utilization of a capable DSLR.
-Allen Wicks

Aperture 3 sees external drive differently when used as network drive

I have an Aperture library with 32000 files. When I started running out of disk space on my Macbook Pro I switch from Managed to Reference. I connected my external drive and Aperture moved the images. When I disconnect the drive, connect it to my iMac, and access the drive via my iMac, Aperture shows all my images as offline. I verified in terminal that the path hasn't changed (/Volumes/MyBook750/).
Is there a way to get Aperture to see the drive without having to use the Locate Referenced Files option every time I switch from external to network share?

The short answer is no there is not. I have a work-around but it is not for the feint of heart (dedicated 10GigE iSCSI network and some direct DB writes) but there is no easy way to deal with it.
If my memory serves this used to work a bit differently in Ap2 where a couple different criteria were used. Now it seems to be directly based on volume UUID even thought the path name is still stored in the DB. Maybe it's just me?
RB

New external drive choices -- what's best for Aperture?

Hi. Hardware, I'm sorry to say, generally makes my head hurt.
Today Apple's delayed Thunderbolt-to-FW800 adapter made it appearance in Apple Stores.
Purchasers of the new MacBook Pro with Retina Display (rMBP) now have a nearly full set of options for using external drives with Aperture. I had been using a stable of FW800 drives (with my MBP 5,5). I'm looking for recommendations on what to upgrade to.
(Aside: I've been too busy to post a comment recommending the rMPB. It's my main Aperture machine (I use Aperture every day, but work in two different locations) -- I'm _very_ happy with it. Highly recommended. My machine is 16 GB RAM and 500 GB SSD. But there's still this ports problem ... .)
The options I know of:
- use the new adapter and use the old FW drives. These can be daisy-chained, as before. Afaik, the total throughput is limited by what TBolt allows (which may be more than enough).
- move drives to USB3 enclosures. I did this as a stop-gap measure while waiting for the adapters. I got my enclosures from OWC. The drives are not daisy-chainable. The rMBA has two USB3 ports.
- buy eSATA hubs and use the eSATA ports on the drives. This one just became available. Expensive, imho. Not sure how the Mac will handle it (I always have Originals referenced to external drives; I sometimes have Libraries on external drives).
- move drives to TBolt enclosures. These are slowly coming on the market. They are very expensive (imho).
- replace the drives with TBolt drives. Also very expensive.
- replace the drives with USB3 drives
I'm looking for a reasonable middle-term (3-5 years) solution. Fwiw, I'm not convinced that external drive throughput is even an issue with running Aperture. It seem to run well on my rMBA even when a large library is connected via USB2. (I assume Aperture is good at taking advantage of the 16 MB RAM and the SSD "scratch drive".) I need to have one USB2 port, and one TBolt port, available at all times (various peripherals; the TBolt is for external monitors).
Thanks!

Good stuff. Thanks. Agree in principle re: "TBolt for displays; USB3 for storage".
I did get a USB 3 hub. (Amazon link. There is a 7-port hub as well.) Highly recommended (at least for rMBP users). This works well with how I use Aperture: I have several external drives with mostly Referenced Originals and some Libraries. Since I rarely use more than one of these at a time, it doesn't matter that the hub throughput is limited to a single USB 3 channel. The USB 3 hub, for me, functions as a quasi-data-server for Aperture, and takes up only one of the two USB 3 ports on the rMBP. (Fwiw, with the rMBA I don't think there's much reason for storing Referenced Originals on a fast drive; because of the efficiency of the way Aperture caches, USB 2 may be fast enough. I haven't measured this yet.)
I mentioned eSATA only because almost all my external drives came with eSATA ports and cables. I have never used eSATA. At this point, I don't plan to.
I have moved a few drives into USB 3 enclosures (purchased from OWC). With the USB 3 hub, and the newly-available Apple TBolt-FW800 adapter (which supports daisy-chained FW devices), I am no longer in any practical way limited by the four ports on the rMBP (2x TBolt, 2x USB 3). Whew.
I backup my system drive wirelessly to a Time Capsule every night (by design, the machine doesn't have access to the TC during the day when I'm working), and use SuperDuper to backup all Libraries and Referenced Originals to specific sparse bundles kept on leap-frogging external drives, with one always off-site. At this point I make no practical distinction between FW800 and USB 3 drives for back-up, as they are all fast enough and the back-ups run unattended. (But USB 3 seems to be much faster.)

Aperture library on external drive - Aperture not responding

as my laptop filled up - I created an external Aperture library on an external drive - with a matching drive used as a vault - worked fine - then I was deleting images from the laptop library that were also in the library on the external drive and when I re-connected the external library drive Aperture would be unable to start, had to force quit - I can not open the library on the external drive in Aperture - I can open the library on the laptop - but I need the images in the external drive - the vault was updated 6 days ago -
I am in the process of restoring the library from the vault - my question -
can anything be done to open the current library on the external drive? - any kind of work around?

Well, yes and no. When my laptop drive got full, I copied the laptop library to the external 500gb drive and gave it a different name. Then I proceeded to use it as the primary library as I shot 3 weddings. So, yes, I have 2 separate libraries, the one on my laptop and the one on my external drive(s), both have masters (no referenced files), the external drive has everything that the laptop has - the external drive has probably 100 gigs more than the laptop (the laptop has about 85 gigs of files) - I also have a second matching 500gb external drive that backs up the first external drive which is where the vault for the first 500gb drive is located.
I just restored the library from the vault (from December 1) to create yet another new library on another totally spare drive just to see if it would work - that was successful now it is recovering the 41 projects
that were in the vault - it looks to be running pretty smoothly - although the process has so far taken several hours. Recall, however, that this vault backup is 6 days old. The most current library still will not load. This new restored library opens fine. So, there is something corrupted (a bad image perhaps?) in the most current 500gb library that is hanging Aperture.
I still have the original cards that I shot in the past 6 days (about 20 gigs) which were not in the vault, but I did a lot of work with those files and would like to recover the projects from the library
that can't currently open. I have a desktop at my studio and I am thinking I will try opening the problem library (on the 500gb external) there and see what happens.
This whole thing started when I figured I could clear some files from the laptop that were both on the laptop and the external drive. I have done this before to create more working space on my laptop.
Have I clearly answered your questions? - thank you for your P.S. - I didn't know I could get the .approject files out - I may try that -

Unable to access photos on external drive

I have Aperture 2.1.3 and I have been using Photo Mechanic to quickly import, edit, and save my photos to one of my external drives. I have been using Aperture to adjust some of these images by importing them into Aperture but the stored files have remained on the external drive. Suddenly, when I try to import the photos from external drive for Aperture manipulation the photos are not available for import. But the photos are viable on my external drive, and If I use Photoshop or Photo Mechanic, I CAN access and import these same files .
I hope this makes sense! I need advise!
thanks to all!
Tony P
Radical Sports Photos

.plist is the preference file. Go to your User/Library/Preferences and take com.apple.Aperture.plist (the preferences are in alphabetical order) and put the file on your desktop. Then restart Aperture. Aperture will return to its default settings and there will be a new preference file in the Library/Preferences folder.
If this clears your problem, then your old plist file was corrupt and you should put it in the trash and rebuild your own preferences.
If you still have the problem after restarting Aperture, then it's not the plist file, and you can trash the new plist and restore your old one from the Desktop back into the Library/Preferences folder.
Have you tried to reboot the machine. Sometimes things go wrong in the connection with an external drive and rebooting the machine clears the problem. You could also reset the PRAM (on boot, hold down Command-Option-P-R and wait for the second chime). Sometimes the PRAM gets corrupted and this affects the relationship with external drives.
You could also import the RAW files into Aperture, instead of using them as referenced files.

I have been storing my Aperture and IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive that recently died. Fortunately I've been using Time Machine to back up to a 2nd external drive. How do I restore my libraries to a new external hard drive?

I have been storing my Aperture and IMovie Libraries on an external hard drive that recently died. Fortunately I've been using Time Machine to back up to a 2nd external drive. How do I restore my libraries to a new external hard drive?

This is a tricky one.
Open up Time Machine and go back to a date using the timeline on the right side of the window when you know the drive was working and was backing up as part of Time Machine backups.
Click on the name of your Mac under the Devices heading on the left side of the window in Time Machine, and if things are working correctly you will see Macintosh HD (or whatever you have named it) and the name of the external hard drive that was backing up in the past.
Right-Click on the name of the external hard drive and then click on "Restore (name of drive) to....." You may be asked for your adminstrator password at this point.
It might be easier to restore the drive contents to your desktop if you have room on your Mac, and then copy things over to the new external drive where you want to store the Aperture and iMovie Libraries.
Once the libraries have been moved over the new external hard drive, you will likely need to "point" Aperture and iMovie to the location of the libraries on the new external hard drive.

What is the best way to move an aperture library from one full drive to an external drive?

Just want to make sure I move my existing Aperture library on my internal drive (which is full) correctly to an external drive that has plenty of space.
Thanks for the help!

As I use a MBP with limited internal drive space, my approach is to have the image files on an external drive, while leaving the library itself on my internal drive. The library takes up about 80GB while the images are closer to 1TB.
The library always contains 'Thumbnails' of the images which it shows in place of the disconnected image files.
This means I can still open the library even when the external drive is not attached, and I can still do keywording and rating and organising and so on.
I also maintain 'Previews' for my best images. Previews are like thumbnails but larger in size and can be shared with other apps, so I can still use and share these copies of the images, again even while the external drive is not attached.
I don't like the idea of having the actual library on an external drive connected to a laptop (although I have done so from time to time without issue). There's always a chance it can become accidentially disconnected (kids, pets, etc) and if this happens while using Aperture it can corrupt your library. A corrupted library can be repaired with Apertures first aid tools, but it's better to avoid it in the frist place when you can.

Aperture Vault & Time Machine on same external drive?

I learned from an Aperture ProLab teacher that using Time Machine as a backup for my Aperture library is not always successful (something about the packaged file format?) - and it was recommended that I use the Vault in Aperture. Is it possible (and how, if so) to partition my external drive to be used with both Time Machine (to back up my entire hard drive) and Aperture's Vault?

Jessica-
I don't see why not, if the external is really large. Just partition using Disk Utility.
However personally I recommend buying additional hard drives rather than partitioning. Mass storage is now cheap. We always grow into hard drive space anyway, and there is a design elegance to having spearate physical drives. Design elegance in backup routines tends to lead to less errors.
I buy quad-interface drives from OWC
http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/
for connection speed as well as flexibility in repurposing drives, but for backup-only cheaper USB (slower) drives from Newegg or Deal.com also are ok. Just look at cost per GB to find drives of best value.
HTH
-Allen Wicks

What is the best way to consolidate Aperture and iPhoto libraries onto an external drive? I am just starting out and not used to Aperture filing system.

I would like to use the drive as storage/aperture backup rather than use it to back up my whole Macbook. Would like to keep the majority of the photo files on the ext. drive and be able to add files there directly. BUT, when workng in aperture would like to be able to select some from the ext. drive and work them on the laptop directly without having to have the ext drive attached.
So do i, have the aperture library path mapped to the ext drive, and then import the iphoto library? and then how do i add additional from the camera? Or, do i move everything together (imported iphotos and new from camera) in Aperture on the Macbook first, and then transfer that library to the ext drive?
For the life of me I can't figure out how to do this in a way that seems logical. Vaults? Masters on ext drive, versions on the macbook? Consolidating libraries? The endless possible answers are baffling me.
Thanks for any help!

Kirby Krieger wrote:
Hi Shane. Not much in the way of thoughts - - but fwiw:
How is the drive attached?
Can you open large files on the drive with other programs?
Are you running any drive compression or acceleration programs (some drives arrive with these installed)?
Can you reformat the drive and try again?
Hi Kirby,
I attached the UltraMax Plus with a USB cable. The UltraMax powers the cable so power is not an issue. I can open other files. Also, there is 500GB of files on the drive so I cannot re-format it. Although, I noted I could import the entire Aperture Library. However, I do not want to create a duplicate on my machine because that would be defeating the purpose of the external drive.
Thanks,
Shane

External drives in Aperture

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for