Striped software raid managed or referenced library

I am setting up a striped software RAID using a couple of internal drives on my MacPro in hopes of getting a little more speed out of Aperture 3. My question is should I keep a managed library on the RAID or should I keep a referenced library on the main startup drive and store masters on the striped RAID. Which would be faster? I am still using Aperture 2 right now and waiting to get an answer before I upgrade to 3. I plan to backup whatever is on the RAID to a Drobo.
Thanks of the help ya"ll

I would use referenced Even if you were putting both on the RAID. 2 drives Striped is not going to be a big benefit.
You will get more of a benefit putting your library on a separate drive than your raw masters and here's why. Raw files fall well into the category of Large block read speed that most current drives handle just fine, once it's read its in RAM so I usually don't recommend putting the RAWs on a striped raid of just 2 drives.
The real storage bottleneck is when the library is trying to write all of its filesystem previews and database changes to the drive concurrently as its trying to read raw masters at the same time.
If you understand Hard drive tech, you will know that For one volume to handle Small block random access read/writes and large block sustained reads at the same time is a recipe for a slowdown...
I'd put the Library on a dedicated SSD and your raws on your bigger internal drives.
Or... Just try putting the library on one drive and relocating the masters to another drive and see if you notice a difference first. I sure did!

Similar Messages

Managed vs. referenced library??

I am test driving aperture and have been using Photoshop- Bridge to organize my photos. That is to say I keep them organized in folders which I create for each project. Each folder has a name that means something to me and is dated. I rarely cannot find a specific photo shoot. If I let Aperture organize the library will I have trouble finding the origional Master image. That is what I never liked with iPhoto. Would you recommend continuing to use my files which are on an external drive, as a referenced library, or should I just have Aperture create a Managed library out of my files?? Thanks.

This particular topic is driving me crazy because you all seem to take the opposite sides on this subject.
Here is my current setup and workflow. Can I get suggestions of the best ways to use aperture within these parameters
I have an imac dual core intel about 3 years old (imac7,1). It has six gb of ram and I just installed a new 2 TB internal drive. It currently has about 330 gb used.
I have attached to it the following drives: a 1 TB usb drive for time machine, a 2nd 1 TB USB drive which is a scratch disk for stuff I don't back up, and a 500 GB FireWire 800/400, usb which is partitioned in two. One partition is where I store a cloned back up via superduper and the other is where I have stored some test master photo files while I figure out the best way to use aperture.
I also use backblaze to back up the internal drive to the cloud. I am currently backing up about 250 GB.
I have around 20k photos on the internal drive inside iPhoto 11. I haven't touched those yet.
My photo workflow for new shots is to download the pictures to the external firewire drive then import the jpeg (I usually shoot in raw + jpeg) to aperture as a referenced import then cull the bad shots and then import the masters as referenced also. I also import the jpeg files to iphoto (so they are backed up).
I am going to have backup issues due the new 2 tb drive with the super duper clone (only have 500 gb available to the firewire drive. I could do the back up to the 1 tb usb drive instead and use the 500 gb firewire drive as my external drive for movies and photo masters. IF I do that then I’m going to have to backup everything again to backblaze (takes about six weeks to back up 250 gb). If I do that then I am living on the edge because I will only have one backup of my photo masters. That scares me.
The whole process scares me so much I have touched the iphoto library yet..
Ideas? Remember to KISS.

Converting from Managed to Referenced Library-File Structure?

I'm about to convert my fully managed library (170GB) in Aperture 3.6 to a referenced library. I understand I select the files and then relocate the masters. What's the best way to do that if I want to maintain some semblance of the Aperture files/folders structure in the Finder environment? Wha't the best way to select all files- just go to "Photos" folder and select all?
I understand that the file structure in Aperture should remain unchanged. What I don't want to happen is for all my photos to just be dumped into a folder on my hard drive with no organization. Within Aperture they are primarily stored in folders (years) containing projects (months) which have albums (various shoots in a given month). If I select all photos in library, does Aperture recreate its internal folder, project, album structure as folders in Finder?
As I recall, there is an option when relocating masters to put them in various folder structures. Is there an option to keep the internal Aperture folder structure? I'd like to make the managed to referenced conversion in as few steps as possible and ideally maintain the same or very similar folder structure.
Thanks, Steve

Images are not files.
Images are what you see in Aperture.
Files are data containers, represented in various ways in the OS X Finder.
Aperture is a database of Images.
Finder is a database of files.
Just as the structure of your Aperture Library ("Library" = database; to the detriment of their users, Apple insists on cuteness over accuracy) is for you to create to meet your needs, the structure of your Finder database is for you to create to meet your needs. Many OS X users' file needs are similar, and so OS X comes with Finder pre-designed and populated.
Concerning yourself about the _file_ organization of your Images' Originals is, imho, time wasted. You didn't care about it when they were managed. There is little reason to care about it when they are referenced.
I detail some of this in this reply to a similar question.
Do whatever comforts you. But note the following:
- You cannot (as Frank has already answered) duplicate in a file manager the structure you have in your Image manager. The Images in Aperture are not files, and in important ways they are not filed like files.
- Aperture provides robust tools for managing your Images' Originals. You can move them in and out of the Library at any time, and you can relocate them to another location outside your Library at any time.
- Don't ever use Finder to perform any operations on your Images' Originals. You should use Aperture and use only Aperture to perform any operation (other than back-up) on your Images' Originals.
- Speaking of backing up: you must backup Referenced Originals yourself. Neither Aperture's Vault feature, nor backing up your Library, backs up Referenced Originals.
Unless you have specific reasons for doing otherwise, I recommend sticking to "one Project for each shoot", and, if referencing your Images' Originals, filing them under a top-level Finder folder by Project, with one Finder folder for each Project.

IPhoto '11 referenced library problems

I have a huge iPhoto library containing 40 000+ images, as well as a large amount of metadata (comments, Faces,...). Since I need to read-access the image files with other software, I use a referenced library.
Everything was fine until the day I decided to upgrade for a larger HD. So I simply restored full content of my old drive on the new drive using a TimeMachine backup. Nothing else was modified (no directory structure changes, not even the volume name).
Since then, the problems. Essentially, references to the original files are lost: Thumbnails are OK, but upon accessing the larger view, iPhoto asks me to locate the file... After having done so, other pics would load nice, but nothing would stick upon a quit and relaunch of iPhoto... (Funnily, this happens only for pics that were imported *after* I upgraded from iPhoto '08 to iPhoto '11).
I tried many things: rebuilding the database, rebuilding the database on the older drive prior to backup, etc... Nothing would help.
So, my questions:
* Whad did I do wrong?
* Is there a way to "repair" file references? (That should be a fairly obvious functionality of database rebuilding)
* Is hacking into the Library.apdb file part of the officially supported solutions?
Obviously, recreating a new iPhoto library is not an option for me, due to the amount of metadata in my library that I don't know how to transfer. Also, I don't consider upgrading to Aperture, which is just too complex and loaded of features which are totally useless to me.
Running Lion and latest iPhoto update.
Thanks!

YES!!!
I finally managed to recover my iPhoto library!
But it was not easy. I had to hack into the database file to put up things right.
After a significant amount of trial-and-error, here is the procedure I came to, which finally worked for me (use at your own risk):
0. Make sure you make enough backups so as to revert to the previous state if something goes wrong!
1. Make a copy of your iPhoto Library [Show Package Contents]/Database/apdb/Library.apdb to your desktop.
This file contains most of the data involved for managing your iPhoto data.
2. Open this file using a SQLite database manager.
I used Navicat 9.1, which has nice import-export features. For direct editing, Base 2.0 is may be easier.
3. Open the table RKMaster.
This table contains all records for the individual pics of your library.
4. Correct the path of each of your pic files in the imagePath column to their current filepath.
This contains the path of your pic files at the time they were imported, and is not updated by iPhoto even though you have moved your pic files somewhere else.
If you have several thousands of paths to correct, a good idea is to export this column to a text file (also including the modelId column for referencing), and to correct paths using the substring Search&Replace function of your favorite text editor. Be sure to re-import the corrected data properly using the modelId column as references.
5. If needed, correct in the same manner the content of the fileVolumeUuid column to the value of the drive currently containing your picfiles.
If needed, obtain this value considering a pic which was recently imported from that drive.
6. If your drive name was modified, also correct its name in the name column of the RKVolume table.
Identify the proper record by considering its uuid previously obtained.
7. If you're happy with your work, quit the database managing program and put Library.apdb back in its original location inside your iPhoto Library.
Keep the older somewhere in case something goes wrong.
8. Run iPhoto to see if your work is successful!
At this point, you might consider rebuilding the Photo Library (hold alt-cmd while launching iPhoto) and choose Repair the iPhoto Library Database (Be sure to leave the Rebuild the iPhoto Library Database from automatic backup unchecked!). This might correct some possible unconsistencies resulting from your edits. Also, a good thing might be to rebuild all thumbnails. If iPhoto does not bug you for locating files during that process, you have possibly done your work right! If not, back to step 1.
As said, this worked for me, with no visible inconsistencies or side effects to be noticed in the behavior of iPhoto (at least for now). But possibly some knowledgable people might comment and improve that process, and some database script guru might also help automating this. Please comment.
Lessons learned (How I understand the things as far as I know):
A. Library.apdb stores the initial drive and path of the pic files at the time they were imported. This is not modified as the files are moved around.
B. Some other data (BLOBs?) is used to track the files at their actual location. Therefore, it seems OK to move the pic files after they were imported.
C. Unfortunately, this other data is broken if the file is recreated (even with same content and location), for example with a file-based backup and restore (Time Machine).
D. In that case, iPhoto is unable to recover the file if its current drive and path does not match the one when the file was imported, stored in the database. Also there is no mechanism in iPhoto to correct this data.
E. Therefore, it is very important to import pic files in iPhoto only when these are already in their final location! If not, your iPhoto Library won't survive a TimeMachine backup and restore! (Possibly, a block-based drive backup could work... I don't know).
F. ...And Apple should really, really fix this issue! (By correcting the stored filepath and drive to the current file location at least when the database is repaired, and by offering at least some basic file reconnection options).
Hope this helps...
- Pascal

RAID Manager

Just wanted to see what everyone's opinion was on my setup. I bought the Sonnet Tempo E4P SATAII PCI-Express card to attach two external Western Digital My Book Studio 1TB drives. I run windows vista 64 and wanted to try to RAID these drives together in a RAID 0 configuration. In Vista I can stripe the volumes together, but not sure which type of RAID this would be. I wanted to see if there was perhaps a software RAID manager anyone could recommend to run this RAID in Vista 64 on my Mac Pro. Sonnet does not have any software to do this. Anyone have any experience with this setup?
Thanks,
Toby

WD does not include the RE2 in the MyBook. Sonnet does not support using WD SE's.
Use what you have for PC backup or storage. Get a couple REs and case.
Depends on what you need to accomplish, budget, but if you work with SD or HD video I guess you need 3 drives to break 220MB/sec?
Also, you have to go through the MyBook interface bridge, but confess I've never bought one so I don't know the particulars.
The best case for your drives:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Firmtek/SATA2EN2/
Cheaper but adequate:
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Other%20World%20Computing/MESATATBEK/
WD 750GB RE2 $220
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Western%20Digital/WD7500AYYS/
1TB RE2 $280
http://eshop.macsales.com/item/Western%20Digital/WD10FYPS/
Also, is the 1TB MyBook - isn't it just two 500GB drives already in an internal RAID of its own? or just a single drive? In which case it would not be designed at all for RAIDs.
http://www.wdc.com/en/products/index.asp?cat=2

IPhoto library - managed or referenced

Hi,
I am new to OS X and I am still looking for the best way to use build-in applications before I start looking elsewhere. Next up: photos.
I do have substantial library of images from different sources. Generally, I like sorting and managing them myself. In the past (Windows era) I used picasa to quickly view, sort, and delete photos and Photoshop to edit them. So I ran a quick test:
1. copy smaller directory of images to my Mac (/Users/user/Pictures/folder_1)
2. import folder to iPhoto
3. View
It looked OK so I tried the second. Soon I realized, that all images are duplicated in the iPhoto folder. That brought me here where I learnt about "managed" and "referenced" libraries. It seems, that folks here argue against using "referenced" approached. I think by now I sort see the differences, but I am not sure if I really understand the consequences. So, what would experts here recommend if I'd like to be able to do following:
1. picture organization (in iPhoto and on the hard drive)
2. the hard drive organization comes from my current back-up practices (I use rsync):
     a. copy/update folders to home file server
     b. burn one or more folders to DVD
     c. file server makes additional copy to different HD (sort of like mirroring but not quite in real time)
3. make sure I keep originals (jpeg, tiffs, and most often raw files)
4. in future I might want to switch to Lightroom or Aperture to catalog/organize images
What bugs me about "managed" approach that I have no control over HD organization, which might be ok, if everything else works.
So to my outstanding questions:
=======================
I. I am not sure how to properly back-up my images. Is there a way in iPhoto to back up everything? Or in another words, what would be a proper way to back up images from iPhoto?
II. What can I do when I run out of disk space while using managed library?
III. What will happen when I move image folder while using referenced library? Will all the links/pointers be updated?
IV. Can I simply delete iPhoto's "library folder" and start from scratch? I could also try (which I did not) to make a new library ...
V. Can one convert managed iPhoto library to Lightroom/Aperture while maintain corrections, keywords, tags, etc?
I do realize that this has tons of information and questions, but I feel this is quite convoluted problem. I'd rather spend some time in the beginning to set it up correctly rather than pulling my hair later on.
Thanks for your advice.
Cheers, R>

First off, you need to make a clear distinction in your head between your photos and the files that contain them. Best way to explain this: The Beatles wrote a song called 'Let It Be'. They didn't write an mp3 called that. Tht mp3 is just a container for the song. So too that Jpeg, Tiff or whatever is just a container for the Photograph.
iPhoto is designe for folks who want to organise their photos and don't really want to bother with the files. Import the photos and then forget about the files. They're stored somewhere - and where matters very little.
So, if you're concerned about organising Files forget about iPhoto. You'll never be happy with it. It just won't do what you want.
I make this digeression to begin with because pretty much all your specific queries treat the Photos and Files as interchangebale concepts.
Specifically: to Managed v Referenced:
1. There is no difference in functionality. You get no extra abilities either way. None whatever. There is no functional advantage to running a Referenced or Managed Library, it's just file storage. Why? Because you never access the files anyway.
2. There are big differences in the reliabilty if the Library. If you run a Referenced Library then you run a greater risk of damaging the Library yourself - especially as a new user.
So, run a Managed Library. It's safer.
So, this question actually makes no sense - if you take my meaning:
1. picture organization (in iPhoto and on the hard drive)
You can't organise pictures on the Hard Drive. You can organise the files, not the pictures.
the hard drive organization comes from my current back-up practices
Change your back up practises. You're not just backing up files now, you're backing up a database - that's your files and whole lot more.
3. make sure I keep originals (jpeg, tiffs, and most often raw files)
Iphoto does this automatically. It treats the original like a film shooter treats the negative. It will never alter it in any way. You can export the original at any time, or revert to it from an edited version.
4. in future I might want to switch to Lightroom or Aperture to catalog/organize images
There is an upgrade path to Aperture. There ins't one to Lightroom.
What bugs me about "managed" approach that I have no control over HD organization, which might be ok, if everything else works.
Organise your photos in the iPhoto Window in any way you want. Events, Albums etc. If you want to migrate at some point in the future to an app that does'nt have an upgrade path, then you export from iPhoto to the Finder.
Apps like iPhoto2Disk or PhotoShare will help you export to a Folder tree matching your Events.
I. I am not sure how to properly back-up my images. Is there a way in iPhoto to back up everything? Or in another words, what would be a proper way to back up images from iPhoto?
With a Managed Library you back up the iPhoto Library from your Pictures Folder. This gets everything.
II. What can I do when I run out of disk space while using managed library?
Move the Library to a bigger disk. You can run a Library from any disk formatted Mac OS Extended (Journaled)
Or make a second Library. Or third.. etc
IV. Can I simply delete iPhoto's "library folder" and start from scratch? I could also try (which I did not) to make a new library ...
Yes, from the Pictures Folder. Or hold down the option (or alt) key key and launch iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Create Library'
V. Can one convert managed iPhoto library to Lightroom/Aperture while maintain corrections, keywords, tags, etc?
To Aperture, yes. You can simply import an iPhoto Library. To Lightroom, sort of. As I descibed above you can export from iPhoto to the Finder. However, what to export? The Original will be just that - the original and that will contain no metadat added in iPhoto. Or, the Editied version which will have all the metadata but won't be the original...
Note: these issues exist no matter what Manager you migrate from or to - you have pretty much the same issues if you go from, say, Lightroom to Aperture or vice versa.
As I said at the beginning, the key thing to decide is whether you want to manage files or photos. Once you settle on the answer to that it will be easy to decide which way to go.
This thread:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3062728?tstart=0
Discusses some of the issues specific to running a Referenced Library in iPhoto is some detail.
By ll means post again if you want more.

Managed library size vs images plus referenced library

I have referenced library 18,1Gb and 109,7Gb image folder (all of them in Aperture). If I like to move to managed library, is it bigger or smaller than 128Gb (18+110) and if it is, is the difference significant? Do anyone know that?

Today a Managed-Masters Library for you would be about six times as big as your current Library, meaning six times larger Vaults and/or Library copies that take longer to create. And a Managed-Masters Library would keep growing and slowing the drive it lived on.
If currently your Referenced-Masters Library and the Masters are on the same drive maybe now is a good time to move the Masters to an external drive to maintain the speed of the internal drive with the Library on it. Or if you have lots of space leave Masters where they are until the drive gets about half full.
-Allen

IPhoto managed library imported like a referenced library?

Hi there,
I originally tried to work a referenced library on my new Macbook, changed my mind, deleted all practice libraries and tried to import again. Checked the box saying somethign about 'copy photos to library' in preferences. Now when I have imported it is still looking like a referenced library by using all my folder titles from my old PC filing system. I thought that by going managed, everything would sort into date under events and I would have to rename them and create new folders etc as I needed. I have now tried this twice, deleting the library completely from Trash before starting again to ensure I wasnt pulling up the original one that wasnt correct.
Any suggestions on what might be causing this? Or is this how it should be working, using folder structure from filing system?
Cant figure out how to do a screen shot to show how it looks, but let me know if that is helps and I will learn something else new today.
Cheers,
Cathy

Thanks Larry, I am using the File>Import to Library and then just selecting the 'pictures' folder from the external hard drive. Within that folder there are 2007, 2008 etc folders and then within the years there are 2013-10-01 Event name folders. The folders showing in iPhoto import are the year and event level photos.
Another weird thing that is happening, not sure if it jsut coz this is the first time I have set it up, but it is 'updating thumbnails' on every open - takes ages so eventually I just stay 'finish later' but as a consequence only maybe 50-60% of the thumbnails are visible - the other folders just have a black square representing them. I can open the photos but no thub nails are visible.

Aperture - Converting Managed Library to Referenced Library?

I goofed. I've been using Aperture for a while, and I now realize that by importing my image files directly into my Aperture library on my 1TB iMac hard drive, this managed library is now 430GB... I need to streamline. I understand (now) the benefit of using reference libraries wherein the image files themselves are stored elsewhere (I have a 3TB external USB drive) and the Aperture library accesses/utilizes the files from that location. The big question - how do I convert my current managed library to that referenced library model? If I copy my entire 430GB Aperture library folder from the iMac hard drive 'Pictures' folder over to the 3TB external drive, it's still a managed library in that new external drive location but now with USB access times added to the Aperture work flow... correct?
I'm assuming I need to somehow 'export' my image files to the 3TB external drive, and then tell Aperture to build a reference library off of those image files - correct? If so, is there an specific way to do this? Also, if I create a referenced library as described above, I assume that in the future I will need to import image files from my camera to the 3TB external drive outside of Aperture, and then use Aperture to import them from that 3TB drive into the Aperture reference library via Aperture 'Import'... correct?
Thanks in advance for any insight here.

It's all a lot easier than you expect.
Libraries are neither managed nor referenced, they are just libraries. It's the images within the libraries that can be either managed (stored with the library) or referenced (stored external to it). So within a single library you can have a combination of both (if you have a reason to).
But the simple answer to your question is, select all your photos, and from the file menu choose "Relocate Originals". It will prompt you for where to store them. Create a folder on your external (eg "Masters" or "Originals") and chose a folder structure to store them in (I use the project name for subfolders - but more complex options can be created using 'edit'). Press relocate button and go have a well earned beer while it relocates them for you.
Andy

IPhoto Managed Library and Referenced Library. What is the difference?

In a reply regarding iphoto TD mentions managed library and referenced library. What is the difference and how do you set them up?

A Managed Library is the default setting, photos are copied into the iPhoto Library on import. In this scenario, iPhoto is responsible for the file management.
A Referenced Library means that iPhoto does not touch the files when you import them. They remain where they were and iPhoto References them in their location.
Simply go to iPhoto Menu -> Preferences -> Advanced and uncheck 'Copy Files to the iPhoto Library on Import'.
Now iPhoto will not copy the files, but rather simply reference them on your HD. To do this it will create an alias in the Originals Folder that points to your file. It will still create a thumbnail and, if you modify the pics, a Modified version within the iPhoto Library Folder.
However, you need to be aware of a number of potential pitfalls using this system.
1. Import and deleting pics are more complex procedures
2. You cannot move or rename the files on your system or iPhoto will lose track of them on systems prior to 10.5 and iPhoto 08. Even with the later versions issues can still arise if you move the referenced files to new volumes or between volumes.
3. Most importantly, migrating to a new disk or computer can be much more complex.
Always allowing for personal preference, I've yet to see a good reason to run iPhoto in referenced mode unless you're using two photo organisers.
If disk space is an issue, you can run an entire iPhoto Library from an external disk:
1. Quit iPhoto
2. Copy the iPhoto Library as an entity from your Pictures Folder to the External Disk.
3. Hold down the option (or alt) key while launching iPhoto. From the resulting menu select 'Choose Library' and navigate to the new location. From that point on this will be the default location of your library.
4. Test the library and when you're sure all is well, trash the one on your internal HD to free up space.
If you're concerned about accessing the files, There are many, many ways to access your files in iPhoto:
*For Users of 10.5 and later*
You can use any Open / Attach / Browse dialogue. On the left there's a Media heading, your pics can be accessed there. Command-Click for selecting multiple pics.
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
You can access the Library from the New Message Window in Mail:
Uploaded with plasq's Skitch!
*For users of 10.4 and later* ...
Many internet sites such as Flickr and SmugMug have plug-ins for accessing the iPhoto Library. If the site you want to use doesn’t then some, one or any of these will also work:
To upload to a site that does not have an iPhoto Export Plug-in the recommended way is to Select the Pic in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export and export the pic to the desktop, then upload from there. After the upload you can trash the pic on the desktop. It's only a copy and your original is safe in iPhoto.
This is also true for emailing with Web-based services. However, if you're using Gmail you can use iPhoto2GMail
If you use Apple's Mail, Entourage, AOL or Eudora you can email from within iPhoto.
If you use a Cocoa-based Browser such as Safari, you can drag the pics from the iPhoto Window to the Attach window in the browser.
*If you want to access the files with iPhoto not running*:
For users of 10.6 and later:
You can download a free Services component from MacOSXAutomation which will give you access to the iPhoto Library from your Services Menu. Using the Services Preference Pane you can even create a keyboard shortcut for it.
For Users of 10.4 and later:
Create a Media Browser using Automator (takes about 10 seconds) or use this free utility Karelia iMedia Browser
Other options include:
1. *Drag and Drop*: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. *File -> Export*: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. *Show File*: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
*For working with an External Editor*
You can set Photoshop (or any image editor) as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in Photoshop or your Image Editor, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically. This is the only way that edits made in another application will be displayed in iPhoto.
Lots of folks are attracted to the idea of a Referenced Library - well I can see my files! But, frankly, unless you're an experienced Mac user I would stay well away. Not infrequently we see folks here complaining that iPhoto has "lost their photos" when what has happened is that they have imported from the Camera Card in Referenced Mode, then erased the card. Even more common, any change in the path the the file - renaming a disk, folder or file - for instance when migrating to a new machine, when trying to make space on the start up disk by moving files off the an external - also causes big problems.
If you really, really want to run a Referenced Library check out Aperture. It has tools that are much stonger in the area - like migrating tools and reconnecting tools.
Regards
TD

Mixed library - managed and referenced - and not sure what's best

I've just come back to try iPhoto after a long time away. In the old days I used it exclusively to manage my photo library but wasn't a fan of how it forced all my photos into it's slightly unfriendly folder structure in the Finder and hence sort of force me to only ever use iPhoto to manage them.
I graduated to learning Photoshop, got a DSLR, ditched iPhoto and maintained my own folder structure on the Finder. I was happy!
But now I've got iPhoto '08 and I see you can import to iPhoto but NOT copy to the Library. Great! So I've started loading in all my personal 'event' photos as opposed to the more arty stuff that 75% of my photos consist of. It's nice to view them in iPhoto. But now it's getting complex. Now I have some older photos from before that are managed wholesale by the app, and all these others that are allegedly only 'referenced'. So, why is the Library expanding pretty heavily? And why, if I move a photo or even delete it in the Finder, are those changes not reflected whatsoever in iPhoto. What's actually going on in that Library???
Furthermore, some of these new photos are Adobe RGB and others are sRGB. If I want to print a photobook via iPhoto, do I need to change them all to sRGB to maintain consistent colour in the book? And does that mean deleting all the photos in iPhoto, re-saving the originals as sRGB, then re-importing the referenced files? I ask because like I say, changing the FInder-based files does not seem to reflect in iPhoto.
So far I'm not liking this. I'm very unwilling to import duplicates into the Library, thereby doubling the space taken up by my images!

owen-b
Here's my 2 cents.
Best option: let iPhoto manage the files.
2nd best option: You manage them
Recipe for Disaster: A mixture.
Here's why: The folder structure in iPhoto is very plain and easy to follow (and has been since v6 - which is also when the ability to reference files came in). A Note about the iPhoto Library Folder:
In this folder there are various files, which are the Library itself and some ancillary files. Then you have three folders
Originals are the photos as they were downloaded from your camera or scanner.
(ii) Modified contains edited pics, shots that you have cropped, rotated or changed in any way.
(iii) Data holds the thumbnails the the app needs to show you the photos in the iPhoto Window.
Events in the iPhoto Window correspond exactly with the Folders in the Originals Folder in the iPhoto Library package file (Right click on it in the Pictures Folder -> Show Package Contents).
You can move photos between Events, you can rename Events, edit them, create them, as long as you do it via the iPhoto Window. Check out the Info Pane (wee 'i', lower left) the name and date fields are editable. Edit a Event Name using the Info Pane, the Event Folder in iPhoto Library/Originals will also have the new name.
Finding files is easy: There are three ways (at least) to get files from the iPhoto Window.
1. Drag and Drop: Drag a photo from the iPhoto Window to the desktop, there iPhoto will make a full-sized copy of the pic.
2. File -> Export: Select the files in the iPhoto Window and go File -> Export. The dialogue will give you various options, including altering the format, naming the files and changing the size. Again, producing a copy.
3. Show File: Right- (or Control-) Click on a pic and in the resulting dialogue choose 'Show File'. A Finder window will pop open with the file already selected.
You can set Photoshop or any editor as an external editor in iPhoto. (Preferences -> General -> Edit Photo: Choose from the Drop Down Menu.) This way, when you double click a pic to edit in iPhoto it will open automatically in Photoshop, and when you save it it's sent back to iPhoto automatically.
If you run iPhoto outside the default setting, with referenced files, then you become responsible for all the file management. Importing and deleting are multi-stage operations and migrating to a new disk or Mac can be more complex. To be honest - and always allowing for personal preference - I've yet to see a good reason to run iPhoto in referenced mode unless you're using two photo organisers.
The problem with the third option - mixed - is that it's far too easy to forget who's managing which file - you or the app - and that way, data loss lies.
To specific questions:
And why, if I move a photo or even delete it in the Finder, are those changes not reflected whatsoever in iPhoto.
iPhoto is a database. Like any database it cannot know about changes you make outside of the application. Think of it this way. You hire a filing clerk, let the clerk loose organising your files. Then the clerk goes home for the day and you go into the filing room and re-arrange things. Next day you complain because the clerk can't find your files?
If you use iPhoto referencing your files, then deleting is a two stage process. Move the files to the iPhoto trash and empty it removes them from iPhoto. Then remove them from your own filing structure. If iPhoto manages the files, trashing them in iPhoto removes them from the HD as well. Moving files around in the Finder is hiding them from the filing clerk
So, why is the Library expanding pretty heavily?
Check out the structure of the library as described above. In the referenced library the Originals is populated with aliases, but the Modifieds does include pics that are flagged for auto rotation.
I'm very unwilling to import duplicates into the Library, thereby doubling the space taken up by my images!
Understandable. So don't waste the space. Let iPhoto manage the files and trash your own structure! A big leap, perhaps too big, so think about the referenced format. However, I have to say that a mixed library increases the risk of data loss exponentially.
I'll leave the questions on color management to those more knowledgeable than me.
Hope that helps.
Regards
TD

RAID Management Software for TS130 (Windows Server 2008 R2)

Hello, I'm needing assistance locating RAID management software for the TS130 in Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard. In Device Manager, the drive has the following hardware ID: "IDE\DiskRAID11.0.00__". Does anyone know of a utility to check and monitor the health of this RAID array from within Windows?

Hi beau_goldkey,
Thank you for pointing out that we don't have the Intel RAID Management GUI software on the TS130 support page. We'll work on getting that resolved. In the meantime, the same software is used for the TS140 and can be found here.
I apologize for the inconvenience!

Merging external managed libraries to one referenced library

I tried searching for this with no luck.
I have my main Aperture library on an external drive and have been using a managed library. I also have another drive with a separate managed library on it with older photos. My goal is to have one referenced library file on my internal drive and keep my masters on the hard drives. I would like to keep the adjustments and organization of the original libraries. Really, my goal is just to have my photos that are spread across 2 external hard drives in one library. It's about 2 TB's of data.
I tried exporting the photos from one project of my external drive to the internal drive and unchecked "consolidate masters", but it still moves the managed master files. I'm starting to think this is not possible. Help! Thanks. (and yes, I have everything backed up)

Welcome to the list. Make sure you read the [Help & Terms of Use|http://discussions.apple.com/help.jspa] when you get a chance.
What you wan to do is doable and isn't to hard. It's harder to describe the steps then to do it.
In a nutshell you will use *File->Relocate Masters* to turn your managed masters into referenced masters and then merge the two libraries. The order you go in will depend a lot on how much free disk space you have on the three drives (internal and the two externals) and how big the current libraries are.
If you have the space on the internal drive to hold one of the current libraries you could copy it to the internal and then relocate the masters to the external (less chance of needing to reconnect masters when you're done). If not hen relocate the masters with the library where it is and then move the library to the internal. Aperture Should still see the referenced masters but if not reconnecting them isn't to big a deal.
Once the masters in both libraries are referenced you could merge the libraries.
Don't have time now to go into more detail. If you need more help post back.

Managed vs referenced images conundrum

Hello all,
I have started using the Aperture 3 trial for about a week and my head is already swimming over the choices to make over managed vs. referenced images. I've read the manual, the "exploring" doc and several posts with respect to this topic and sometimes feel like I'm off to the races, only to then get stuck in the mud. I'm guessing that my case is not all that unusual and hope that someone who has gone down this road can offer up the solution that worked for them and why. I've worked with Aperture on a small set of photos and would not like to import the rest to use it in earnest. Prior to Aperture, I imported about 7000 photos using the camera manufacturer's software, Canon Image Browser, then also Nikon ViewNX. I previously "organized" these by creating a separate folder for each full CF card, which I named with the camera model and the date range, eg. S70-100907-110112. Once I had enough, I burned a CD as backup.
I have a copy of this organization on my laptop, my desktop and the backup CDs, so for some reason I feel slightly attached to it, though it does not provide much information. For this reason and to more easily be able to see which files I have or have not imported into Aperture (somewhat worried I'll leave something behind), I thought I would use referenced images. I also thought referenced images would allow me to utilize my stack of old 20 - 80 GB hard drives as on & off site backups. I also have a 1 TB OWC external drive that I bought for this purpose and possibly Time Machine (yet another issue to plan out). While copying over the files from the Nikon, I realized that the camera was re-using file names after each upload emptied the CF card. Nikon ViewNX creates a new folder for each upload, so there's no conflict, but I think Aperture may see them as duplicates. I have since asked the camera to use persistent serial numbers for naming files.
I intend to rate all my images, delete the bad ones, then keyword and improve the good ones. Can anyone who has waded through this type of problem share how they came to whatever scheme worked for them?
Thanks,
Scott

3) How to partition external disks to use with vaults and Time Machine.
With Disk Utility
I know you could not tell from the way I worded it, but I want to know how much of the 1 TB external disk to partition for Time Machine, how much for Aperture Vaults. I know to use Disk Utility for partitioning disks.
A Vault for a Managed Library is a complete back up of the Library. A Vault for a Referenced Library is not much of a back up as you also need a back of the referenced files. Actual saved disk space? Zero.
I was not suggesting that referenced masters saved any space, just that it made it easier to back up those masters in whatever sized chunks one chooses. I believe that a vault cannot be spread across multiple disks, right? Assuming that is the case, then a large library of managed masters will require a single large partition for the vault. With referenced masters, you can save one set of files/folders to one disk, another set to another disk. One rebuttal to this is that my collection of 20 to 80 GB drives can still be used for archives since the Masters can be read from the Terminal, and therefore backed up using rsync.
You can only have one Library open at a times. So, go to search for something and sure as eggs it'll be in the other one... It's also unnecessary. You can do a simple keyword to separate the two kinds: 'Snap' and 'Art'. Now you can restrict your searches to either.
A good point. Also importing files to 2 different libraries becomes a huge hassle. Do I put it in the Art or the Snap library? Did I already? Is it in both? Did I miss it?
I think one of the best arguments I came up with for managed masters is related to vault maintenance. Deleting bad pictures is a big part of organization. If you delete a managed master, that delete will be carried into subsequent vault backups. If you delete a referenced master, you will need to manually carry that delete forward into your self-maintained backups. This is taken care of if you use rsync with the --delete option, but most people don't use rsync.
Yes, I'm over-thinking it, probably because of the assumption that once it is done, it's a pain to change.
Thanks,
Scott

LaCie Raid manager unable to access localhost:8845 in OS X server Yosemite

I am running OS X server Yosemite. I have an external LaCie RAID Storage box. The RAID manager software that comes with the LaCie communicates settings by accessing the hardware via a web browser (ie. localhost:8845). I am able to access this port on my macbook pro just running OS X Yosemite but when I plug the hardware into my OS X server, that access is blocked.
Can anyone provide me with instructions to allow browser connection to the localhost. I assume it is an apache2 problem. But maybe that is just my guess.
Thank you in advance.

Hi,
Got a reply from LaCie, they are aware of this problem and are working on a permanent fix. In the meanwhile I got a zip file, which contained a terminal.command file from which I have posted the code here, you need to save that file as an executable so you can run it.
As always create a backup first, goodluck!
#!/bin/sh
if sw_vers -productVersion|grep 10.10 >/dev/null
then
`cat << EOF > ~/lrm.conf
LoadModule php5_module /usr/share/lrm/apacheForOs10/modules/libphp5.so
Listen 8845
<VirtualHost *:8845>
ServerName localhost:8845
DocumentRoot "/usr/share/lrm/root"
ServerAdmin [email protected]
ErrorLog "/usr/share/lrm/apacheForOs10/logs/error_log"
CustomLog "/usr/share/lrm/apacheForOs10/logs/error_log" common
LogLevel warn
TraceEnable off
UserDir disabled
</VirtualHost>
<Directory "/usr/share/lrm/root">
    Options FollowSymLinks Multiviews
    MultiviewsMatch Any
    AllowOverride None
    Require all granted
</Directory>
AliasMatch /MSU/(.*) "/usr/share/lrm/root/$1"
AliasMatch /MSu/(.*) "/usr/share/lrm/root/$1"
AliasMatch /Msu/(.*) "/usr/share/lrm/root/$1"
AliasMatch /msu/(.*) "/usr/share/lrm/root/$1"
EOF`
else
if sw_vers -productVersion|grep 10.9 >/dev/null
then
`cat << EOF > ~/lrm.conf
LoadModule php5_module /usr/share/lrm/apacheForOs9/modules/libphp5.so
Listen 8845
<VirtualHost *:8845>
ServerName localhost:8845
DocumentRoot "/usr/share/lrm/root"
ServerAdmin [email protected]
ErrorLog "/usr/share/lrm/apacheForOs10/logs/error_log"
CustomLog "/usr/share/lrm/apacheForOs10/logs/error_log" common
LogLevel warn
TraceEnable off
UserDir disabled
</VirtualHost>
<Directory "/usr/share/lrm/root">
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks Multiviews
    AllowOverride None
    Order allow,deny
    Allow from all
</Directory>
AliasMatch /MSU/(.*) "/usr/share/lrm/root/$1"
AliasMatch /MSu/(.*) "/usr/share/lrm/root/$1"
AliasMatch /Msu/(.*) "/usr/share/lrm/root/$1"
AliasMatch /msu/(.*) "/usr/share/lrm/root/$1"
EOF`
else
echo "Unsupported Mac OS system version";
exit 5;
fi
fi
if [ -d /usr/share/lrm ]
then
echo "Will update Mac OS apache Server configuration";
else
echo "failed to locate LaCie Raid Manager directory";
exit 6;
fi
if [ -f ~/lrm.conf ]
then
sudo cp ~/lrm.conf /etc/apache2/other
else
echo “Error: Missing LRM config file”;
exit 1;
fi
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
echo “failed to copy lm config file”;
exit 2;
else
rm $(pwd)/lrm.conf;
fi
if [ -f /etc/apache2/other/lrm.conf ]
then
sudo mv /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.lacie.WebService.plist /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.lacie.WebService.backup;
else
echo “Error: Missing LRM config file for apache”;
exit 3;
fi
if [ $? -ne 0 ]
then
echo “failed to backup WebService file”;
exit 4;
fi
sudo httpd -k stop;
sudo apachectl start;
echo "Successfully reconfigure Apache server"

Striped software raid managed or referenced library

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