Vault Updating VERY Slowly in 3.1 Upgrade

Question

I have two questions.
1. First vault update after a successful 3.1 upgrade is progressing VERY slowly. Database is about 70 gb and library is completely referenced. Vault update got through the upgrade process relatively quickly, and then proceeded to write the file at a normal pace. (about an hour or so). But, it got to about 70 gb, and has slowed down to a crawl. It has been churning for nearly 24 hours now, with still no signs of finishing.
2. With a totally referenced library, backed up regularly via Time Machine to a RAID 5 array, with a secondary offsite backup done automatically to a backup service, is there REALLY any need for me to have a vault in the first place? Isn't it just an unnecessary redundancy?

Answer 1

I would try to restart your Mac. 24 hours is way to long for a 70gb library.
If Aperture won't quit for the restart, then you will have to Force Quit.
Relaunch Aperture, after the restart, then update the Vault again. It should be fine the second time. If you want to be sure it's okay, make a new empty library, then Restore the updated Vault to it.
I like Vaults, because with databases, it's a good idea to let the programmers handle the data integrity.
Regarding the backup strategy :
One backup is not enough, but two the same is slightly redundant. My policy is to have one Vault active and a second one off-site. On top of this I have an Archive of job-folders containing tiffs/raws/MFDB-Galleries/other stuff relevant to commissions/ and a mirror of this off-site.
The off-site bit adds the not inconsiderable protection from fire, flood, theft, children, mother-in-laws and any other natural disasters.