One laptop, two Aperture Libraries?

R.Youden said:

I am looking at getting a new laptop (I have scrapped the idea of an iMac for now) and was wondering if is possible to setup Aperture in the following way:

Say I go for a SSD in the MacBook Pro, that wouldn't be enough for my Aperture Library so could I have two libraries, one for 'on the road' and one for when I'm back home?

It would be very very cool if I could configure it so that as soon as I plug in my external HD at home everything get copied from the internal library to the external one but I guess that is asking far too much!

Maybe I could use iPhoto on the road and then Aperture at home?

Click to expand...

Aperture 3 is very flexible in allowing you to migrate projects (the basic building block of A3). By using referenced (vs managed) files... you can place your projects on any disk that you want... and move them from disk to disk as well. It handles the needs of pro-photographers very well who split their work between "field" and "studio" work. It is all built into A3.

I strongly recommend that you visit robert boyers website... and order his very inexpensive ebooks. It will all become crystal clear. The website is: http://photo.rwboyer.com/ and you certainly want his "file management" ebook which will go over exactly what you want to do. The "organization" ebook is also a must have. You can also spend weeks on his website just reading his hundreds of excellent free blogs and learn a bunch too. Still... you will want the ebooks.

Boyer's style is unique... and unlike anything I have seen in other printed material. Rather than explain "what to do"... he explains "why to do"... and he does it in a very (well deserved) opinionated manner that just makes sense.

BTW: You can have multiple libraries if you want. I don't do it... but I know it can be done. For most people... the combination of managed and referenced files will do everything needed for split work as you describe.

I wouldn't bother with iPhoto at all. It is a toy in comparison to A3.

/Jim