2 Macs, 1 Aperture Library

[0970373]

Wondering if anyone has any experience or advice in this matter. I'm a little weary to try in case something happens to my Aperture library but I think this is ok to do.

I have a MBP and a MBA. My Aperture library is located on an external HD, Mac formatted. I'd like to access the same library from both of these machines (not at the same time obviously). I use the MBP for the most part when at home or at the office and the MBA is the one I travel with. Is is it a safe practice to do this? Both the MBP & MBA have the latest versions of Mountain Lion and Aperture.

Thanks for any advice!

 

[Mike in Kansas]

Are you going to attach the external drive to the machine that you want to use at that moment, or leave it attached to one and try to connect to it through your network? Both will work, although the second option will give a real bad user experience.

Many photogs who use Aperture move their library from one machine to another as needed. I have done that on both my iMac and MBA when I want to edit while on the road.

 

[0970373]

Are you going to attach the external drive to the machine that you want to use at that moment, or leave it attached to one and try to connect to it through your network? Both will work, although the second option will give a real bad user experience.

Many photogs who use Aperture move their library from one machine to another as needed. I have done that on both my iMac and MBA when I want to edit while on the road.

I'll attach the external to the Mac I'm using at the moment if this is what works best.

If I attach the external to my AE to access while I'm home on the network, would that be bad or just slow? I don't need to but would be convenient.

 

[Mike in Kansas]

I'll attach the external to the Mac I'm using at the moment if this is what works best.

If I attach the external to my AE to access while I'm home on the network, would that be bad or just slow? I don't need to but would be convenient.

It will probably be VERY slow, but you can easily test it out. I have my iTunes Library on a HDD attached to my Time Capsule; it takes a little bit of time to connect as the hard drive needs to spin up, but once connected it's fast. However, listening to a 6MB song compared to using brushers, sharpening and blur on an image are two different things!

 

[flynz4]

I recommend that you do not attach it to your network... and instead just attach it to the machine you are working on.

You do not want to take the chance that more than one computer can (inadvertently) modify the library. By using direct attach... you take the "human stupidity" (which is universal) out of the equation.

A3 also has very powerful features for transferring projects between machines. I routinely create new projects on my MBA while in the field, and then import them into my main A3 library on my iMac once I return home. You may find that you never need to bring the portable drive with you while traveling.

/Jim

 

[0970373]

I recommend that you do not attach it to your network... and instead just attach it to the machine you are working on.

You do not want to take the chance that more than one computer can (inadvertently) modify the library. By using direct attach... you take the "human stupidity" (which is universal) out of the equation.

A3 also has very powerful features for transferring projects between machines. I routinely create new projects on my MBA while in the field, and then import them into my main A3 library on my iMac once I return home. You may find that you never need to bring the portable drive with you while traveling.

/Jim

OK. This seems like sound advice as I've definitely suffered from human stupidity on occasion.

Thank you!