Aperture Library on a Thunderbolt Drive?

[Jinsou]

Hello,

I just got myself a Thunderbolt drive. I am a wedding photographer and my Aperture library is just getting out of control.

I work my library with managed files, and i want to completely move it to the thunderbolt drive so I can work it from the external drive itself.

What would I need to do so the Library remains on the external drive, and every time I Import pictures, they automatically go to the external drive.

Thanks in advance.

 

[DaveNinja]

I think you just copy your current Aperture library to the thunderbolt drive, then open Aperture while holding down the Option key and select the new location from the pop up window

 

[Mike in Kansas]

I think you just copy your current Aperture library to the thunderbolt drive, then open Aperture while holding down the Option key and select the new location from the pop up window

That is correct. Once you open the Library once in its new location, all your managed pics will go into the new location of your library.

OP - I'd be interested in your feedback on the usability of a TB drive. I have my Aperture library on my internal SSD, but the Masters on an external FW800 drive. I am hoping that having a managed library on a TB drive would be a similar experience as having them on an SSD.

 

[Mike Oxard]

What DaveNinja said, once you've opened the new library it should open by default from then on.

When moving a library you would only need to do anything from within Aperture if you we're converting from a managed to a referenced library format. E.g. If you are struggling with Aperture being slow then converting to referenced with the library on the internal and masters on the external will speed things up.

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OP - I'd be interested in your feedback on the usability of a TB drive. I have my Aperture library on my internal SSD, but the Masters on an external FW800 drive. I am hoping that having a managed library on a TB drive would be a similar experience as having them on an SSD.

You could try splitting your library so it is part managed, part referenced. We do this so that masters for current jobs are on the ssd with the library, and all the masters for older jobs are referenced on the hdd (iMac with internal ssd and hdd)

For a referenced library once the masters are imported they only get accessed occasionally, so the set up you have is one of the best for speed. Obviously if the masters were on a Thunderbolt ssd it would speed things up a bit but not as much as you got when putting the library itself onto an ssd.

 

[Botts85]

That is correct. Once you open the Library once in its new location, all your managed pics will go into the new location of your library.

OP - I'd be interested in your feedback on the usability of a TB drive. I have my Aperture library on my internal SSD, but the Masters on an external FW800 drive. I am hoping that having a managed library on a TB drive would be a similar experience as having them on an SSD.

I use a RAID-0 with Hitachi 2TB drives and get around 400MB/s. This rocks for Aperture, and doesn't saturate USB 3.0. Using USB 3.0 allows cheaper enclosures.

If you had to choose between a TB single hard drive solution, or a USB 3.0 RAID, the USB 3.0 RAID will smoke the TB solution.

In terms of a library on the USB 3.0 drive, vs the SSD in my MacBook, the SSD still has a slight edge. In real usage, this has never been a hindrance for me. I used to use a FW800 RAID, but it doesn't even hold a candle to the USB 3.0 RAID.

If you do choose a RAID-0 option, please please ensure that you have a backup of your data. Using RAID-0 doubles your likelihood of data loss.

 

[Jinsou]

OP - I'd be interested in your feedback on the usability of a TB drive. I have my Aperture library on my internal SSD, but the Masters on an external FW800 drive. I am hoping that having a managed library on a TB drive would be a similar experience as having them on an SSD.

It.Is.Ridiculously.FAST!

I actually went the Referenced library way. But I might go the other way around soon.

 

[Mike in Kansas]

What DaveNinja said, once you've opened the new library it should open by default from then on.

When moving a library you would only need to do anything from within Aperture if you we're converting from a managed to a referenced library format. E.g. If you are struggling with Aperture being slow then converting to referenced with the library on the internal and masters on the external will speed things up.

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You could try splitting your library so it is part managed, part referenced. We do this so that masters for current jobs are on the ssd with the library, and all the masters for older jobs are referenced on the hdd (iMac with internal ssd and hdd)

For a referenced library once the masters are imported they only get accessed occasionally, so the set up you have is one of the best for speed. Obviously if the masters were on a Thunderbolt ssd it would speed things up a bit but not as much as you got when putting the library itself onto an ssd.

Thanks Mike. I have moved to this workflow. Current projects are in the Managed library, older projects are in referenced. And I only generate previews if I think I'll need them. Otherwise, I generate them once-off...

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It.Is.Ridiculously.FAST!

I actually went the Referenced library way. But I might go the other way around soon.

Thanks!