Back up Aperture?

[Kaelbron]

Hello

I have Aperture 3 with loads out of photos that i would clearly have left. I have heard rumors that the Lions will come next week or sometime this month.

I want the course to prepare so it's just to buy Lion when it comes to install the Lion. I have searched and read but I can not find how to back up my Aperture library. Is it just to pull over Aperture file located in the images folder? Or should I use the Vault? I do not understand the pros and cons and what solution to use it.

Take care, Regards,
Kaelbron

 

[maflynn]

Aperture has a feature called vault which is a backup of your library. Create one on an external disk.

Also you should be running a full system back up either using Time Machine or something like Carbon Copy Cloner

 

[Kaelbron]

Aperture has a feature called vault which is a backup of your library. Create one on an external disk.

Also you should be running a full system back up either using Time Machine or something like Carbon Copy Cloner

Does Vault make the copy of the entire library? Or just save the files that are raw? metadata?

I chose not to use Time Machine because I was thinking to fix Lion on a USB stick so you can get a completely clean install out of Lion. Then I thought after I've installed everything as I had thought to use my external disk and fix a TimeMachine backup.

I have added an SSD in my iMac and still have the large hard drive. I wonder saves Carbon Copy Cloner so when you need to retrieve it can fix the system on SSD and everything else on the other just as it was before?

 

[maflynn]

Vault backs up your entire library.

 

[Kaelbron]

Vault backs up your entire library.

What do those with this then? 127? I have on this 136?

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/824/screenshot20110710at133.png/

 

[maflynn]

Ok, so if you don't use aperture's library but use referenced images instead, vault may not back them up. I personally use the aperture library setup so I've never had to deal with this.

If that's the case you'll need to back up your images manually, i.e., drag/drop the folders to an external disk.

Again making sure you have a full back up is your safest approach

 

[Young Spade]

What you need to do, from now on, is when you're adding pictures into Aperture, to add them into the Aperture Library.

Now getting all of the pictures organized correctly can be a bit of a pain at first, but if you're willing to take a minute or two it's very rewarding when keeping everything neat and tidy.

The Aperture Library (libraries) have a finite number of files (or size) to them, so if you take a LOT of pictures, like I do, it's great to create multiple libraries.

Personally, I have some named People, Places, Events; just very simple, organized libraries. Depending on what type of picture it is (me and the gf, somewhere on vacation, scenery, etc.) I'll put it in its respective library.

I recommend doiing this. I initially put all files in one library and when that got full, I ended up splitting them and having them as I do now.

To do this the easiest way, create a folder, say "Add to Aperture (insert library name here) and just throw all pics of whatever category into that folder. Open Aperture, open the right library, and add the pictures. Easy as that. All you have to do then is delete all the pictures in that folder (since they're copied into the Aperture Libraries) and as a result, you have a few massive libraries without having hundreds of pictures scattered around your harddrive.

Doing this the first time takes a bit of work, however when it's done right, you can add files and organize them on a better level. ALSO because they are ALL inside the libraries, you can simply copy the 4 or 5 libraries to an external drive and back everything up without much effort hunting things down as you have to now.

If you need a single picture, all you have to do is open aperture and the library and export the master OR edited file. Easy as 1,2,3. I initially got Aperture for the organization as iPhoto didn't give me the control Aperture has. Editing is a nice touch as well and I do a plethora of editing within the program. I'd post some pictures now but they're all in my TC as I'm getting a new MB soon.

 

[santaliqueur]

The Aperture Library (libraries) have a finite number of files (or size) to them, so if you take a LOT of pictures, like I do, it's great to create multiple libraries.

Aperture libraries are only limited by your disk space. Multiple libraries, while good for some people for organization purposes, are unnecessary from a technical standpoint.

I've read about libraries with 300,000+ photographs and 3,000 projects. A library of that size could be many hundreds of GB. I have a 250GB library, and no signs of slowing down.

Keep multiple libraries if it's easier for you to manage them, but it's not necessary in terms of file size limits.

 

[Young Spade]

Aperture libraries are only limited by your disk space. Multiple libraries, while good for some people for organization purposes, are unnecessary from a technical standpoint.

I've read about libraries with 300,000+ photographs and 3,000 projects. A library of that size could be many hundreds of GB. I have a 250GB library, and no signs of slowing down.

Keep multiple libraries if it's easier for you to manage them, but it's not necessary in terms of file size limits.

Really? Because on my computer I had plenty of disk space however I kept getting an error that wouldn't allow me to add more pictures into my Aperture library. Of course you're telling me this so I cna't technically tell you that you're wrong, just stating why I did that.

I'll keep an eye on that and remember this though when i get my new MB and start taking more pictures; it happened at a very inopportune time as I went to my GFs school and wanted to edit some pictures of her, with her. Sadly I could not because of the error.

Thanks for letting me (us) know

 

[Kaelbron]

What do you recommend to a backup?

 

[Young Spade]

What do you recommend to a backup?

Well right now I have two external drives. One of them I use for Time Machine in case something bad happens. At the prices of external drives today, not having an external drive for TM makes no sense at this point.

You can get one for 50 bucks at least and have the peace of mind knowing if anything goes wrong, you won't have to start over.

The other I use to hold media and the occasional backup file if I want to put one there as well. With Aperture, all you have to do is copy the library itself to an external drive. If it isn't that big, you could just burn it to a DVD or something as well.

Seeing as the post before mine stated that you can have huge libraries, I would say to go ahead and just have one big one if you want; either way you're going to be able to back up and save all of your files in case something goes bad.

It's funny, a year ago I wouldn't think twice about finding a backup solution; back then I was using Windows computers though. With the ease and speed of Time Machine and the ability to use ANY external hard drive, it really is a no-brainer now.

 

[santaliqueur]

Really? Because on my computer I had plenty of disk space however I kept getting an error that wouldn't allow me to add more pictures into my Aperture library. Of course you're telling me this so I cna't technically tell you that you're wrong, just stating why I did that.

I'll keep an eye on that and remember this though when i get my new MB and start taking more pictures; it happened at a very inopportune time as I went to my GFs school and wanted to edit some pictures of her, with her. Sadly I could not because of the error.

Thanks for letting me (us) know

Yeah, I've seen some enormous libraries, and there's no limit to the size of a library. There might be a theoretical "limit" where a library becomes too large to remain usable, but I'd guess that would be in the tens of terabytes. My 250GB library seems to be fine so far, with 35,000 photographs.

 

[Young Spade]

Yeah, I've seen some enormous libraries, and there's no limit to the size of a library. There might be a theoretical "limit" where a library becomes too large to remain usable, but I'd guess that would be in the tens of terabytes. My 250GB library seems to be fine so far, with 35,000 photographs.

Cool; well with the way I organize my projects, I think it will save me time and scrolling to just load set libraries with specific categories. Thanks for the info though as I now know I won't have to make any more