I basically have my Aperture Library on my Mac Laptop and what I like to do is copy the Aperture Library to an external hard drive for backup purposes. Just the library file. My question is when I update my library on my Mac how can I sync just the changes I made within the library to my Aperture library on my External drive without having to copy the whole library over again just for a few new photos?
Joe. Had informed me to use the Aperture Vault which was a great idea and a feature I was unaware of.
The problem with that is the vault isn't actually a library file and thus other Mac machines running Aperture cannot access that file nor can I access it remotely. I really just want an easy way to have my Aperture library on an external drive to access anywhere and be able to update it when need be and not have to recopy over the whole library everytime I add a photo to the main library.
Any thoughts?
Kenny,
While you certainly can do a backup that way (just a straight copy), you’d be better served by using Aperture’s own built-in backup system called the Vault. This makes it easy to backup with just one click to as many different locations as you like.
I posted a detailed article on Vaults, how they work and what they are here: Aperture 3 Vaults; What’s Backed Up, and What Isn’t?
Please read that and that’ll answer all your questions!
cheers
-Joseph
@PhotoJoseph
— Have you signed up for the mailing list?
Kenny,
Aperture lets you merge libraries (by simply importing one library into another), and it will compare the differences and update only what’s changed. However this features was designed so you could export a small portion of your library, work on it on another computer (i.e. on your laptop while traveling), and then put it back into your original library. I’m not so sure how well it’d handle something as big as what you’re talking about, nor do I particularly think that’s a very good idea.
What you probably should do is keep your library on an external drive, and access that library on that drive from whatever machine you like. And back it up using the Vault to yet another drive.
Does that make sense?
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
— Have you signed up for the mailing list?
I read this whole article here but cannot use that vault file to open up aperture on another machine. Its not a library file or at least I’m not sure how to make this work but when I try and open this vault file on another mac with aperture installed it cannot find this vault file. I needed something that I can access on other machines, keep up to date, and access from my iPhone and iPad..any help is appreciated
hmmm. That makes sense but in reality when I’m travelling I don’t always have internet access to my setup where the library could be stored thus making it a headache when I need to work on something within Aperture. Its a great idea though just seems to not be quite right. So there is no way to just update whats changed with 2 libraries? Seems pretty common really. Most people I assume would have a backup library and want to update it with changes they’ve made to one library file. Gaining access on my iPhone or iPad I could understand would be tricky as I can’t find any mention of anyone doing that yet…
I would like the workflow to be that I work on my laptop within Aperture go out shoot for a day and then come back and update the backup library with my changes or new photos. I don’t want to have to copy 100gb library everytime I add 100mb of photos. Thats really what I’m trying to avoid here
Kenny,
Let’s make sure I understand what it is you really want/need to do. I think that what you’re originally asking for isn’t actually what you need, but without understanding how it worked, you weren’t sure what to ask for :)
Would I be right in assuming that you have a desktop (iMac, Mac Pro) and a portable Mac (MacBook Pro)? The desktop is your main machine at home, and the portable is obviously your traveling machine. What it sounds like you really need is to have the main library at home, on your desktop, but be able to add photos to a library on the MacBook Pro while traveling, and then merge that with your main library back at home. Is that right?
Assuming so, this is very easy and you don’t need to carry your entire library around with you. Have your main library on your desktop machine, and create a new, empty library on your MacBook Pro. Add whatever photos you need to the MBP. When you come back home, simply copy the new library (that has just new photos) to your desktop, open the MAIN library, then import the NEW library. It will add the new stuff to the old library.
Is that what you really needed to achieve?
If not, please tell me exactly what it is you actually want to do. Don’t try to assume features and ignore terms like “backup” or “vault”. Just tell me what you want to do.
cheers
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
— Have you signed up for the mailing list?
Ok. Here is my situation and my computers. I have a couple MacMinis, and apple tv’s. I also have a Macbook Pro. The MacMini and Apple TV are hooked up to televisions because I often look at photos that way and its easier for everyone. The Macbook Pro is actually the machine I want to house the whole Aperture Library on. The other machines are just for show really and to have a way to access everything I need on my iPad and iPhone. So really there just for viewing and for getting things to my iDevices.
I know I could always just copy what I did that day to my desktop and move them over when I get back home but just thought there would be an easier way with just a click or a formula within Aperture or third party program. I once tried ChronoSync which is a synchronizing program and it was a headache. I like the vault idea alot but since I can’t access that vault really in Aperture its pointless for me as I have plenty of backups already.
I guess I was hoping for an option to just click and move over what has changed in one library to the other. I hope that helps out but actually the laptop is my main machine or I consider it my main machine.
Thanks for your help.
Kenny,
Ah, thank you. Now I understand what it is you actually want to achieve.
I think you’re overcomplicating things by trying to use Aperture libraries and actually access everything through Aperture. My setup is similar to yours, and because I want to share photos from multiple libraries on my iDevices, using the built-in sharing on Aperture doesn’t really work for me. And besides, there were some frustrating problems with that recently that I completely avoided. You should read this post: Current Aperture/iLife Sharing Nightmares, and How to Avoid It Entirely.
The short description however is quite simple. Export JPEGs (or drag the preview file) to a folder on the computer that’s shared by DropBox among all the computers in your system. Then I sync my iPhone/iPad/AppleTV to a folder of folders images instead of to the Aperture library itself. It’s basic, it’s simple, and it works. I can remove any folder at any time, in seconds see exactly what’s syncing, and updating all my devices is as simple as exporting from Aperture to the right folder.
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
— Have you signed up for the mailing list?
Well that sounds like a good solution but I have issues with that. It sounds like I’ll have to have purchased space from Dropbox to do this? I still won’t be able to access my whole aperture then either?? I didn’t want to purchase anything extra to achieve this really. I also think that might be quite tedious having to sift through and export everything everytime I need things to be in sync..although I like this idea don’t get my wrong I just really thought there was a way to have both aperture libraries analyzed in some way to figure out what needs to be updated on one to match up with the other one. Thanks though and if this is the only option to keep things up to date I might just be better off updating things once a week or something.
Kenny,
Dropbox is free for up to a few GB, I think.
Aperture isn’t a multi-user app, and that’s what you’re asking it to be. You can try the merge, as outlined above, which will do what you want, but I have no idea how long it’d take for a large library. And honestly, keeping it simple is, I’ve found, best. My method is very simple and clean.
good luck
-Joseph @ApertureExpert
@PhotoJoseph
— Have you signed up for the mailing list?
I see. So really no easy way to do this then…real bummer. I might try the merge option see what happens. Its a shame this idea or concept isn’t built in somehow. Well here’s to version 4 maybe helping us out. Appreciate your time and help.