wizzak

Q: Workable file size for aperture 3 ?

NEed to know how big the library file can be for efficient Aperture use   10, 20, 50, 70g?

Posted on Aug 18, 2013 9:10 PM

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Q: Workable file size for aperture 3 ?

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  • by Mark Alan Thomas,Solvedanswer

    Mark Alan Thomas Mark Alan Thomas Aug 19, 2013 12:49 AM in response to wizzak
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Aug 19, 2013 12:49 AM in response to wizzak

    I know photographers who have managed libraries which are many hundreds of gigabytes in size, and they are just as responsive as much smaller libraries. Drive speed matters, of course, as does having lots of RAM. I think that 8 GB of RAM should be considered a minimum.

  • by léonie,Helpful

    léonie léonie Aug 19, 2013 3:36 AM in response to wizzak
    Level 10 (106,848 points)
    iLife
    Aug 19, 2013 3:36 AM in response to wizzak

    NEed to know how big the library file can be for efficient Aperture use   10, 20, 50, 70g?

    I had no problems even with an Aperture library with 250000 images.

    Why are you asking? Do you have performance problems with Aperture?

     

    The amount of free disk space on the drive with library, as well as the system drive is also important. Keep plenty of free disk spaces on both drives, and don't put the library onto a NAS.

  • by wizzak,

    wizzak wizzak Aug 19, 2013 10:07 AM in response to Mark Alan Thomas
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 19, 2013 10:07 AM in response to Mark Alan Thomas

    I am reorganizing 10 years of iPhoto libraries and wanted to plan ahead before getting into trouble.  Using a 2-year old iMAc with 1T HD and 16G ram. 

     

    If there was some size limit I wanted to be aware. Apparently, unless i get > 100s G shouldn't be a problem.

     

    Thanks for the response.

  • by Kirby Krieger,

    Kirby Krieger Kirby Krieger Aug 19, 2013 10:18 AM in response to wizzak
    Level 6 (12,521 points)
    Aug 19, 2013 10:18 AM in response to wizzak

    1,000s.  .

     

    But keep in mind that, even though it is very well designed to work with today's hardware, Aperture is still a hardware hog.  Very large scale file operations -- say, relocating 500,000 Originals, or stamping adjustments and metadata to the same number of Images -- can take days, not hours.

     

    Build gradually.  Never force-quit.  Repair your Library before any upgrade.  And this voodoo: let Aperture run unmolested overnight about once a week for very large Libraries.

  • by Mark Alan Thomas,

    Mark Alan Thomas Mark Alan Thomas Aug 19, 2013 10:33 AM in response to Kirby Krieger
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Aug 19, 2013 10:33 AM in response to Kirby Krieger

    That last bit about the voodoo, I hadn't heard before. Some kind of database housekeeping?

  • by Kirby Krieger,

    Kirby Krieger Kirby Krieger Aug 19, 2013 10:42 AM in response to Mark Alan Thomas
    Level 6 (12,521 points)
    Aug 19, 2013 10:42 AM in response to Mark Alan Thomas

    Yes -- but I make no claims other than

    - Aperture does a lot of behind-the-scenes maintenance

    - Letting it run has _seemed_ to help in several cases; enough so that I now use this as part of my weekly maintenance.

     

    The reason I make no additional claims is simply that I am not qualified to do so.  Database experts have agreed that it makes sense.

  • by Mark Alan Thomas,

    Mark Alan Thomas Mark Alan Thomas Aug 19, 2013 10:46 AM in response to Kirby Krieger
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Aug 19, 2013 10:46 AM in response to Kirby Krieger

    Sounds believable considering that the OS does this sort of thing too. Thanks for the tip!

  • by wizzak,

    wizzak wizzak Aug 19, 2013 11:04 AM in response to Kirby Krieger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 19, 2013 11:04 AM in response to Kirby Krieger

    By 1000s are you referring to pictures or Gigabits (file size)?  I was referring to Gigabits.

     

    1000 pic.s  x 8M/photo (for example)  =  8 Gigabits per 1000 pictures

     

     

    Are you saying an Aperture file could be 1000 Gigbites (1 T)?

  • by Mark Alan Thomas,

    Mark Alan Thomas Mark Alan Thomas Aug 19, 2013 11:08 AM in response to wizzak
    Level 1 (85 points)
    Aug 19, 2013 11:08 AM in response to wizzak

    Easily 1TB+. Aperture uses a sophisticated database to keep track of everything.

  • by Kirby Krieger,

    Kirby Krieger Kirby Krieger Aug 19, 2013 11:48 AM in response to wizzak
    Level 6 (12,521 points)
    Aug 19, 2013 11:48 AM in response to wizzak

    wizzak wrote:

     

    Are you saying an Aperture file could be 1000 Gigbites (1 T)?

    Yes -- thousands of GB's.

     

    As for Image count, at soome point Apple reported that Aperture could handle 1,000,000 Images.  I haven't tested this, but I did test 950,000.  No problem.

  • by wizzak,

    wizzak wizzak Aug 19, 2013 12:04 PM in response to Kirby Krieger
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Aug 19, 2013 12:04 PM in response to Kirby Krieger

    Thanks for the info.  This is great news.  My collection of iPhotos libraries is a mess and not user friedly when I want something.  It will be nice to get it all together and ogainzed.

     

    I am new to Aperture; picked this over LightRoom.  Hope I made the correct choice.

  • by léonie,

    léonie léonie Aug 21, 2013 12:17 AM in response to wizzak
    Level 10 (106,848 points)
    iLife
    Aug 21, 2013 12:17 AM in response to wizzak

    To migrate from iPhoto to Aperture the new unified library format will be very useful. Aperture can open iPhoto libraries, if they are iPhoto 9.3 or later, and also merge iPhoto libraries,

    see:

    Aperture 3.3: Using a unified photo library with iPhoto and Aperture

     

    and

     

    Aperture 3.3: How to use Aperture to merge iPhoto libraries

     

    So, for a lossless workflow, it will be best tio upgrade your iPhoto to 9.3 or later, if you have still an older iPhoto version.

     

    -- Léonie