HD almost full - image migration query

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Richard1979 Author

Level 1

4 points

HD almost full - image migration query

Hi Aperture users,

I'm running Aperture 2 on 27" imac. It comes with a nice 1TB storage which is now 8 GB away from full. Needless to say its creaking under the strain.

My intention is to buy a 2 TB external hard drive, migrate all the images over to it, and clear up the space on my compture HD, and store all future masters on the external. This should keep my computer running nice and fast.

Question 1 - Is there a type of hard drive that I should be looking for, for this kind of work? I really know nothing about external storage.

Question 2 - The discussion threads are littered with queries relating to problems with migration. I know this is a bit general, but are there any do's and don'ts that I need to know before migrating an entire aperture library. Basically any tips? I'm presuming the process is fairly straightforward, but it looks like a fair few people have run in to problems with this.

Many thanks for your help, much appreciated.

Richard

iMac 27" 3.06 Intel, Mac OS X (10.6.2), Nikon D90

Posted on Jun 27, 2011 1:33 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

SierraDragon

Level 4

2,695 points

Jun 27, 2011 4:30 PM in response to Richard1979

Overfilled hard drives may suffer fatal crashes. First thing is stop using that box until you make space on the hard drive. Best may be to remove data other than the Aperture Library, ideally at least 200 GB data or more. Then attach your fat new external drive (ideally eSATA, second choice FW800 rather than slow USB) and convert to a referenced-Masters Library with the Masters stored on the external drive, and backed up on one or more other external drives.

Personally I like quad-interface drives from OWC:
[url]http://eshop.macsales.com/shop/firewire/[/url]

HTH

-Allen Wicks

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Answer 2

Jun 27, 2011 4:44 PM in response to Richard1979

Hi,

To add to Allen's comments, I'm surprised you've managed to get the drive that full without The Four Horsemen of the Data Apocalypse appearing and riding roughshod all over your data! 😝 Clean out your main disk asap!!!!

Being in a much smaller hard disk that yourself, I've already gone the external disk path. I had a look around and the one I got was the Seagate GoFlex Desk. They're a good price, but the coolest thing about them is that you can different bases with different interfaces. I bought the FW800 base and swap two externals onto it when needed - one for data and the other for the Time Machine. The Cunning Plan is to get the Thunderbolt base when it becomes available, so that I have an excuse to get a newer iMac (told you it was cunning, but my wife tells me I fail at logic...)

There's other good options out there also - WD have the Studio range with FW800 also, or you can buy an enclosure and do your own, there's RAID ones etc - just make sure they're FW800 for the best performance on your machine.

Are you running referenced or managed masters?

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Answer 3

Richard1979 Author

Level 1

4 points

Jun 28, 2011 10:28 AM in response to CalxOddity

Thanks Guys,

I'm running managed masters directly from my internal HD.

Firstly I went in and cleared 150 GB of non essential rubbish, so that should give me a little breathing space.

I've booked a gig with the geniuses at the mac store in london, so I'll run the migration process by them to make sure I don't incinerate a couple years of work..!

Thank you for the hard drive suggestions. I found this model online, its 2TB and Firewire 800. I've had an iomega before which I was pretty happy with. http://www.cancomuk.com/product/68461/34797/Iomega-eGo-Mac-2TB-External-Hard-Dri ve-%28-Firewire-800

Rich

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Answer 4

worksafe

Level 2

180 points

Jun 28, 2011 11:21 AM in response to Richard1979

There are all sorts of HD's on the market and it's a user own preferences that usually dictates a purchase. I don't recommend any one type since I don't need to be sued if a person does'nt like it, but I personally am considering the 3TB TC.

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