Highly erractic import speed (minutes to hours for same size)
I just started using Aperture and I'm using a new camera (Canon 60D)
When I do an import the rate and responsiveness of Aperture vary widely. I'm shooting sporting events and my typical import is about 22-25GB (800 photos).
Sometimes this takes 30-45 minutes, and the computer is fairly responsive. Other times this balloons to hours. Right now I have an import that is >12 hours in with only about a third of the photos imported. What seems odd is that it's either done in minutes, or it will be 7 hours plus, nothing in between. Speed seems to be "set" at the start of the import. Not sure that I've noticed it ramping up or down much during the import.
I've had some cases where memory was an issue (Aperature >6 GB real RAM), but most of the time Aperature is under 2 GB RAM, processors are mostly idle and the drive activity looks more like short spikes of activity rather than a stready stream. Read/write speeds get down into the kb/sec range.
When import is slow, Aperature is almost completely nonresponsive. If I let it go long enough it eventually finishes, but this just doesn't seem right for a professional program. Some other applications also significantly slow down, whereas I can use others without an issue.
I'm using a card reader plugged directly into a front port on the Mac Pro.
I'm importing RAW files only, so about 25 MB per file.
I'm still learning both Aperture and the camera, so maybe it's something simple.
Mac Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.4), (Early 2008) 10 GB RAM