Aperture 3 Performance Issues

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Level 2

211 points

Aperture 3 Performance Issues

Having real issues with Aperture 3.2.2. It is getting incredibly painful to use! General use is VERY slow and the longer I work with it the slower it gets even if it is the only application open. I just wondered if there was a reliable step by step guide in improving Aperture's performance?

The background stuff:

Aperture 3.2.2.

Mac OS X Mountain Lion 10.8.1

MacBook Pro 2.8GHz dual core

4Gb RAM

750Gb HD (1/2 empty) Library is stored on internal drive.

25,000 library with all masters stored in Aperture library (library is as old as Aperture 1.0 and has under gone several upgrades with new versions but never a rebuild).

Majority of images are 8MP Canon RAWs but am starting to work with 18MP Canon RAWs after a camera upgrade.

Even contemplating jumping ship to Lightroom, but I like Aperture workflow and tools and I'm guessing my biggest issue is the size of my library.

I have read various things on here about rebuidling libraries, or using seperate libraries by year to reduce library size. I don't want to invest a load of time for minimal results. I also appreciate my machine would benefit from a RAM upgrade, but not wholly convinced this will fix my issues?

Appreciate any advice.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.7.3), MacBook Pro 13" 2.8GHz 4Gb 750Gb

Posted on Aug 31, 2012 8:36 AM

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Answer 1

Aug 31, 2012 8:50 AM in response to Ian Lewis

3.2.2, or 3.3.2? What color are your menu bar icons? 😉

Your library isn't that large, so I don't think you need to carve it up. Note that your laptop hard drive is the slowest element in the mix: Is it a 5400 RPM drive? Those drives are pretty slow (the flash storage in the new Retina MacBook Pro is up to 10X as fast as a 5400 RPM spinning laptop drive), so it can be the slowest element in the chain.

Are you using previews in Aperture? What are the settings set to?

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Answer 2

Ian Lewis Author

Level 2

211 points

Aug 31, 2012 8:56 AM in response to William Lloyd

William Lloyd wrote:

Are you using previews in Aperture? What are the settings set to?

Previews are turned on. New Projects automatically generate previews. Previews shared with iLife and iWork at hlaf size quality 8.

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Answer 3

Aug 31, 2012 12:58 PM in response to Ian Lewis

Slowness like what you describe indicates a problem.

Is Aperture processing in the background? This shows at "Window➞Show Activity".

8 GB RAM recommended anyway. Check page outs if you want to see for yourself.

Splitting Library will have no major effect: Aperture uses memory well. Library size is mostly immaterial except as relates to drive size. (You have ample free space.)

Repair/Rebuild recommended. I do this regularly for all my Libraries. Of course, you shouldn't even open Aperture without having backups of your Libraries and Referenced Originals. Do this overnight -- it is also good to let Aperture run unmolested for a few hours, which it should have time to do after the Repair/Rebuild is complete. (Since your Library seems intact, "Repair" should be enough -- don't have to "Rebuild" yet.)

You may have additional "bottlenecks". Things to check:

- Does Aperture run faster/smoother under another user account? If so, delete your Aperture Prefs.

- Does Aperture run faster/smoother with another Library? If so, look for corrupt Images in your Library.

Repair, Rebuild, and Prefs deletion are covered on the Apple Aperture trouble-shooting page.

Good Luck -- let us know what you find out.

Message was edited by: Kirby Krieger -- Q "Show Activity" added.

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Answer 4

Ian Lewis Author

Level 2

211 points

Oct 28, 2012 1:23 PM in response to Kirby Krieger

Thanks for your help so far.

I have completed a rebuild and deleted preferences and am having the same issues.

I have run an experiment today with only Aperture running and acitivty monitor. After only working on about a dozen images (18 megapixel Canon RAWs) it was clear Aperture (3.4.1) was starting to crawl. I confess to not being an expert on RAM and how the system uses it so I appreciate any thoughts. This is what acitivty monitor reported when Aperture started to slow down:

Aperture:

CPU: 2.9%

Real memory: 706.5Mb

Intel 64-bit

Virtual memory: 1.04Gb

RAM

Free: 357.7Mb

Wired: 844.3Mb

Active: 1.44Gb

Inactive: 1.38Gb

Used: 3.65Gb

VM Size: 213.49Gb

Page ins: 526.6Mb

Page outs: 1.4Gb

Swap size: 2.28Gb

Appreciate anyone's interpretation on this information. My MacBook Pro otherwise runs fine for all other tasks. With RAM prices being favourable I am pretty sure I will soon upgrade to 16Gb anyway, but not convinced this is the answer to all my problems.

Cheers,

Ian

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