Hi Claude,
(That sound like a French name to me)
yes, I think the origin is french, but it is also very popular in Germany. 🙂
But i had no idea my library was also on my external drive.
That is unusual - by default the library will be created in the "Pictures" folder. At some point you must have accidentally created a new library.
I beleive that this has made for a very slow working experience. am I correct?
The library itself should be on a fast drive with a fast connection - otherwise it will be slow. Your WD Netbook drive is a network drive, right? This will be slow, unless the drive has a very fast network connection. Check the disk formatting with Disk Utility. Mac-compatible does not necessarily mean the correct file system. If the format is not "Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)" your library is in danger on that drive. Aperture needs the "Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)" formatting, even if other programs can cope with other formats, see:
Use locally mounted Mac OS X Extended volumes for your Aperture library
If your Network drive cannot be formatted MacOS X Extended, you may store the originals there, but not the library itself.
(How i had intended it to go was to put my original photos on the external HD and to import them as references images into my system drive)
SInce you have enough space on your system drive, this could be accomplished by directly copying the "Actual" Library to your system drive - the default place would be the "Pictures" folder. Rename it to something different from the default name, so you can easily recognize it.
Then you can do the procedure to consolidate the library directly on the internal disk - that is safer than doing it on a network volume, that may lose the connection and need remounting at a critical moment.
So your steps would be:
- rename the library and copy the library to your system drive by dragging it using the Finder
- consolidating all referenced images
- checking for images that need reconnecting and reconnect them and consolidate them
- create a backup, before importing further images.
6- I do not see aperture being saved by time machine. Perhaps it is because it is on my external drive?
Check the TIme Machine settings. You may have excluded your external drive or it was not mounted. Or does Time Machine backup to the same drive? Then this will not be included.
Then you should use a different drive for your Aperture originals, otherwise they will not be backed up.
Is skype an option between you and me
this will not work, because I cannot guarantee to be available at fixed times, sorry.
/finder/picture/ libr....This library is empty.
That must be the default library created by Aperture, whenever your actual library is not mounted.
'ipod photo cache'
This is created to sync your images to your IOS devices using iTunes. It contains only previews, not the full size images.
considering that there is no backup of my external drive in time machine
Seeing you have many GB of images on that drive, it is urgent that you try to check the Time Machine settings.
Post back, when you have more questions; otherwise let me hear, when you have moved the Aperture library to the internal drive and proceed with consolidating it.
Greetings to Canada.
I have never been to the eastern part of that beautiful country, only to the western states from Toronto to Vancouver.
Léonie