aperture vault with no mother library - how do i update it?

If you're comfortable doing this, change the file name extension to "aplibrary" and try double-clicking it. This used to allow one to open Vaults as Libraries.

Back up first.

You're welcome 🙂 . I recommend running "Repair Database" before doing any work in the Library. Then make _another_ back up, so you have a "converted" and repaired Library to return to. Then you can safely (imho) delete the back-up of the Vault.

Simple, effective answer: Yes, make copies of your Libraries as back-ups and don't use the Vault feature.

Vaults are no more than a back-up created from within Aperture. (I suspect Apple added this feature on the assumption that users of Aperture did not regularly back up their data.) They can be problematic (they can also be problem-free). If you are comfortable with Finder or with a program such as SuperDuper or CCC, use it and don't bother with Vaults. (That's what I do, and that's what other top posters here do as well.)

As far as data back-up goes, I recommend that all users maintain at all time three copies of their data. A working copy, a copy of the working copy that gets regularly updated (no less than once a day, unless the data is unchanged), and another copy of the working copy that is kept off-site. Never have all three copies in the same physical location (don't bring your off-site copy on-site. Take your on-site copy off-site, and then bring the off-site copy on-site, effectively swapping them while never having all three copies in the same location).

As for making on Library for each project ... it is generally not recommended. One of the great empowerments of Aperture is that it functions as an index of all the work it contains. I have _every photo I've ever taken_ in my personal Library. I can search my entire oevre. Your needs may be different -- and may be different enough that making one Library for each project you do is sensible -- but using separate Libraries takes the power of this global indexing away. (Fwiw, the reasons I can think of having separate Libraries: image security, image quarantine, multiple photographers, and Libraries of images where the photographer is not important.)

HTH,

--Kirby.

(Sent from my magic glass.)

Kirby, are you saying that you make a complete copy of your Aperture Library every day (or every time it changes)?

When I update a Vault it just writes the recent changes into the Vault, which is much faster than making a complete copy.

I do keep Vaults on several drives and offsite but they don't all get updated at the same frequency. (One feature-request I've forwarded to Apple is to be able to see a Vault's update-date in Aperture, without mounting the Vault to check it's date.)

Also, on the rare occasion that I have restored a Vault, I first created a New Library and then did a Restore Library (in the Vault 'gear' menu) into the new Library. I think that left the Vault untouched.

...Neil

Hi Neil,

I use SuperDuper, which "intelligently" updates the back-up copy by updating only those files that are changed (it reads the individual files inside the Aperture package). I run this every night on every Library I use. (I have SuperDuper set to run automatically when the back-up drives are mounted.) Once each week I swap all on-site and off-site back-up drives. These drives are purchased, formatted, named, and labeled and numbered on their cases, in pairs. I leave the power wires and data cables in place on-site.

Don't forget -- you must back up all Referenced Originals as well. Aperture does a good job of warning users about this.

--Kirby.

Another SuperDuper strategy and recommendation shared, thanks.

...Neil