Another external hard drive question...

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Level 2

232 points

Another external hard drive question...

Just filled up my internal hard drive, need to move something to an external hard drive. I have an external firewire drive that I'm planning to use. I'm currently using a managed library and I do understand the difference between referenced/managed libraries. I've read through the posts and there seem to be three strategies, but I can't decide which way to go.

Move managed library to external drive. Which would be simple, but slow, right?
Convert my managed library to a referenced library with masters/originals on external drive. Which could complicate back-up, but should be OK, as long as I don't mess with the photos outside of Aperture? Also, right now, I have four libraries on my internal hard drive, 1900-1950, 1950-1990, 1990-2010, 2010-now (most recent library is now 468Gb, my internal drive is 1TB, so I have to do something with that). If I go referenced, would it be OK to put all those into one library? What are the pros/cons of that?
Use a mixed library, with newer photos managed on internal hard drive, older photos as referenced on external. Which seems really complicated and makes my head hurt when I try to figure out how to do it.

So, which way to go? Thanks for your help!

iMac (27-inch Mid 2011), OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4)

Posted on Jul 27, 2013 9:13 AM

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Answer 1

Jul 27, 2013 9:24 AM in response to Karen P

I primarily use a Managed Library, always on a different drive than my boot drive. In my Mac Pro, that has been another drive in the box, but with my MBP I use a true external. I think your Firewire will be fine, although since my MBP supports both USB3 and Thunderbolt, those are what I use. I backup and transfer between computers and drives via Smart Update with SuperDuper.

On my laptop when not at home, I create new libraries on its drive, and later merge that into my alpha library. With your iMac, that presumedly is not an issue of being remote to your external drives.

Ernie

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Answer 2

Karen P Author

Level 2

232 points

Jul 28, 2013 5:10 AM in response to Ernie Stamper

Good to know that a managed library on an external drive is possible. I'm still a little concerned about speed since Firewire is about half the speed of USB3 or Thunderbolt. How big is your alpha library?

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Answer 3

Jul 28, 2013 5:50 AM in response to Karen P

Aperture is (afaict) very well engineered. It uses your hardware cleverly. I suggest using what you have, and then seeing if you need better performance.

Here is my experience, running both "normal" and very large Libraries:

USB-2 is too slow.
FW400 works. You might want faster, but you might not.
FW800 works well.
USB-3 is recommended for new purchases.

Note that the drive connection is only one potential bottleneck. CPU and GPU are likely to limit performance as well.

Specify your current hardware and budget, and I'm sure you'll get good advice on how to move forward. You should, without question imho, consolidate all your personal Libraries.

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Answer 4

Jul 28, 2013 6:27 AM in response to Karen P

Karen,

My alpha library exceeds 1.7 TB, and is approaching 80,000 images, most of which were shot in RAW. The updating of the clone typically takes 8 to 12 minutes because it is a Smart Update only working on what has changed since the last cloning.

Ernie

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Answer 5

Karen P Author

Level 2

232 points

Jul 28, 2013 1:30 PM in response to Kirby Krieger

Hey Kirby,

My current hardware is an iMac (27" Mid 2011/10.8.4) so that has USB 2/Firewire 800/Thunderbolt. I have an external hard drive that is Firewire 800. My current budget is $0. Just bought a new lens. I will try a managed library on my external drive and see how things go. Then work to consolidate my libraries.

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Answer 6

Karen P Author

Level 2

232 points

Jul 28, 2013 1:32 PM in response to Ernie Stamper

Thanks Ernie,

Good to know. I'm a big SuperDuper fan, too.

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Answer 7

Jul 28, 2013 1:39 PM in response to Karen P

You need backup, as I suspect you realize. If you let SuperDuper make the initial copy of what you put on your FW drive on an USB2 drive, then it can do the Smart Update from the FW based library to one on the USB2 drive, without worrying about it being slow. Were your FW drive to fail, you could copy the clone on the USB2 drive to a faster drive to actually use.

Ernie

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