Backup / mirror / clone / duplicate

I import my photos from memory card into iPhoto for sorting and then use Aperture for the serious stuff. I don't use any Aperture features like Masters or whatever it's called. That way everything stays together in the library and can be used in iPhoto and Aperture.

The only difference between importing with Aperture and iPhoto is that with Aperture you can choose where to store the files. That includes choosing the only option iPhoto has - stoing them in the LIbrary. Yes you do use Masters - just that iPhoto calls them Originals, but there the actual photos as copied from the camera. So, your workflow doesn't need iPhoto at all.

I'm not being pedantic, but you need to understand the app and how it works, otherwise you'll have user errors and risj dataloss.

While one can haggle over the details, backup / mirror / clone are pretty much three ways of saying the same thing - making a copy of the Library.

Check out Aperture's Vault in the Manual or use an app that will do incremental back ups. This is a very good way to work. The first time you run the back up the app will make a complete copy of the Library. Thereafter it will update the back up with the changes you have made. That makes subsequent back ups much faster. Many of these apps also have scheduling capabilities: So set it up and it will do the back up automatically.

Example of such apps: Chronosync- but there are many others. Search on MacUpdateor the App Store

Almost all apps are tricky for the first-time user to handle correctly. I use SuperDuper, which does the same as ChronoSync and the many others.

At 400 GB, you are going to have to give any of them several hours to make and verify the first back-up. After that, bringing your back-up up-to-date (so it matches the current state of your Library) can be done in a matter of minutes. Of course, this depends on the amount of changes, and the type of connection. (I recommend USB-3 or Thunderbolt.)

For two back-ups (highly recommended), you should make each from your original Library. Depending on the volume of your work and the value of a day's work, you might "leap-frog" these: bring only one up-to-date each evening, and alternate drives. This also more easily allows you to never have all three copies of your Library (the working copy, and the two complete back-ups) in the same physical location.

Back-ups made and maintained by cloning (imho, you should use a program that clones the entire volume, and stick to one volume per drive) will function identically to your working-copy. Should your working copy fail, you can use any back-up (made by cloning) immediately. (Of course, it will only have your data up to the point you backed up.)

Keep in mind that Aperture is a complex database. Your 400 GB Library almost certainly has over a million individual files. This very large number of small files will always take humanly-noticeable time to read, to copy, and to back-up.

HTH,

--Kirby.

One backup app I tried copied the content of the library package into its individual folders and files, but I'm unsure whether Aperture or iPhoto would be able to use that as a library in the event of damage or theft of the original drive.

They wouldn't.

Can I strongly caution you that Apple's Backup app is no longer developed and hasn't been updated in years. I simply would not trust an abandoned application for work like this. Seriously.

Not sure what issues you're hving with Chronosync but I use it and SuperDuper with no issues.

What not use Time Machine for the daily backups ad then clone the drive every 3rd day?

Just realized your profile says 10.4, are you really still on the OS version and what version of Aperture are you running? That info wil affect the answers.