Backing Up Photo Files From Aperture to Dropbox?

"Photo files"? Do you mean the Originals? The Import dialog has a Backup option to automatically create a backup on import. I don't use Dropbox, but I assume you can select that as the backup destination.

Remember that a version in Aperture is not a file. If you want to back up everything, you need to back up the whole library. The standard way to do that in Aperture is with a vault. I presume the vault can be on Dropbox. Or perhaps you could put the Library itself on Dropbox. Either way, the usual warning applies that referenced Originals must be backed up separately.

No research needed. Full instructions are in the User Manual. Do use Aperture's Vault feature. _Do not store your Originals in any folder that is sync'd to Dropbox._ Iirc, there have been reports of corrupted databases from those who tried this. (In essence, you want to make your back-up either with Aperture, or when Aperture is not running, and you do not want to make your back-up when Aperture is running.)

Here is a short primer of the Aperture. The only way to recover from the loss or complete corruption of an Aperture Library is to have a copy of your Library. Make two, and never have all three (your working copy and your two back-up copies) in the same physical location at the same time.

(Added:)

"Photo" has no fixed meaning in Aperture. The things you see when you select a container are Images. Each Image is created on-the-fly from an Original and a Version file (it's a text file of instructions summarizing the adjustments and metadata changes you've made).

Message was edited by: Kirby Krieger

I presume the vault can be on Dropbox. Or perhaps you could put the Library itself on Dropbox. Either way, the usual warning applies that referenced Originals must be backed up separately.

Vaults and Aperture libraries are both packages - folders with many files wrapped as a bundle. Dropbox does not sync these packages well as an entity. If you move such a bundle to Dropbox and do not wait until the upload and sync is complete, before you access he dropbox copy, you'll destroy both the original and the copy in Dropbox. It can take many days for a large library to transfer to Dropbox, while you cannot use it in any way. The only safe way to put a libary or vault into dropbox is to store a compressed copy there - a single file- , but then you have to make a local copy and uncompress the local copy, each time you want to use the cloud backup.

It does assuming the library is not on an excluded volume.

But remember that TM does incremental backups, not archival. In addition to TM you need at least one archival backup of the originals at a minimum and an archival of the library would be even better.

Expanding on Frank's spot-on response: _my suggestion_ is to use Time Machine as an _auxiliary_ back-up, but not as a primary back-up. Institute a rigorous 3-copies back-up program*, and rely on TM to have your back in case of (quite common) human or machine failure.

*one working copy, and two back-up copies. Never have all three in the same physical location.

Drives are cheap. Buy them in duplicate for Libraries that are on your system drive, and triplicate for Libraries on external drives. Use SuperDuper or CarbonCopyCloner to keep _two_ copies of your working Library _and your Referenced Originals_ current. Never have all three copies in the same physical location. And use TM as a last resort in case those fail.

Note, too, that Time Machine provide more versioning back-up than SuperDuper or any cloning system.

I recommend _not_ relying on only TM or only a cloning system. TM works well and is close to cost-free (use an EHD that is too slow for regular work). SuperDuper (and others) work well and cost some money (but, suffice it to say, far far far far far less than the cost of acquiring and developing your Image data). Together they provide a reasonable -- to me -- level of security.

Message was edited by: Kirby Krieger

While there is a lot of useful information in the posts that follow this question, no one took it head-on. "Is there an automated way to have my photo files [let's read this as 'Aperture library'] backed up to Dropbox from Aperture?" The value of this would be to have an off-site backup that is always in sync. I expect a lot of Aperture users are like me and keep their Aperture library on an external drive (I use a Drobo). I don't want an extra 100 Gb (and growing) on my primary drive (for which I use both Time Machine and SuperDuper). I currently back up my photos to Blu-ray (kept in a safe-deposit box) and to another internal hard drive. But I have lots of Dropbox space, and it would be nice to have an in-sync copy of the library.

I just spent a morning looking for suggestions on using Dropbox with an external drive, without much luck beyond symbolic links. I tried a symbolic link with Reunion, a genealogy app. It appears to create a file on Dropbox but not one I've been able to access from my iPad, so, so far, I don't consider the symbolic link a success.

Still, I could try a symbolic link from my Drobo-located Aperture library to my MacPro Dropbox folder. But, I wonder, could I put an Aperture Vault in my MacPro Dropbox folder? And, then, use "Selective Sync" to keep it from copying over to my primary drive? Some of the warnings above make me skittish about trying something like this.