I think that giving up on Aperture and accepting its demise is not our only option, Aperture is by far the best digital photo application that Apple (or indeed any other software developer) have created and as such, must not be allowed to disappear.
If we all create a groundswell of opinion we can persuade them to reinstate this Rolls Royce of an application. Lets unite, and rise up to remind Apple that Adobe cannot be the provsole digital photo platform on the planet.
Unfortunately you will have to change at some point. Some folks say that they won't update the OS and just keep using Aperture, but one day your Mac will break and you'll need to replace it. At that point you will have to use a new OS, and if Aperture won't run on that, then you will have a crisis on you hands.
Now is the time to evaluate alternatives and select one, so that you can do the transition is an orderly and managed fashion. If you think that might be too stressful, then imagine the stress when you're learning a new OS on a new computer and a new app all at the same time, and you can't even access the Aperture Library.
Adobe are not the only people with apps in this space, tho probably LR is the nearest to Aperture, and has a migration tool. But there are others: Capture One, Corel AfterShot, ON1 PhotoRaw, Luminar promises a new DAM app in 2018 and so on.
Frankly, I don't see that you have a choice. Do it now when it can be managed, or later when it's a crisis. That's your choice.
Not completely sure if I understand your question. I have never used the iCloud Photo Library.
I store my photo library (Aperture & LR) on disk in RAW format (or TIF for scans). I also use SmugMug for sharing photos (and videos) over the net (this has some overlap with iCloud, but much cheaper for large libraries). Last, I have recently started to include a final, edited JPEG version of each photo in the new "Photos" app.
So, in total... I keep original copies in Aperture (which I will eventually delete) and LR. I have edited copies in Photos & SmugMug. I also have local backups on TM and CCC, plus an offsite backup on BackBlaze.
I only started the the "Photos" option after starting my move to LR. It is useful for syncing photos with an iOS device (or using iCloud, if desired). I wouldn't use "Photos" for editing or as a DAM. I can also give my kids a copy of the Photos library so they have a simple and organized copy of old family photos. They wouldn't know what to do with Aperture or LR.
David
Have you ever restored a BackBlaze backed up Aperture or Photos/iPhoto library? and if so, did it work. (I'm curious)
Csound1,
Never had the need to restore any Aperture files, but I have restored other files occasionally (it's about as simple and quick as restoring files from TM). They are a very "Mac friendly" operation (compared to other services), so I don't have too much of a concern. They also give you the option to encrypt all files (I do). If I had to restore the entire Aperture library (or all my files), I'd just have them send me a HD (at no charge if you return it). It would probably be faster (and cheaper) than trying to download a few TB of data. They charge $5 a month, regardless of the size of the backup (this includes any attached disks on the same computer). I used to keep some HD's offsite, but they could be weeks out of date before I swapped them out. The cost of BackBlaze is probably about the same cost as the HD's I would buy (and replace every few years) for offsite storage; Except they stay up to date and are less of a hassle.
David
I strongly suggest that you try, but don't overwrite your copy on the Mac, there is a chance that it will not properly restore. Best to find out before you need it. This problem only affects iPhoto/Photos and Aperture libraries, everything else is unaffected.
Thanks for the suggestion. I think I'll ask them to send me an HD to test it out.
Do you know where you heard about possible problems?
On this site, and from personal experience with SugarSync (who have solved it, by refusing to back them up at all)
Nice solution! (...at least it doesn't give you a false sense of security). 😁
Greatly appreciate the warning... I wonder if there is a similar issue with LR. I keep a referenced library in LR (finder folders) and write all metadata to the files, so it would be a simple issue to re-establish my LR library in any case. My managed Aperture library may be a big problem.
Sounds like I should start storing an Aperture vault offsite again!
Thanks!
You're welcome, and good luck.
Post back and let me know the outcome please.
Sounds like I should start storing an Aperture vault offsite again!
I would not use vaults with the current version of Aperture. Vaults have been introduced at a time, when Time Machine could not back up photo libraries reliably. Time Machine is now working well with Aperture Libraries and iPhoto Libraries, but the vaults have never worked reliably since Aperture 3.3. The most common problem is, that they are refusing to update and hanging or restoring from the vault does not work properly, or photos imported from My Photo Stream are missing. I don't trust vaults any longer as a backup. Since a vault is essentially an Aperture library, it is easier to make occasionally a copy of your Aperture Libraries on a backup drive than wasting the time with creating a vault.
Wow! Thanks leonie!
Do you know if Carbon Copy Cloner works well as an Aperture backup?
David
Wow! Thanks leonie!
Do you know if Carbon Copy Cloner works well as an Aperture backup?
David
Yes it certainly does.
Thanks... I'll use CCC instead of vaults.
btw, I did a search on the BackBlaze website and they specifically say they backup Aperture/iPhoto/Photos libraries. I also sent a help request to them asking if they are aware of any problems restoring these libraries, but it will probably take a day before I get a response. I may still order an HD to verify myself (if they should say there should be no problem). I will still make an offsite clone in any case.... just because I'm paranoid.
I personally would be extremely careful of the claims being made by BackBlaze. Some time ago when I thought I was interested in a cloud backup, I tested all of them that I could download a demo for only to discover that while they were able to backup and restore my photos all of the metadata and adjustments were unusable when I restored them. So I decided they were worthless because of that. Hence the reason I don't use any of them now.
My suggestion is to backup a sample library of your photos then delete and restores it. Then test to be sure that everything is still there in your sample library.
David Strait wrote:
btw, I did a search on the BackBlaze website and they specifically say they backup Aperture/iPhoto/Photos libraries.
Do they mention restoring them ?
Don't give up on Aperture
