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Managed Library #1
Francois Arbour's picture
by Francois Arbour
July 26, 2011 - 6:32am

I was listening to your video about importing in Aperture and you said that when
you import your photos, if you choose to import in the Aperture library, you store automatically in the Picture file on you computer. That's correct but what if you decide to store your photos on a big external drive by changing the location of your
library in the preference pane. I get managed Library and not on my computer. Is that possible?

Stuart's picture
by Stuart
July 26, 2011 - 7:29am

Francois,

Personally I do not like to store any image on computer (MacBook Pro 15”).

I have my Aperture Library stored on an external G-Tech 2TB Firewire 800 drive.
Currently I use managed library. For me using managed makes it much easier for back up using the vault. I also have a couple of portable firewire 800 hard drive I use when traveling and or onsite projects. These are in addition to the firewire drives I use for the vault. I just feel better having a number of backups. Besides external drives are fairly reasonable priced these days.

Stu

Stu

PhotoJoseph's picture
by PhotoJoseph
July 26, 2011 - 7:40am

Francois,

As I believe you already understand, there are two ways to store your master images: Managed (meaning the live inside of the Library package), or Referenced, meaning they live outside of the Library package (which could be anywhere you like).

If I understand, you’re asking if you can store the Library itself on an external drive. The answer is yes.

Most users who have too many photos to fit on their internal drive choose to store the Library on the internal drive, but the Masters on an external drive.

If you have a portable Mac, this is a great idea because you can still have your Library with you, even if you don’t have the hard drive, and can see your photos. You can’t edit them without the Masters connected, but you can see them.

If you have a desktop Mac, this is still beneficial because usually the internal drive in the Mac, on the ESATA connection, is faster than an external hard drive connected by FireWire (and definitely faster than a USB connection). If you have a RAID system, then the external drive is faster, but usually the internal one is best.

How you choose to set your system up depends on your needs and expectations—but ultimately, they all work just fine.

-Joseph @ApertureExpert

@PhotoJoseph
— Have you signed up for the mailing list?

Francois Arbour's picture
by Francois Arbour
July 27, 2011 - 4:55am

Than you Stu and Joseph.

Its clear now.

Thanks

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