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Archive 2012 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives

  
 
NathanHamler
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives


So i'm currently running Aperture 3.....i've been on aperture for the past like 3 years, never had an issue until recently....basically i store my library on an external FW800 drive....my previous library got extra large, so i started a new one from scratch....Now i'm having issues using the library...corrupted database or something like that....I've done a little research and basically it's coming back to the fact that i have my libraries stored on external drives....

Does LR4 have any issues with libraries stored externally? I used to have my master files "referenced", where i told Aperture to put them in a specific folder upon import, and only the actual adjustments were stored in the library.....i switched a while back to a "managed" setup, where the masters AND adjustments are stored in the library....a little more risky, b/c then if you screw up the library, you lose images AND adjustments, not JUST the adjustments....BUT, to combat the risk, i added some extra backup steps to my workflow, so it's worked fine for me up till now...so anyway, i'm wondering if LR4 can be set up the same way, and if anyone has had issues with storing libraries externally.....

I really have no brand loyalty either way.....if Aperture just all of a sudden quit working, i'd switch to LR4 tomorrow....they're like 95% the exact same....just all in what you're used to...

Also, another kinda unrelated question....if you have a LR4 library on a Mac, can you literally just copy and paste the library to a PC and everything work fine? or no?

Edited on Dec 04, 2012 at 02:56 PM · View previous versions



Dec 04, 2012 at 02:48 PM
glacierwn
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives


Up. I had similar issue.


Dec 04, 2012 at 02:52 PM
mhayes5254
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives


No issue with external drives and LR. Basically, if the OS sees the drive, LR can use it. LR does not have the managed option, which is a very good thing in my view. I think you can just dump the Mac library to PC but you better check with someone else on that one.


Dec 05, 2012 at 12:07 AM
matthewbmedia
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives


If you can, store your library/catalog/metadata on a fast internal drive, and leave the referenced files on the external. Stick with a referenced setup on import. The small block random read/write of library operations suffers over an external interface. Put the library on an SSD and you will be incredibly happy.

Store your masters on the external.

If you need to move the library around its easy to export - make changes, and merge with aperture.

Otherwise If you need to keep the library itself on an external drive for portability, I would say you should check drive and cable integrity - because if you are getting file system corruption with aperture, you will also get it with LR.



Dec 05, 2012 at 02:07 PM
NathanHamler
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p.1 #5 · p.1 #5 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives


I think what was happening is the external drive was going to sleep while aperture was still open...actually my main external drive that i work off of is toast...wont mount, disk utility wont repair or format the drive, nothing...the library/masters that are still on my mirrored backup works great...so the failing drive may be to blame...

The reason i switched to a managed masters setup is because you cant just tell Aperture where a folder of masters is....so if a drive crashes, you lose masters, but the library is still ok on the internal drive, you cant point aperture to an IDENTICAL directory/folder of masters on another drive...you have to go file, by file, by file....so i store them all in the library and just clone the library every night, AND let it back up with time machine....Glyph is replacing the faulty drive, so i may be able to keep aperture...



Dec 05, 2012 at 04:26 PM
acoll123
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p.1 #6 · p.1 #6 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives


I use aperture with managed files on an external drobo. I start new libraries every year and also have separate libraries for work and personal stuff so they don't get too large. I also back up with Time Machine to another external drive (backs up the drobo and my MBP) and finally have yet another external drive for TM backups that I store off-site and back-up once every week or so. I have never had a problem with Aperture losing files but I think I am in good shape if one library does get corrupted. Hope you are able to recover yours . . .

I think you are right about Aperture and LR being similar - especially with plug-ins for both.



Dec 05, 2012 at 04:45 PM
matthewbmedia
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p.1 #7 · p.1 #7 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives


Hi Nathan -

You actually can "batch update" an entire libraries references to folders - it's even easier if there is a "duplicate folder" structure on a separate drive - you don't need to do it file by file (It's a one click "reconnect all" button under "manage referenced files").




Dec 05, 2012 at 06:32 PM
NathanHamler
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p.1 #8 · p.1 #8 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives


matthewbmedia wrote:
Hi Nathan -

You actually can "batch update" an entire libraries references to folders - it's even easier if there is a "duplicate folder" structure on a separate drive - you don't need to do it file by file (It's a one click "reconnect all" button under "manage referenced files").



Hmmm, i must have missed that one...i'll do some searching/testing when i get home...i may go back to that setup down the road..the way i'm doing it now seems to be working...i just have to buy new drives every year...cause my libraries get so huge...i'm considering trading my core i3 imac for a quad i7 mini, and i'll run 2 drives, one being an ssd...i like the idea of having libraries on an internal ssd and masters on externals...



Dec 05, 2012 at 08:22 PM
matthewbmedia
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p.1 #9 · p.1 #9 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives


Once you put the library on an SSD and masters on another drive, you can't go back. It is a night and day difference.

Makes backups and multiple machine work easier too in my opinion - quicker to clone libraries, etc. Because they are usually under 1GB depending on preview settings.



Dec 05, 2012 at 09:16 PM
LA_Sportsman
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p.1 #10 · p.1 #10 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives


I went from LR2 to Aperture 3 and then to LR4. I used referenced photos because of the risk as well as barriers to changing from Aperture to LR by letting Aperture manage my photos.

One tip, is I redid my file management for photos a few years ago with a parent folder of the year and subfolders for months and then subfolders by shoot. It was a great deal of painful labor but had made life easier. I do think I my drop the month folders and simply go with year and shoot.

I try to manage my internal drive to keep my working copy of all photos on my internal (backed up to an external firewire 800 and carbonate) but when I do exceed space available, my plan is to move earlier years to an external and keep current year(s) on internal. Lightroom will allow me to point to the external or internal as appropriate. I think Aperture will allow the same if you are using referenced.

I think Aperture's managed setup is a relic based on Apple's control freak mentality combined with being designed in a different era where photos were not 10-35 MB's per photo. The managed file size will simply grow too unwieldy and increase chances of corruption. I liked Aperture with referenced but on a reasonably fast iMac with 16 GB of RAM, I couldn't keep it from crashing so I switched upon LR4's release and haven't looked back.



Dec 08, 2012 at 09:30 AM
mhayes5254
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p.1 #11 · p.1 #11 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives


LA_sportsman - I switched to a hybrid of your year/month/shoot vs year/shoot options. I have year then shoot, but each shoot starts with "xx-yy" numbers for the shoot. For example a birthday shoot on Nan 12 would be "01-12 john smith birthday". This puts things in date order within the year but they are all in one folder.


Dec 08, 2012 at 11:54 AM
LA_Sportsman
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p.1 #12 · p.1 #12 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives


That's pretty close to what I'm thinking. Even with my month subfolders, I used "01 January 2012", "02 February 2012", etc. so they were in the correct order. If I do "YY-MM Subject" they will sort out under the year just fine and probably look better in the folder section of Lightroom.

It was a real pain going back to several years of older photos and organizing correctly and ensuring all were accounted for, especially since I was on multiple smaller externals with no one drive having all my photos.



Dec 08, 2012 at 12:19 PM
Paul Mo
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p.1 #13 · p.1 #13 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives


matthewbmedia wrote:
If you can, store your library/catalog/metadata on a fast internal drive, and leave the referenced files on the external. Stick with a referenced setup on import. The small block random read/write of library operations suffers over an external interface. Put the library on an SSD and you will be incredibly happy.


That's what I do and it's perfectly stable, perfectly fine.



Dec 19, 2012 at 09:15 AM
TonyKinTexas
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p.1 #14 · p.1 #14 · LR 4 vs Aperture 3 on External Drives


I am moving from Aperture to LR4 because of meta tagging and being able to search a single repository/library. In Aperture I now have a library by year and since 2000 the size of the libraries is 30GB. Doing the same as a single library for LR4 the size is about 3GB.

Mentioned meta tagging, LR4 is easier to tag and for one special category I can find all items in the single library. Tried to do something similar with Aperture but it did not work as well. The idea was to have a special library for this collection but finding all the files and importing them in is a pain.

BTW, the special collection is our pets. Since 2000 I have used a style of folder management similar to those above but misc shots do not have a specific shoot. My folder structure is based on year, then under that it is yyyy-mm-dd. If special folders are needed they go under this folder. Finally I meta tag the images to make it easier to find. Meta tagging in LR is so much easier than in Aperture, at least for me. It is a shame really because I learned Aperture and now am learning LR4.

As far as external drives, I could suggest Tech Tool Pro for OS X users. It might be able to recover some of your drive/images.

Take care,



Dec 26, 2012 at 05:13 PM





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