Aperture 3 workflow - multiple machines

[Turbo-G]

Hi Guys,

I'm an Aperture 3 user. My main machine is a 2009 iMac, although I've recently picked up a 2012 retina MacBook Pro as a secondary machine, and to do the majority of my photo editing.

The iMac will continue to be my 'main' machine mainly due to the large screen and plentiful storage in contrast to the MBP (500GB hard disk, with a 2TB drive attached via USB for TimeMachine). However, I would like to use the MBP more for my photography...

How do people maintain a single Aperture (or iPhoto) library across multiple machines?

As far as I can tell there are the following options:

1) Store Aperture library on a network attached disk, so both machines can access via the network - although potentially at a loss in performance due to network latency...

2) Store Aperture library on the iMac hard disk, and set up disk sharing to allow access to the iMac's hard disk and Aperture library - easier workflow although eligible for potential library database corruptions/inconsistencies.... as I found out tonight.

I accessed the iMac library via my MBP and imported some new photo's, unfortunately without realising Aperture was already 'open' in my sleeping iMac. This seemed to cause some kind of read/write permissions inconsistency, resulting in a rebuild of the database....

3) Operate two Aperture libraries, a 'master' on the iMac and a secondary library on the MBP. Using the MBP to import photos, I can then do my edits and export the 'project' I'm working on as a new library. I would then drag/drop the new library onto the iMac and merge into the existing library whenever the opportunity strikes.... An Apple suggested approach, but a little 'messy' if I'm honest.

I've tried option 2 and 3, with option 2 being favoured until tonight.

Looking for any further suggestions/ideas based on your own workflow, thanks!

 

[Alpherah]

Can't you just use your iMac as a screen for the mbp?

 

[slinxy]

Can't you just use your iMac as a screen for the mbp?

yes if he has the 27" version

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3924

or he can store on the stuff on the rMBP and use that as a harddrive for the imac, placing it target disk mode.

 

[Turbo-G]

21.5" model unfortunately, also want to enjoy the fantastic screen on the MBP.

I don't want to use the MBP to store my images as I imagine I could consume a lot of the relatively small SSD relatively quickly.

Using the MBP I can access the library on my iMac just fine as per option 2 above. BUT, I did cause some kind of DB corruption through no fault of my own in doing this last time, had to restore from Time Machine.

Nobody else use multiple machines?

 

[Hamish]

If you use Option 1 then the drive you keep the Aperture library on must be formatted as Mac OS Journaled, this means that you can't use a normal NAS for this.

If you have space on the Retina MPB then you can use use Dropbox to sync. I have dropbox setup on my MBA and it works fine although I only use 1 computer.

The most reliable solution is probably to use an external hard drive although it isn't the sleekest.

 

[Doug]

I'd say Dropbox is too small (unless you paid for the extra storage) and has the same drawbacks as your option 2; namely accidentally accessing the same library on both machines at once. Your option 1 (NAS) has the same issue.

Best option I'd say would be to keep your library on a fast external drive (USB3 so it's full speed on the rMBP and USB2 speed on iMac (an SSD would be a good idea too)) and simply move that between the machines at will.

Easy Peasy