3.3

Chapter 26 Backing Up Your Photos 552
As you add to your photo library, Aperture automatically tracks which les have been backed
up to each vault. When there are image les in the library that are not backed up in a vault, the
Vault Status button appears red. When your vault is up to date, the Vault Status button for the
vault appears black. When you have made image modications (such as image adjustments or
metadata or keyword changes) that have not yet been backed up in a vault, the button appears
yellow. Aperture does not automatically update your vaults, but you can update your vaults at
any time.
Important: Aperture does not back up your library automatically. You must tell Aperture to back
up your library by either clicking the Update All Vaults button, which creates a mirror copy of
your library on all connected vaults, or clicking the Vault status button for a vault, which creates a
mirror copy of your library on that vault.
Planning Your Backup System
As you begin working with Aperture, it’s important to perform regular backups of your photos.
When you import new photos from your camera, you should immediately create a backup so
that you have copies safely stored. As you routinely work with Aperture, creating new photo
versions and making adjustments, you’ll want to make sure your work is copied to disk and your
backup vaults are up to date.
A typical backup system used with Aperture might look like the following:
Office
Remote location
Aperture library
(internal disk)
Vault
(external disk)
Vault
(kept offsite and
updated regularly)
This system backs up the Aperture library to two vaults stored on external hard disks. You
routinely back up the library on one external hard disk. You use the second hard disk as a backup
that you keep osite. You can then alternately back up the library on your onsite external hard
disk and rotate it with the osite hard disk to keep all your vaults updated.
To set up your Aperture backup system, you need to do the following:
•
Determine the number of vaults you need. For example, do you need one for routine backups,
one for weekly backups, and one for osite storage?
•
Determine the number of hard disks you need for routine backups.
•
Determine the number of hard disks you’ll use for storing backups osite.
•
Connect your hard disk drives to your computer.
•
Open Aperture and create the vaults you need, assigning a hard disk to each vault.
•
Update the new empty vaults with copies of the Aperture library.
•
Disconnect one of the vault hard disks and take it to an osite location for safekeeping.