Performing Automatic Backup

The last part of any photography workflow should be some kind of backup and archiving process. For those of you who aren't clear on the difference, backup is what you do while you're working on your images so that, in the event of a crash, you can recover your work. Archiving is the process of storing your completed images.

A good backup system is one that is easy to use while you're working on your images and that provides a simple mechanism for recovery should you need it. Archiving can be a more complex process, and we'll discuss it later in this chapter. Aperture includes a built-in backup facility that also makes a good archiving tool.

Aperture can automatically create and manage a special duplicate of your Aperture library called a vault. You can, of course, duplicate your library yourself using the Finder. The advantage to using an Aperture vault is that it can make progressive backups. In a progressive backup system, after you've made your initial backup, only the new files (or files that have changed since the last backup) are duplicated. This is a much more efficient process than if you have to duplicate the entire library every time you want to back up your work.

When you launch Aperture, its splash screen tells you how many projects and images in your library have not been stored in a vault. If you've never backed up anything, then these numbers will include all of the items in your library. Otherwise, they'll include only the items that have not been saved in a previous backup.

You can create your vault on the same drive as your library, but while this will give you a useful backup should your library become corrupted, it won't help you at all if your drive crashes. So for the most secure backup, you'll want to use a second drive: either an external drive or, if you're using a Mac tower, a second internal drive.

Creating a Vault

Before you can tell Aperture to back up your library, you need to create a vault file. This is the document in which Aperture will store your library, and as already mentioned, it's best to create it on a second drive.

Here's how to create a vault:

1.	Open the action menu at the bottom of the Projects pane and choose Add Vault, or choose File > Vault > Add Vault. The Vault panel will open, and any vaults that you've created will be listed.
2.	A Save dialog box will appear. Select a location to store your vault. Aperture will add the new vault to the list of vaults in the Vault panel. If you want, you can rename it.

For added security, you can create as many vaults as you want, on as many different drives as you feel are necessary. You can open the reveal arrow next to the vault name to see the path to the vault's location.

The thermometer display shows how much of your destination drive's storage space is allocated for the vault (Figure 9.1). Aperture grabs a chunk that's a little larger than your current library to guarantee that your vault has room to grow. As long as there's available space on your drive, though, Aperture will expand the vault as needed.

Figure 9.1. Aperture uses vaults to create progressive backups of your Aperture library. You can create and manage vaults using the controls at the bottom of the Projects pane.

Note

Your vault does not actually consume any storage space before you perform your first backup. The thermometer display is provided simply to let you know when your backup volume may need to be expanded.

Updating a Vault

Though you have created a vault, you haven't yet backed up any of your files. To update your vault, backing up all files as necessary, click the Update button next to any vault's name. To update all vaults that you've created, click the Update button at the bottom of the Projects panel.

Aperture will begin copying any images that have not been previously archived. If you have deleted images since your last update, those master images will be removed from the vault and placed in a folder called <Vault_Name> Deleted Images, which will be located in the same directory as the vault itself.

Restoring from a Vault

If a drive failure or other problem occurs and your Aperture library is destroyed, you can rebuild the library from your saved vault. Obviously, Aperture can restore only to the state of your last backup.

To restore from a vault, follow these steps:

1.	Choose Aperture > Vault > Restore Library. Aperture presents the Restore Library dialog box (Figure 9.2). Figure 9.2. You'll need to configure this dialog box to restore your files from a saved vault.
2.	From the Source Vault pop-up menu, choose Select Source Vault; then select your vault file.
3.	You can restore to your current library or to a completely different library file. If you're rebuilding your system from scratch, you'll most likely want to restore to the current library, so you can leave the Library Destination pop-up menu set to its default.
4.	Click the Restore button to begin the restoration. Aperture will begin copying your library information from your vault into your library.

If you have simply messed up your librarymade bad edits, reorganized things in a way that you no longer likeyou can restore over your current library. Your library will be completely replaced, and any images that were in your library will be placed in a new library file called Aperture Library_Old.

Tip

Because Aperture will save a copy of your library, you may need to empty your library before restoring from your vault, to ensure that you have enough disk space to build the new library.