Backing up (Mac/Aperture)

[Anzxio]

I've got a MacBook that runs Aperture, though having only a 60gb HDD, space is somewhat limited for photos!

I don't have any kind of backup scheme, and Aperture just runs everything as it came (with regards to file placement and management).

What i'm thinking of doing is purchasing an external HDD (a Lacie 250gb Brick to be specific!) though am unsure as to how to go about backing up my Mac.

I would at least like to have a mirror of my MB HDD incase it fails, but as far as Aperture and photo file mangement, i'm lost :(

If anyone could give me a little advice for photo storage that would be fantastic as i don't really know where to start!

Thanks

[Woogie]

I personally have never used Aperature before, but I wanted to chime in a bit by saying that having a second HDD is an excellent idea. I keep all of my important files on my 250gb, which includes school work, pictures, music, videos, random files, etc. I run my OS and programs on the 160gb HDD. I had a few problems about a month ago and just reformatted the 160 gig and everything worked out flawlessly and seemlessly.

[Tony-S]

I've got a MacBook that runs Aperture, though having only a 60gb HDD, space is somewhat limited for photos!

I don't have any kind of backup scheme, and Aperture just runs everything as it came (with regards to file placement and management).

What i'm thinking of doing is purchasing an external HDD (a Lacie 250gb Brick to be specific!) though am unsure as to how to go about backing up my Mac.

I would at least like to have a mirror of my MB HDD incase it fails, but as far as Aperture and photo file mangement, i'm lost :(

If anyone could give me a little advice for photo storage that would be fantastic as i don't really know where to start!

Thanks

I use Carbon Copy Cloner to back up my Mac drives. This is a freeware app that will either duplicate a drive (or partition) or create a disk image of it for later restorations. As far as your Aperture file, if you're keeping all of your images in the Aperture Library database, then you should be able to just drag and drop it onto the new hard drive.

If you can get more that 250 gb, do it. I would also recommend you use a firewire drive because they are almost always bootable, while some USB drives are not. If you make a backup of your hard drive to the external drive, and your MacBook crashes, you can then boot from the firewire drive to restore your internal HD using CCC. Of course, if you're sure the USB drive is bootable, then you could get one of those (although they're a bit slower).

[Permagrin]

Aperture has it's own "vault" system. It backs up to whatever you tell it to. No need for an extra program. And I even keep my entire photo library on the external HD and use aperture to run it. So you can "vault" on to one HD and your working library on another. No photos on my actual laptop (which definitely speeds it up)...