Filed under: Software, Software Update, Apple, Leopard
Aperture and Time Machine's unhappy co-existence
When Apple revealed Aperture 1.5.6 earlier this week, I was ecstatic that Aperture was now ready to be installed on the new big cat. Sadly, Apple's knowledge base states you should not to be running Aperture whilst doing automatic backups with Time Machine as you risk "inconsistencies in the Aperture database." as a result. Running Time Machine restore operations also can cause this issue, but it's worth noting that these only occur whilst Aperture is running.Apple currently recommends folks turn off automatic backups with Time Machine and revert to manual backups and "Avoid performing either backups or restores while Aperture is running.": hardly the solution of choice, given Apple's pushing of Time Machine as an automated backup system. Either way, I'd imagine we're likely to see another update to Aperture and/or Leopard pretty soon.
[Via Bagelturf]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
motech said 8:13PM on 10-27-2007
my guess - aperture 2.0 coming out soon.
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motech said 8:13PM on 10-27-2007
core animation will help make aperture a next gen app.
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PK said 8:23PM on 10-27-2007
Nik -
Two quick notes - it's spelled "existence," not "existance." Also, whenever I'm reading through TUAW posts and hit "whilst" in one, I always know that you wrote the post - just a funny British-ism that gives you away every time.
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dappleganger said 8:28PM on 10-27-2007
I ended up backing up Aperture to another drive then removing it for now.
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Ishir Bhan said 8:46PM on 10-27-2007
Is it confirmed that this is an issue with 1.5.6? The Apple page doesn't say, and I think 1.5.6 was released the same day. It's possible they just haven't updated their page yet. OTOH, I'm not going to risk it...
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blinkcowz182 said 9:03PM on 10-27-2007
Thanks for this post! I just mounted the Aperture disk image in Leopard and was about to install when I read this. I'll hold off until Apple comes up with a fix!
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random said 9:33PM on 10-27-2007
err couldnt you just stick the aperture liberary in a seperate folder and exclude that folder from time machine backups? I think that should work
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Cycomachead said 9:36PM on 10-27-2007
I'm pretty sure this will effect all versions of Aperture. I think the issue is the the user will be writing to the files while Time Machine is backing them up. Because Aperture is nearly always doing some kind of file writing it could be a problem. I think a simple Time Machine update should fix it. All they need to add is a check like if Aperture is not running proceed. If aperture is running stop and ask for user input. - That seems like a simple solution.
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Cycomachead said 9:36PM on 10-27-2007
I'm pretty sure this will effect all versions of Aperture. I think the issue is the the user will be writing to the files while Time Machine is backing them up. Because Aperture is nearly always doing some kind of file writing it could be a problem. I think a simple Time Machine update should fix it. All they need to add is a check like if Aperture is not running proceed. If aperture is running stop and ask for user input. - That seems like a simple solution.
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John Laur said 4:45PM on 10-28-2007
To me this post reads,
"Time machine screws up backup and restore of open files."
If it can't back up Apeture, what other programs is it going to completely stuff up?
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William Beem said 12:27AM on 10-28-2007
Well, this just SUCKS! I'd expect better integration with Apple products and its key OS services.
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Rboyett said 8:54AM on 10-28-2007
I'll be delaying my upgrade to Leopard. Aperture is just too important to me.
IMO it would be better if Aperture could disable Time Machine when its running then restart the service when the end user quits Aperture. That would at least be a decent short term solution.
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Patrick Howell said 10:48AM on 10-28-2007
why not write an applescript that:
1) turns off automatic backups
2) launches aperture
3) waits for aperture to close
4) re-enables automatic backups
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Brandon Eley said 11:26AM on 10-28-2007
Couldn't you just unplug your backup external hard drive (which would prevent Time Machine from doing a backup) when you want to run Aperture? Then, when you're done in Aperture, plug back in.
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Jason C said 12:21PM on 10-28-2007
Too bad the support article is so low on details.
I already have my Aperture library excluded in Time Machine, as I just use the built-in vault functionality to do backups. But I have no idea if this will save the library from corruption. Is it Time Machine backing up the Aperture library that causes problems? Or is it more generally Time Machine running file system operations at the same time as Aperture?
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matteorampazzi said 3:27PM on 10-28-2007
Hi... I also noted that if you have Aperture open in one space and then switch to the next, once you come back to the previous space the HUD display is shown in a weird way (i.e. even if you were not in full screen mode). Apple better fix Aperure soon enough or else I might not be interested in using the software. (too bad I paid hard cash for it!!).
Apple better fix it soon!
(please tell me I am not the only one experiencing this weird bug. Timemachine is not active (drive is disconnected) and I did a clean install of Leopard (all updates have been made)). The only thing might be that Aperture is currently processing previews (had to reimport everything)....
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