I have learned a ton from your site, thanks for providing it!! My question is this: I didn't know what I was doing when I originally imported my pictures into Aperture. Now I have a mix of some images managed and many are referenced. Do you have a pros/cons list of managed vs referenced? I have looked but haven't found a conclusive list. Thanks again for all your help!!

Here is my list of pros and cons for referenced and managed masters:

Pros for Managed

• No file management needed
• Low risk
• All masters backed up with the library
• Can use vaults for complete back up
• Always have everything with you

Cons for Managed

• Potentially huge library
• Other applications can't access images
• Can archive by project only
• Adding storage requires that everything is copied

Pros for Referenced

• Organize and store the masters where you like
• Access them from other applications
• Masters can be backed up separately from the rest of the system
• Potentially sharable among many users and systems
• Can archive in many different ways
• Can be simple and fast to add storage

Cons for Referenced

• Must organize, manage, and protect the masters
• Risk of being caught by permissions problems
• Risk of Aperture not reconnecting them
• Must remember to back them up separately from everything else
• Not all images are with you all of the time if using a laptop
• Vaults don't have all the data
• Offline referenced masters cause filter difficulties

Don't forget that combined schemes are also possible. You can keep most of your images referenced but the last few projects managed. Once you are done with the project, make its masters referenced. To help portability you can use high resolution previews as needed.

Tags: Aperture, Q&A, Managed, Referenced, Pros and Cons