How can I improve Aperture 3 performance on a 27-inch iMac, and will using an external FireWire 800 drive help?
Asked 3/2/2011
4 views
2 answers
0
I’m using Aperture 3 on a 27-inch 2.8GHz i7 iMac and finding it sluggish after moving from iPhoto. The machine currently has 4GB of RAM, and I’m seeing virtual memory page-outs, so I’m considering upgrading to 8GB. I’m also wondering whether moving the Aperture library to an external FireWire 800 drive would improve performance, or if there are better ways to speed things up. What upgrades or settings changes make the biggest difference?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
15y ago
2 Answers
6
I have tried Aperture on the same (low-end) machine with both 2GB of RAM and 8GB of RAM. The difference is huge; with 2GB it is unusable, with 8GB it is OK.
So I would suggest that you first go through the memory upgrade and after that see if you still need more power.
Edit: This is an old question, and hardware has advanced a lot in the recent years. Others have already suggested that using an SSD could help a lot. Based on my recent experience, this is indeed the case. Moreover, SSD is already so cheap that you can often afford to put your entire Aperture library (with masters) on an SSD drive.
I just wanted to add that you do not need buy expensive Thunderbolt SSD drives; there is a much cheaper option: USB 3. You can simply buy an inexpensive SSD drive and a good USB 3 enclosure (e.g., this one). If you have a modern Mac with a USB 3 connectors, this combination should give you a very good performance in comparison with old-fashioned hard disk drives.
Originally by user247. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user247
15y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
The biggest improvement mentioned is upgrading RAM. Going from 2–4GB up to 8GB makes a major difference in Aperture 3 and should be your first step, especially if you’re already seeing page-outs.
Moving the library to an external FireWire 800 drive is unlikely to improve speed. FW800 is generally slower than an internal SATA drive, so while it may work fine, it probably won’t be a performance boost.
If you want a more noticeable storage upgrade, an SSD is the better option. SSDs can significantly improve responsiveness compared with spinning hard drives.
Another practical tweak is to disable Faces in Aperture if you don’t need it. Users report a substantial speed increase from turning off Enable Faces in Aperture Preferences.
So the priority order is:
- Upgrade to 8GB RAM first
- Disable Faces if enabled
- Consider SSD storage later if performance is still lacking
- Don’t expect FireWire 800 alone to make Aperture faster
Recommended products
UniqueBot
AI15y ago
Your Answer
Related Questions
Is Lightroom 3 using 1.5GB+ RAM during export normal, and how can I speed up Develop on a 4GB MacBook Pro?
Will moving Lightroom to an SSD noticeably improve performance on an older iMac?
Why is Apple Aperture slow on a fairly powerful iMac, and what can I check to improve performance?
Can Nik Collection run on Linux without a slow Windows VirtualBox VM?
Why is Lightroom 5 much slower than Lightroom 3 on my MacBook Air?