I've been thinking about the same issue, but with wanting Aperture to have a built in method of dragging and dropping old projects to a second archive library. I've proposed the following to Apple:

The intention is to be able to pull individual photos or whole projects out of this archive storage back on to your laptop for either printing purposes, or even further edits and more versions. Then one could place the project or photos back in the external archive to free up space on their laptop and make searches simpler.

Of course, with Leopards new further reaching Spotlight, a search can include both your library and the archive and create smart albums (at least just a list and thumbnails) from projects in both your library and archive library.

Below is the text that is up in a couple of forums and in an Aperture Feedback response:

I'm foreseeing a need for large amounts of space for some of my upcoming projects. Even though I've modified my PowerBook to have a second hard disk, it won't be long before my working library will take up a LOT of space, slowing down performance and searches. I'd like to be able to save some of my older stuff to a separate place on an external drive to make space for new, while still being able to manually tell Aperture to access the photos when I'm hooked up to it back at my desk.

For this purpose, I envision having both a "Vault" that backs up your current working library, and an "Archive Vault" that backs up everything. Apple has done a wonderful job with working in similar capabilities with Time Machine, and this could simply be seen as a professional, specialized version of that type of technology, only program specific in this instance.

I'd suggest giving users the option to use the traditional Vault, using the above configuration, or only storing old images in the Archive Vault and new in the normal Vault so that data, large as it gets, isn't duplicated and makes a great restore point should a disaster happen.

These enhancements would make work for mobile users much simpler and not have to go to the lengths I did to acquire enough working space. Just my ardent 2¢.

I would like to see a solution designed for users of a laptop and desktop computer. It would make sense to me to have a "shared" Aperture library which resides on the desktop computer. The laptop would reference images from that library (or a portion of them) allowing you to preview your library or show slide shows. If images were added to the laptop library (if out on a shoot), you could use a single command to transfer them to the shared library when you get home. The previews would remain on the laptop. Any changes made to images could be synced when the two computers are networked.

Seems like a good idea to me.

Here is how I solve this issue:

During and after the photographing: Store and evaluate pictures in Aperture on MacBook Pro; check exposures, make stacks etc. (RAW-files)
When the photographing is done I move the project from MBP to my Mac Pro.
After checking that everything is where it should be, I delete all pictures/project from Aperture Library in MBP.
Continue and finish the work on MacPro.

I might want to use my MBP for diplay and picture show-offs:
Export choosen pictures as JPEGs to fit on MBP. (make a preset - fit within 900 x 1440 pxl).
Import pictures to iPhoto(!) on MBP.

Hence, I use iPhoto for my portfolio and showcase pictures on MacBookPro. iPhoto is well suited to show picture and make slideshows with music. And I save valueable diskspace.

I think that all the comments reflect the need for a more elegant way to handle the workflow between laptop and home computer using Aperture. I'm not sure I see the advantage of using iPhoto rather than Aperture for a "portfolio" but it will certainly work.

Daniel, I think using Referenced files that are on external drives (backed up of course), may help you out a lot.

Jim, I share your desire for an easier way to share the projects between my Master library on my home computer and the laptop library.

I'd like a similar function as you and posters have mentioned. I currently store ALL my images on my Powerbook G4, and have barely 2GB free (will be updating to MBP soon, and gain some HD space). The Aperture library is more than 50% of my powerbook's HD space, and I'm very selective about which images I keep.

I'd like this sort of synchronization taken one step further though in that I'd like the "shared" library to be stored on an external HD that can be mounted by more than one computer. With Aperture's vault technology it shouldn't be that much more work to get this functionality.

I'd also like a better way to manage which images have previews generated, and to be able to generate different sized previews on a per image basis. Right now I manually have to see which images have previews by deleting/regenerating previews or attempting to drag images to the desktop. There should be an easy way to tell if images have previews or not, and to find ones that do/don't. There should also be a way to only generate a preview for a pick in a stack.

Tym, I strongly suggest you consider referenicng those images you're currently storing on your G4 and store them on external hard drives that you back up. You'll fill an MPB in no time as well.

I agree with your wishes but for now if you have a different computer at thome, consider a Master library and a travel library. If not, just use external drives to hold the master images.

I agree completely about the need to tell which images have previews.

Considering you can't even have your laptop open and running Aperture without it forcing you to shut one or the other copy of Aperture, yeah i think there is TONS of room for improvement on the realtionship between the two machines.

IF/when Apple does a sub-notebook, you'll see even MORE people taking one on location and this becoming a bigger problem.

I agree that Apple's restrictive policy, ala Adobe type control, allowing only one machine to use Aperture at a time needs to be changed. I am a Macbook Pro and G5 user. Apple has already made a fortune off of my longtime association with Apple I, II and every Mac ever made. Even now, Aperture still will not read my Olympus E-3 raw files! And to make matters worse, my G5 needed repair and 4 replacement boards were tested and all failed. Now when I am using Aperture, my Apple computer sounds like a vacuum cleaner beside me as the G5 fans blast away until another board is found that works. Bad karma here for Apple as their policies and hardware begin to act more and more like their competition.

I need a way to synchronize the Aperture files on my iMac with my MacBook Pro. When I photo in the field, I do a lot of work in Aperture on the MBP. Then I transfer the folders to the iMac where I do more work. When I am in the field again, I have time to do more work on the MBP. Now I have two different folders containing the same master images, but with different versions.

Photography is my hobby, not my business so I grab time to play when I can.

I would like to have a way to synchronize the folders. Any ideas?

I've taken this approach:
upgraded my macbook to two gigs ram and a 100 gig 7200rpm seagate hd.
i partitioned the drive 80-20.
I use exif renamer and image capture to download & rename the files directly to my 20 gi partition. I burn a dvd of my originals asap. then delete them.
I then use aperture to sort and edit the files into a project. I export the project to my partitioned drive.
when I get my laptop home, I import the project into my desktop and update the vault.
I then delete the project off my laptop.

I have a portfolio smart folder i aperture, that I create prieviews for and export to Iphoto.

I use iphoto to publish it to iWEb.
I use iweb to publish it to my idisk and my local host on my laptop harddrive.
I now have my portfolio accessable from the web, my idisk and my laptop (through ihpoto and safari even if i don't have an internet connection, i can still show my website off the localhost.)

If you really needed a bunch of space take a look at

http://www.mcetech.com/optibay/

I installed the 250GB drive on my old 17"PB, and now I've got a LOT more room for photos, adn videos, and scratch disc space in photoshop... the list goes on. It's a somewhat temporary solution (we all know that'll eventually get full and slow), but it's nice to have and will work for a good long while.

Just sayin...