Best locations for FCP Projects and Events?

Back in the olden days when FCE 4 and FCP 7 ruled the roost, it was generally considered that the best setup was to have the Project files on the System HD and the Capture Scratch (Events) on another.
Is this still the ideal setup or should the Projects be kept with the Events on an external HD?
Are there any advantages associated with the various configurations?

You might like and have a listen to Larry Jordan’s introduction
“Understanding Events and Projects”...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVlSYmOs_9A
Regards
Nolan

Similar Messages

Best location for Project.fcp

Just getting started and testing. I am using a FW external drive for my media (the Scratch drive assigned via System Prefs). All is going well (so far).
Is there a best location for the Project.fcp file? I think that I read that it best reside on my startup drive.
But, I also read (I think) that the media files and project files should be kept in the same folder (I don't understand why). I would suspect that the Project.fcp file can be anywhere, just like any other document file. Correct?
Thanks,
Sonny

I asked the same question over three years ago!
Here was Tom's reply to me that has an added bit of info that might be useful:-
"+Putting the project file on the system drive is generally considered good practice. I'm not sure how much actual performance improvement you'll see, but the media might be less likely to have dropped frames. It also means, if your autosave vault is on the media drive, that you have project file backups on a second hardware device in case one fails."+

Moving projects and events from FCPX to server

Bear with me here...I'm a new FCPX user as far as file management is concerned.
I have several projects and events sitting at the root level of FCPX when I open it. It's completely bogging down my system (whether FCPX is open or not) and I understand I need to archive the projects I'm done with. I have access to a server that also houses all of my original footage so I'd like to archive my projects/events to there and delete them from my local hard drive so that my computer is lightning fast again.
When I go to File > Move Project the location pull-down menu only has one option: No Value and doesn't allow me to pick where to move the files to. Error Message reads: "You don't have permission to write files to the choosen destination."
When I go to File > Duplicate Project, I choose Project + Used Clips (I have all of my original and Pro-Res footage on the server already, no need to copy them again, right?) it creates a new "Clips for [project name here]" folder in the Final Cut Projects folder in my Movies folder on my hard drive. It seems like there's a lot less content in this "Clips for" folder than in the original and it makes me nervous, but I understand that since I'm only checking "Project + Used Clips" there is bound to be less content than ALL of the clips I originally had in my event when I was editing and wanted access to all of my footage.
1. Is this all I need to drag onto the server? When I go to open the project in the future from the server will it have "broken links"?
2. Can I then delete the original project folder from my hard drive?
3. Do I need to check "Include Render files" when duplicating? What exactly does including these do for me in the future?
4. If I drag this duplicated project do I need to drag the separate Events folder with it? Or was that taken care of with the duplicate function? A lot of my projects reference the same events so I'm afraid if I move one event folder for one project it will screw it up for another.
I've also read about "hiding" my FCP projects and events in different folders on my system and then they won't open when I open FCPX. Problem is, I don't want all that extra footage on my hard drive slowing down my computer when it's already on the server somewhere.
Hope this all makes sense and thank you in advance for your help!

kkorgan wrote:
Thanks so much for responding! That all makes sense, and I was concerned about editing from the server directly because of bottlenecking, so I will continue to have my current project on my local drive and then move it later.
Can you clarify this for me:
"create a sparse disk image on the server, mount it"
Does that mean I create a "shortcut" on my desktop to the area in the server where it goes and then archive my projects to it?
One more question, when I hide my events/files as you show in your screenshot, isn't it still housing my footage on my local drive and therefore eating up space?
A disk image is a special kind of file that you can double click and mount as if it were a hard disk.
The word "sparse" means that it will grow only as you add content to it. So you can create a sparse disk image with size, say, 50GB, but if you only add files that occupy 1GB, that's the space it will take on disk; it will grow as needed to accomodate more files (assuming the actual disk where the image resides has available space, of course). You create disk images in Disk Utility.
You probably have used disk images a lot without maybe realizing it. The dmg files that contain installers for many applications are disk images.
Regarding the hidden events: yes, if they are still on the drive they will still occupy space. If the matter is freeing space on the drive, this will not help; but if the matter is making FCP X work faster and use less memory, it will.
And you could just as well take the events and "hide" them in a different drive.

Can you save system settings scratch disks locations for each project?

When you begin a new project in FCE you need to set the System Settings Scratch Disks. Typically you would set a new folder for each project to keep all of your files for each project in one location for that project.
I have a couple of FCE projects going at the same time. I've set each project with a different system setting scratch disk location. But if I open a project which should have a unique scratch disk location folder that I've already set before for that project, it ignores the setting I set for that project and just shows the scratch disk setting for the last project opened instead. It does not appear to save or remember the unique setting for that project.
If you have multiple projects going at the same time, is there a way to save the systems settings scratch disk location for each project and have FCE remember that location for each project?

I turned off the Open Last Project on Application Launch in the User Preferences and it still does not remember the unique scratch disk settings for each project.
Since it is quite common to be working on multiple projects simultaneously, you would think that there would be a way in which to save the settings for each project to help keep all related files better organized.
Any other suggestions?

How to update older FCP X projects and Events in files attached to a AirPortExtreme USB connected drive?

Hi
I have a one generation Air Port Extreme with a 250GB USB drive attached.
I copied some older FCP X projects and events to that drive as a backup.
FCP X 10.1.4 has now been released and these older files need to be updated.
However when I click on the update command in FCPX none of these older files are recognized (greyed out)
but there is a note about selecting "SAN" drives.
A little searching seemed to indicate that I need to declare this file a Network Attached File for this to work.
The basic question in this forum is can i set up the USB disk on my APEx as a NAS?
If not, what are your suggestions?
Thanks
Barry
PS apologies but I also posted this on the APEx support site.

You don't update projects and events, you update the volume that contains the projects and events, which must be stored in the correct location.
Start here
http://www.fcpxbook.com/updates/101/
and then go on to the other updates.

FCP X does not recognize projects and events on USB drive after a time machine restore of the MBP macintosh disk

FCP X does not recognize projects and events on USB drive after a time machine restore of the MBP macintosh disk.
I upgraded from an i5 to an i7 15" MBP and restored my files using my time machine backup. All seemed to go ok, except I had to use the migration assistant because on the initial boot the MAC didn't recognize the backup database on the USB device. MAybe this is a hint.
Since when I start FCPX it too cannot finnd the project or event directories.
Before my upgrade, I had a choice of files either on the Macintosh disk or the 2TB USB disk.
Now only files on the Macintosh are accessible to FCPX. The USB drive is visible under events and project but it finds no projects or events.
Please help if you can.
Thanks
Barry

Thanks... alas no one has responded.
I think I have the structure that you are recommending.
I have a root level directory (Final Cut Events) with the files in them.
The puzzling thing is that it used to work before the migration!.
Anyway I'm going to move the contents to the root and see what happens.
On a slightly different note...
I also posted a question about CPU utilization. Can I ask a question or two?
While rendering a short clip, I noticed burst of disk activity when the render started (likely loading the media files into ram since I have about 4Gigs available, then almost no activity while the render is happening, then more disk activity when its done.
However the cpu activity is not as high as I would have expected since rendering requires a lot of cpu.
What is your experience? I know some render is done by the GPU, but in my older i5 the CPU was about 100%, now in my i7 its about 50%.
Please look at the attached utilization for CPU and disk activity.
Thanks for any thoughts... Barry

How do we change de location where iMovie looks for its projets and event ?

Would you know how to change de location where iMovie looks for its projets and events ?
I want to put those on an external disk.

You must do this within iMovie.
In iMovie, click VIEW/GROUP EVENTS BY DISK
This will show all properly formatted external disks (must by HFS+ journalled, not FAT32)
Now you can drag your Events to the disk by dragging and dropping the Event Name to the icon of the disk in the Event Source List in iMovie.
You can also move projects. See iMovie Help for details.

I updated to FCP X 1.6, now my projects and events will not read

I chose the option update projects and events upon launching 1.6. Now my hard drive is being read as a camera, and I can't load my old events and projects. Strangely when I first open FCP, it appears to read the projects and events, and opens showing the drive and events, but then they simply disappear. Any ideas how to load the events and projects?
P.S. I tried going back to 1.5, but now that I chose the update events it will not read.

You have a folder at the root of your hard drive that is confusing FCP X.
Common names are "Private", "DCIM", "Video", and others.
Rename or put the offending folder inside another folder (i.e. not at the root of the hard drive).

Move all iMovie 11 Projects and Events to new location

I'm looking to move all of my projects and events to an external HD. I understand that you have to do this from within iMovie and it seems simple enough to move all events but the only way I've found to move Projects is individually - I've got a lot of projects, is there a way to move ALL projects in one go?

John,
You don't have to put everything in one library - it is often useful to have several. Have a look at: http://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.0/#mov3fa25bae7 on how to organize your stuff. Since you have a lot it is worth planning how to organize it before you go ahead.
Consolidate library just makes sure that all media exists in the library as a copy not as links to files elsewhere. It does not copy anything from other libraries. (http://help.apple.com/imovie/mac/10.0/#mov882dee351)
If you have projects that you are in the middle of working on you may want to consider finishing them in iMovie 9. iMovie 10 has a quite different user interface and will take some time to get familiar with.
Geoff.

Disk appears twice in Project and Event window

There seems to be a bug in iMovie that causes the default disk to appear twice in the project and event viewer if you have a symbolic link in the path.
For years I have used a symlink to allow me to locate my Users area onto a second drive. This keeps all my user data separate from the more generic system data. Occasionally an application gets confused by this link and this seems to be the case with iMovie.
I think what is happening is that iMovie is trying to list my home directory which by default is usually on Macintosh HD/Users/louie but when it hits the symlink at /Users -> /Volumes/DataDisk/Users it sees this is actually on drive DataDisk. Then I think it looks for all mounted volumes and it finds DataDisk again and doesn't realize that this is already recorded and includes it again.
Other than this odity it seems to work just fine. If I add a project or event, initially it appears in only one of the DataDisk entries in iMovie. Then if I restart iMovie the new project and/or event will show under both entries. The actual project and events are correcty created in my ~/Movies directory.
-louie

I don't know an easy way to fix that if you are using a symlink.
Click on this link for some good information about how to set up your home folder in a different location. You can set it up on OSX where you will not need a symlink. On the other hand, if its working well for you, may be best to leave it alone.
http://pondini.org/OSX/SetupOther.html

Lost final cut projects and events

so i upgraded to yosemite great .. ......then i had to upgrade my final cut x from 10 to 10.1.3 as ithe old one didnt run on yosemite, no big deal, at the time i had one project i was working on in fcp all the others we managed by event manager x and in the respective hidden folders in my movie folder .
when i first opened fcp i opted to update the projects and events later however except for the current working project all the others are stuck in the final cut project - hidden folders and are greyed out i can not select them to update and to top it all event manager x no longer works in yosemite ? HELP
I have tried manually moving them to all kinds of locations but no luck

This is consistent with the upgrade to 10.1.3 from 10 -- the same issues would have surfaced in any OS that could run 10.1.3. In the earlier version of FCPX the Projects were not in the Events folder(s) but are in 10.1.x versions. Earlier projects if allowed to upgrade would have been in a separate folder, but with connections to them preserved.
I don't have time this morning to look up the discussions about this, but there are several to be found. It is an issue that would have better been confronted before the upgrade to Y. Search the discussions for possible help from earlier experiences.
Ernie

Is there a way to retrieve my projects and events?

I have copied final cut projects and events to my Mac internal drive from an external drive on which they were located. I could not do this via FCPX because of a problem: FCPX being unable to open up unless [it says] some corrupt files are either restored or move. Neither FCPX nor I are able to do this [restoring or moving out of the corrupt files].
So, after copying the events and projects onto my Mac's HD, I tried to open the currentproject in FCPX, but the application states that it has to be opened from within FCPX only.
Is there any workaround by which I would be able to get FCPX read these projects and events [a work of nearly 5 months]?
One idea: can I make a disk image of the projects and events folders and would they then be 'read' and accepted by fcpx?
Eagerly waiting for solution/s.

Try Digital rebellions tool,
http://www.digitalrebellion.com/promaintenance/
they have a trial version, 15 days, I think you will find that this may work for you.
Two things that may cause this
Corrupt render files, solution, delete the render files in your projects.
Corrupt media files, Pro maintenance Tool
Also, try launching the event without the projects, this will let you know which is causing the problem, event or project.
let us know how you go.
Tony

Saving all projects and events to external hard drive

I finished an iMovie project last night and published it to YouTube.
Then, in order to free up space on my Hard Drive, I moved some of the events to a USB external drive because I figured I was finished with them as far as making my movie was concerned.
My movie got "muted" by YouTube (copyright issue), so I need to go back and edit the project to remove a soundtrack, but the project has lots of yellow warning markers on various clips.
I went to Genius Bar, and he explained that all iMovie events and all iMovie projects must reside in the same place. Makes sense ..... so I bought a new Seagate 7200 rpm Firewire External Drive (which will be faster than my USB drive) and plan to move all events and projects to the Seagate hard drive.
But - if everything is on an external drive, how do I play a movie on my Mac when I want to show somebody? Do I copy the project back to iMovie? But will it play normally if all the accompanying events are stored elsewhere?
The firewire 7200 rpm drives do not come in a portable drive, so I bought a desktop size drive - not very portable ..... so I can't be schlepping that drive every time I want to show a movie! I don't want to open the package if this is not the best solution.
I'm starting to take a lot of video - so it's eating up my hard drive .....
Thanks in advance for your help .... !
T

you want to hold the command key and drag the project file to hard drive. The hard drive can be even one of the portable my passport. I have several. It just needs to be formatted Macos extended. Once you drag the project it will ask if you want to take the events with you....say yes. Viola ... all movies projects and events stay together. However, if you just want to show the movie after its edited, share to itunes and create a version that can play in itunes.

Is an iPhone app the best choice for our project?

Dear All,
We are developing a travel tour idea for different locations within the US. Tour content can include video, audio, images and text, as well as maps and locations. We want to make our tours "in-depth" so that people can spend good quality time traveling a short distance and exploring "in-depth" rather than travelling long distances and giving only casual interest to what they see.
I'm new to developing apps for the iPhone and am using Dreamweaver CS5.5 soon to be updated to CS6.
I'm wondering if an app for iPhone and other related media like Android is really the way to go because of the limited content and screen size available. I can envision our tours being utilized in many other formats, including iPad, Interactive PDF, as travel e-books or through an interactive website. Our goal is to sell our apps, not give our material away for free. PDF would be my preferred format, but I know that PDF is easily transferred for free among users and would probably not give us much profit.
Any thoughts out there on what the best format for our project might be, or should it include ALL of the above formats? App creation for the iPhone is a rather complicated process, so that's why I'm wondering if after all of the work that you have to put in to create an iPhone app, if that is ultimately my best choice.
I would appreciate any thoughts or advice, or any questions you might have. I'm working on a Mac Pro with CS5.5 Master Collection soon to be updated to CS6
Small Town Gal

hi,
It depends on your requirement. Base on my experience, VM or website all could meet your requirement. From your description, You could use azure website to host your php website (http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/documentation/articles/web-sites-php-configure/).
And you could use website auto scale feature in the future. I suggest you could see their comparison (http://www.windowsazure.com/en-us/documentation/articles/choose-web-site-cloud-service-vm/
Hope it helps.
Regards,
Will
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How to hide projects and events in final cut prox

Hi I am wondering how i can hide my projects and events in final cut pro x and use them when i want it.
Any help appreciated. thanks very much in advance.

Very convenient, widely appreciated:
http://assistedediting.intelligentassistance.com/EventManagerX/
an excellent 5$ investment!
Plan B) for free:
In Finder, you could drag the not-needed Events/Projects to some other location (e.g. same drive, a folder called 'Events-hidden'. When you bring it back, it could be, you have to tell FCPX to re-connect… less convenient as the ProjectManager, but optional.

Best locations for FCP Projects and Events?

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