Data management question - do I even have a problem?

Question

My media files (captured HiDef "iMovie" segments straight from the camcorder) are all on a large external drive where I want them, and FCE seems to have no trouble finding them. Yet.
But I have inadvertently screwed up their organization: In "FCE Documents" on my media drive I have a "Capture Scratch" folder, which contains folders at two different hierarchical levels: a folder with captured media files and another "Capture Scratch" folder, which in turn contains three folders, one of which has the same name name as the media-file-containing folder at the level above, but only partially duplicates its contents. (The name of both these media-file-containing folders is the project name for all this footage.)
I have a PC user's horror of having folders with the same name, especially when one contains the other. But I have no FILES with the same name, as I have typed in a date-and-location tape name for each HiDef capture. At this point I only have one batch of files that is duplicated on the media drive.
So, two questions:
1) Do I need to tidy up my filing system on the media drive or will FCE and Mac be forever OK with folder names ("capture scratch" and the project name) that appear at two levels? (And if so, how? A reference or topic search would be helpful -I know it's a Mac issue, not an FCE one.)
2) Can I delete the duplicated files, assuming that FCE will be able to find them in another place on the media drive?
Hope I haven't painted myself in a corner that will cave in on me someday...
Thanks for any suggestions,
SS

Answer 1

Hi Sharon,
There's probably no way to tell how you got into this situation, but it would be better for your long term sanity to clean this up. You should have only one Capture Scratch folder and in that folder there should be only one folder for each of your FCE projects, and no other folders. The clips associated with each project should only be in their corresponding folder.
Here's what you have to be careful about - if you have duplicate folders and duplicate clips you probably don't know which ones are actually being used by your FCE project. And when you move them to a new location, FCE will consider the media to be offline the next time you open FCE. You can reconnect the media, but you have to know which is the right folder & clips to reconnect to.
So, I'd suggest that before you move anything, open your project, go to the FCE browser and methodically highlight each clip one at a time and do Edit > Item Properties (or Control-click on the clip). In the Item Properties window, look at the Source field to see exactly which file in which folder is actually that clip. Make notes so you know exactly what clip files your project is using.
Then go to the Finder and move your folders & files so you have only one folder for each project, and each folder has the correct clip files.
After you move the folders & files, the next time you open your FCE project you will probably get a 'Media Offline' error message and you will be prompted to reconnect media, at which point you need to be able to direct FCE to the correct folder & files.