Managing multiple capture scratch folders?

I have two hard drives for two different projects I am working on right now. What is the best way to capture media to the appropriate drive?

As stated you would have to change the location of the scratch disk to reflect your desired HD when you loaded the project.
There's a terminal command that can force Final Cut Pro to choose the location of the scratch disk upon application launch. Run the commands mentioned and press "return" to execute each command. Change me in terminal code to your Mac username.
Open the terminal and delete the Final Cut Pro Preference file if it exists:
/Users/me/Library/Preferences/Final Cut Pro User Data/Final Cut Pro 6.0 Prefs.fcset
Then recreate an empty Final Cut Pro Preference file with touch:
touch /Users/me/Library/Preferences/Final Cut Pro User Data/Final Cut Pro 6.0 Prefs.fcset
Then change the permissions to read only:
chmod 444 /Users/me/Library/Preferences/Final Cut Pro User Data/Final Cut Pro 6.0 Prefs.fcset
Now it will prompt every time upon application launch. Note that this sets the Final Cut Pro preference file to read only so you can not save new preferences after performing this method.

Similar Messages

Many capture scratch folders

I am inheriting a big project. I appears the previous editors did not manage their media well. I am moving the project to a new computer (Intel Mac) and have therefore also had to upgrade to Studio 6.
1. Is it very bad to have tons of capture scratch folders?
It appears the prior editors would save new versions and rename each time, resulting in many different Capture Folders and Render Folders. My understanding is that it's best to have one set of Capture/Render folders per drive or partition.
2. If so, is it worth my time to reorganize the project? It'll take some doing.
If I'm correct on all the above, I think it's important to throw out there to all editors that you should not rename your project all the time. As you archive older versions (to save old sequences and keep your project file size down), RENAME THEM, not the project you will continue to work on. This will make your media much easier to manage.
Thanks for any feedback on this.
Loch

Well, when you start a job, you hope that you'll be the one to finish it. Having been on both ends of this equation (getting the job taken away (or quitting) and completing a job someone else started) I understand your frustration.
As long as there are no duplicate file names for the media, you could simply copy them all to one folder and do a reconnect, however sometimes fcp will refuse to reconnect files. I've seen this happen a couple of times and I've been working in fcp since version 1. Never figured out what's going on. As long as everything was captured properly (logged and batch captured with "abort capture on dropped frames" and "create new clip on timecode break" enabled) you can always recapture if you have a problem.
My instinct is that if everything is working OK now, don't screw with it. Things could go seriously south.
Good point about not renaming projects.

Two capture scratch/render/audio render folders? Settings OK.

I know what you are going to say. But in system settings I have it correct ( I think ).
Media Drive: capture scratch. That is it. Why am I getting another set of capture scratch folders? Not a huge deal, but I am just trying to understand all elements of the program and this one has me stumped.
Shane. I followed your instructions to a T. But I still get those extra folders.
Best,
Tom

Why am I getting another set of capture scratch folders?
In your User/Documents folder? They were put there by FCP when you launched it the first time without setting up your scratch disk. Delete them.

Are the FC Events and capture scratch the same thing? Also, how big of an external drive do you need if you plan on making lots of 3-5 min movies?

Are the FCP Events Folder and the capture scratch the same thing? If not, what is the difference?
I've set the events folder and the projects folder to an external drive (400 GB) but it's filling up quickly. What are appropriate external drive sizes?

FCP X Events folders are the same as the old FCE/FCP Capture Scratch folders.
There is no "appropriate" size as everyone is different.
I have a friend who finds the 80GB drive on his 2004 iMac more than sufficient!
Other people can use hundreds of gigabytes a day.
So it all sepends on your particular usage and the only answer is get one as big as you can.
The reason FCP X fills up HDs so quickly is because it usually converts footage to ProRes 422 which uses about 50GB per hour of video.
Whenever you render the footage it is done in ProRes 422 so the drive space is incredibly rapidly eaten away.

Restore Capture Scratch

Okay I hired a new editor. he isn't new to FCP just new to my company. He decided to clean up some data on my raid. He found there were two capture scratch folders for a particular file. Instead of moving the clips themselves he moved the folder to combined them. Of course the next thing he saw was "an older version already exists do you want to replace?" He said yes.
As I am sure you have already figured out, that replaced all my "old" clips in that folder. I broke that golden rule with this particular folder. I shoot on P2 and did not have the files in two locations. I realize I am an idiot. Now I am trying to figure out my options. Can I restore these clips? Any suggestions as to how to get the clips back?

You might be able to recover the data with Data Rescue II... maybe not though, depends on whether or not they were physically overwritten. Don't write to the drive though as you will likely overwrite the currently deleted files.
Data Rescue II requires you copy from the drive you're working with now to another empty drive. Other than reshooting or sending the drive in to a drive recovery business (expensive indeed) that's your best option.
Jerry

How do you create hierarchical folders in Forms Central to organize and manage multiple forms?

How do you create hierarchical folders in Forms Central to organize and manage multiple forms?

Hi,
We do not support this feature right now. Someone else has posted this to our ideas forum, here - http://forums.adobe.com/ideas/1587. I suggest you vote for it, because we look at the popular ideas to help guide us on what new features work on.
Thanks,
Todd

Multiple Projects & Scratch Disks?

When having multiple projects on the go at the same time, how does one seperate scratch disks so all projects save the relevant info to the correct folders without having to change the scratch disk every time I go to a new project?
Hoping this question makes sense and thanks in advance as always.
Ali
G5 Imac Mac OS X (10.4.6)

You can't, but each project has its own folder in the
capture scratch.
Many thanks Tom.

How can I Manage Multiple Users?

My wife and I both want to organize and edit our digital photos with PSE10. Up until now, I have managed all of our photos by myself, and I have synchronized all data on both of our computers (and backed up all of our data to an external harddrive). Now that my wife also wants to organize and edit our photos on her computer, I am finding it difficult to synchronize the PSE Catalogs and photos on our two computers. So, I am looking for a better procedure.
Should I (and can I) keep my PSE Catalog & Photos on:
(1) an External Harddrive (which would be connected to only one computer at a time, while that computer user is organizing and editing photos), or
(2) on a Home Network location where both users could access the photos for organizing and editing (with a "lockout" for photos which are being edited by the other computer user)?
Are there other good or better procedures for managing multiple users of PSE?
My computer is running Win7 Home Premium 64-bit.
My wife's computer is running Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit.

Thank all of you for your replies.
Re SOFTWARE CHOICES:
I decided that my wife and I will each use different software on our different computers.
I decided NOT to upgrade my wife's software from "Windows Live Photo Gallery" (WLPG) to "Adobe Photoshop Elements 10" (PSE). After a detailed discussion of my wife's wishes, I discovered that she only wants to (1) move our pictures into folders, (2) cull the pix, and (3) create "Album" folders (with only our most memorable pix) to be printed as 8.5" x 11" pages for the Albums. She wants me to crop, edit, add captions, and print the Album pages. See the image at the bottom for our current Photo Mgmt Plan.
I will continue to use "Lightroom" (Lr).
Re SYCHRONIZATION:
I decided that we both can use the same picture files. I use "GoodSync" to sychronize files between my computer and my wife's computer (and between my computer and my backup HDD).
My wife's "WLPG" does NOT appear to use a database. My changes (including "Keyword" edits or adds) show up in her "WLPG" program, when picture files have been changed by myself in "Lr" and sychronized with her computer.
After my wife adds folders and/or changes the folder contents, I sync her computer with mine. I open her folders (which are now also on my computer) in "Lr", and "Import" any of her new and duplicate pictures into "Lr". Surpisingly and thankfully, the pictures that have been moved to a new folder by my wife do NOT show up in "Lr" in the previous folder (i.e. I do NOT have to find and delete any "Missing" images which were in the previous folder location).
Re MULTIPLE USERS OF A DATABASE:
I do not need to use this now, but I read that "Lr" is designed to work with the "Lr" database (and pictures) on an external HDD.
Thank all of you again for your very helpful replies.

Audio capture scratch for iTunes import/48kHz convert

Working in first FCE HD project. I want to import an additional music track from iTunes. Following the manual's instructions for converting iTunes files to 48 kHz for import, it says to "navigate to the project's audio media folder". In the external hard drive's doc folder it shows all the necessary folders there except Audio Capture Scratch ( which was default checked and unselectable in Settings prior to the initial video/audio capture of existing commercials, etc. from a deck).
Apparently setting up this Audio Capture Scratch as a destination that shows in the FCE docs window must be done after the initial set-up. (?) If so, I can't find how to do it. According to what I've been reading, though, the Audio Capture Scratch should already be among the 7 folders (Capture scratch, Render files, Audio render files, etc.) but it's the only one missing. Is this even related? Can audio be imported directly to the project as opposed to the ext. drive?
Question is... Should that in fact be the destination folder? Or do I need to create an "audio media folder" for this project? If so, how? I've not found anything in FCE Help or the Brenneis manual.
Thanks for any help on what must be a basic conceptual hole in my limited mental model.

You can import audio files into FCE from any location
on any HD. The audio file itself could be in your
iTunes music folder but if so, I suggest making a
duplicate copy of the song file in some other folder
(your choice, your location, your folder name) to
minimize the risk of accidently messing up something
in your iTunes music folder.
You could even drag a copy of the file from the
Finder into the FCE Browser. Once it's in the FCE
Browser, you can drag the music file onto one of your
audio tracks.
The ideal format is AIFF, 16-bit, stereo, 48Khz.
Truly thanks for that. But... In order to convert the iTunes file to the above, I have to go to the iTunes Pref. window and the folder location field, click the Change button and navigate to the "project's audio media folder"... But I don't have, can't find or don't know how to make that folder. So I can't specify the destination. I'd love to drag/drop, but the format won't be AIFF, 16 bit 48kHz.
When I read the manuals instruction for importing directly from a CD, it also says to drag the files into my "project's audio media folder", so I'm back to the same problem. I guess I could try dragging from the CD directly to my browser, and I will, but even if that works for now, I need to understand what/where/how to create the audio media folder, as I fear I'm missing a basic understanding here.
And why is there no Audio Capture Scratch folder showing in the FCE doc folder? Even if this unrelated and irrelevant, I'm still puzzled about that. I'd appreciate any clues here. Thanks again.

What Exactly should be in the Capture Scratch Folder ?

I apologize for the moronic question, but.....
I recently installed a second internal Hard Drive in my computer which
I was planning to reassign the scratch disc folder to, so that my external
hard drive which holds all the media / video, would not have to do double
duty in holding all the render files, etc. as well as the media.
But in going to do this, I realize I have almost 200gb of video ( in the
form of quicktime movie files ) already there. So if I move that folder,
I am not really solving anything, as a large portion of the media is
already in it.
Can I with relative painless-ness, set up a new scratch disc on the internal
drive, or will this just create an avanlanche of media not found headaches
and the like.
Again, I apologize for what is clearly something I just did not set-up
properly 3 years ago. I do not use this program that regularly or else
there is a chance I might understand it better.
Thanks for any and all help / suggestions,
Sterne
FCP 5.1.4 Older G5 computer.

I may not be understanding you correctly, but I think you will be ok with what you are doing:
Main hard drive with the OS and all your applications.
Second internal hard drive you are adding will contain all the scratch disks and project files.
For example, on this I have a folder entitled "FCP Docs on HD6" which contain all my scratch disks of Audio Render Files/Autosave Vault/Capture Scratch/Render Files/Thumbnail Cache Files/Waveform Cache Files that I set under FCP preferences. I also have another folder on this hard drive that I have labeled for a client--ex. Smith Project--and in here I keep all the other items for this project--the FCP project itself, any jpegs I'm using, any clips I've made self-contained to do smoothcam on, etc.
On your external hard drive you can keep what you have done before and not transfer them over to the new FCP Docs folder. The old project will still access those capture scratches from that external drive. (However, if you have now assigned those scratch folders to your new internal drive, when you open this old project and work on it, the NEW captures/renders/etc will be on the NEW scratch disks while what you have done in the past will still remain in the old.) You just have to remember when you are cleaning out your project or saving it to archive that some of your files are on your external.
You can have different scratch disks on separate hard drives, it just gets confusing if you have too many. FCP will use the scratch disks you LAST assigned. I repeat it gets confusing, just like this explanation probably is
Sharon
Message was edited by: SSteele

Possible to rename default scratch folders?

Hi all,
We've just streamlined our directory structures at work and all is good ASIDE from FCP's scratch settings. I have a problem with the default setting of RAID>Capture Scratch>PROJECT because it makes backing up unduly difficult. All the other media is sitting in RAID>PROJECT, hence backing up is a basic one-step copy/paste procedure.
Now the obvious way around it is to remap the scratch settings every time I open a different project, like so: RAID>PROJECT>Capture Scratch. But this leaves a redundant and unnecessary folder within Capture Scratch. Is there any way to tell FCP NOT to create a project subdirectory under Capture Scratch?
And while we're on the subject, we use an uppercase, underscore only system so is it also possible to force FCP into following this protocol? I know its no big deal, but if possible it would sure save renaming the folders and reconnecting every project.
Thanks for reading, I'm guessing the answers are no and no.
G5 Mac OS X (10.4.2)

Hi 138
I honestly don't see the problem.
If you always select RAID in the Capture Scratch preset in FCP, then all Captured material will allways be in RAID > FINAL CUT PRO DOCUMENTS > Project_name.
As long as you give your project a name (with underscores in your case) BEFORE starting to capture, all captures will always be in that folder.
Even easier for backup is to know that all Timecode related Media is in that folder, while you can put all the other stuff (graphics etc) in your own RAID > project_name folder. You then can make the choice to only backup the latter and don't backup the videomedia and keep the cameratapes instead.
Rienk

SSD as capture scratch disk?

Given that SSD disk aren't that big in size yet - does it work to have a SSD disk as capture scratch disk (DVCPRO50 and DVCPRO HD)?

DVCPro50 and HD are relatively low load codecs. I can edit multiple streams of 720p24 easily from a good quality sata drive.
It seems to me there is no real advantage for capture. It probably makes more sense to use one as the system drive.
x

FCP Do I have to keep changing capture scratch settings?

I've got a silly little question. I close w/e current project is open, create a folder in a drive (say FOLDER A), set capture scratch settings to FOLDER A, and create a new project and save it in FOLDER A too.
If I work on another project too, and do this same thing to create another project and save it in FOLDER B, when I switch between projects to work on them, do I have to change the settings each time? I may capture and import new material...
I'm migrating from PP3. The project file in PP3 used to save all these settings to a folder that could be moved to any directory.

When you first start a new project in FCP, the very first step should be to give the project a specific name. Once you've done that, FCP will automatically create folders bearing that project's name when you capture footage or render in that project.
There's no need to create the folder yourself. Once you've set the scratch disc in FCP's preferences, FCP does the rest for you.
This may help you in understanding FCP's organization: http://store.creativecow.net/p/63/gettingorganized_in_final_cutpro
-DH

My Capture Scratch is empty

I had a Capture Scratch folder on one of my disk with all my video assets in it. Then I have another disk with additional files and folder for other projects that I copied onto the first disk.
What I did not think of was that on the second disk there's an empty Capture Scratch folder. And I said yes to replace the files, since I thought my other file would be untouched....
Now the first Capture Scratch is empty and all my assets are gone for the projects are gone. Is there any way of get my files back??
Any software that can retrieve the files again?
The project files are intact, they were on another disk.

Why do Macs do this - on a PC it would just merge the two folders together eg. not overwrite a full folder with an empty one.. I learnt this early on to my cost!! < </div>
It's a classic computer file system theory issue. Back in the DOS/Mac Wars, innocent users were constantly overwriting their files because of the geek-centricity of the DOS file structure. People learned to cope the hard way. The early Macintosh GUI, on the other hand, politely asked you if you really wanted to overwrite the file that has the same name. Windows presumes one thing about the user, Macintosh presumes another. Seems like both of them require that you pay very close attention to what you're doing.
bogiesan

My clips went offline and disappeared from capture scratch folder

I was editing a project in final cut express, a movie of my newborn daughter, and was almost finished. The clips had bin logged and transferred into my sequence. Next morning started the nightmare; almost all the clips had vanished...
The timeline was full of red boxes that said media was offline. Clips i had rendered were still ok, and clips i had captured from another camera were playing.
Reconnecting the media did not work. The strange thing is that all the clips i had not used in timeline, but was located in the bin, are still ok. They are still in the capture scratch folder. Its just the clips i had used in timeline that are gone. I have searched my mac for the lost clips, but can`t find them. The clips are deleted from my camera, and i have no backup. Stupid me...
Has someone experienced something similar, or know what to to? Are my clips gone forever?
I have also tried to find i program that can recover deleted files from videocamera (avchd), but the programs i tried so far can just find jpeg files, no video...
Hoping for an answer
-Ola

Hi Ian,
The directory is part of each hard drive's 'soft structure.' It is created when you partition & format the drive; and then constantly maintained & updated by the OS and drive controller as you use the drive. Just connecting an external HD to another Mac won't resurrect the directory.
DiskWarrior and similar utilities can help recover corrupted directories & lost files, but their success depends on the kind & degree of corruption. Most times when something happens to the directory, the files are still intact on the drive - that's why they can be recovered. However the likelihood of recovery decreases quickly if you continue to write to the drive after corruption occurs. That's why it's important to stop saving, copying or moving folders or files on the drive as soon as you notice a problem.

Managing multiple capture scratch folders?

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