-
Media management question
Hi – still a bit mystified by FCPX media management and would love a clarification.
When you consolidate, does FCP copy or move the media?
Let’s say I created a new library A on my internal SSD and imported media from camera. At the moment everything is in one place, but it’s taking too much room on my SSD.
I decide I want to move a part of this library to another library B on external drive to make more room on SSD. I create this external library B, move the appropriate projects and events from A to B and consolidate library B.
I also “move to trash”/delete all the events and projects in A that are now safely in B.
After all this, my expectation is that library A on my internal SSD will be smaller.
However, while B has grown in size, which is expected, A has remained as large as before and there’s no reduction in space on my SSD.
So, does FCPX only copy the files, but never actually delete them? This does not seem right. Can someone clarify this for me please?
Thanks,
Anton -
6 Replies
-
These might help:
https://www.provideocoalition.com/the-magic-of-hard-links/
https://support.apple.com/kb/PH15838?locale=en_US
https://help.apple.com/finalcutpro/mac/10.1/#ver9c7660349
https://fcpx.tv/tutorials/hardlinks.html
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
Thank you Oliver!
A bit more clear on this now…. I think ☺
Couple of takeaways:
1. Deleting stuff within FCPX never actually deletes any media anywhere – ever.
2. The only way to MOVE media vs. COPY it is to consolidate from a LIBRARY to an EXTERNAL FOLDER. Every other option only copies, never moves the media. This includes consolidating from one library to another – THIS ONLY COPIES THE MEDIA.With this in mind, if I wanted to split my library into two libraries, each with its own separate media content and without duplicating any media between these two libraries, the only way to do that would be:
1. Open existing library, create a second one
2. For media location of the second library, specify an external folder
3. Move my projects and events into second library in FCPX
4. Consolidate second libraryThis will actually move the media files from the first library to an external folder referenced by the second library AND remove them from the first library.
I think I got this right – but let me know if this logic doesn’t make sense to you. Thanks a bunch! Anton
-
I think it would be possible to hold down the Command key while dragging to the other Library to move the Events to the other Library though not sure about this.
-
So if I am understanding all of this – when I see “copies” of original media and optimized media created by FCPX in my original media folder (see attached) – it isn’t taking up any extra space on the drive?? I am trying to maximize my drive space – so I am looking into this whole media management thing. Very confusing.
My understanding is that if you set your library settings to leave the media in it’s folder (as opposed to putting it in the library) that you are saving space by not copying that media into the library itself – but that Hard Link video seems to refute this – as it seems they are never really copied there.
Bottom line then is that if I set the preferences to leave media in place, and consolidate that media into the library, I use NO additional disc space – even though I see two additional folders created that seem to copy the original media as well as optimized media into the original media folder – correct?
Thanks!
-
Experiment:
Check folder size of media location
Remove FCPX created “original media” and “optimized media” folders
Recheck folder size.When I did this – there was a significant decrease in folder size – so clearly those folders are creating less disc space and are copies of the original media already in the folder.
How do I avoid this? I have media copied all over the place in FCPX!
Thanks!
-
[Jeff Leland] “if I set the preferences to leave media in place, and consolidate that media into the library, I use NO additional disc space – even though I see two additional folders created that seem to copy the original media as well as optimized media into the original media folder – correct?”
Hard links will NOT be used when *importing* media on the same volume within a library or to an external location managed by that library. This is even for cases where no re-wrapping takes place. Additional space will be consumed.
Hard links are only used when FCPX is copying media from one managed location to another on the same volume. E.g, copying media within FCPX from one managed “internal” library to another, or from a managed “internal” library to a library with external media defined in Library Properties>Storage Locations, or between two libraries using external media defined in Library Properties. Note that a library using external media is different from a library where media was imported with “leave files in place”.
This can be verified by using the console commands ls -i (to see file’s inode) and ls -l ( to see files’s reference count). If the inode is the same, it’s actually a single file with multiple hard links pointing to it which gives the appearance at the Finder level of multiple copies of that file. Likewise ls -l will show the reference count, which increments once for each hard linked “copy” of the file.
The file’s reference count will increment if copying data within FCPX between managed libraries (showing it’s really the same file using multiple hard links). Even though Finder shows two different media files in that case, there is only one physical file and no more space is consumed. Also ls-i will show the two files having the same inode.
The reference count will not increment when importing media, showing it’s two physical files, each taking up space. The two files have different inodes.
So the idea is incorrect that hard links will avoid additional space consumption if importing media on the same drive volume.
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up