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Setting up your Library
I’m a little confused on where to store my Library. In the old days FCP7, I would store the project file on my mac computer under documents. But all my media, titles, and render files were stored on an external hard drive.
Can I still do this with FCPX? Store my library on my mac hard drive, but keep all media and render files on an external drive?
I don’t see a way to store the render files and titles on the external drive?
Thanks.
Greg Ball, President
Ball Media Innovations, Inc.
https://www.ballmediainnovations.com -
12 Replies
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I’ve moved to storing the Library on my RAID for that very reason. Goes against all conventional wisdom.
Warren Eig
O 310-470-0905email: info@babyboompictures.com
website: https://www.BabyBoomPictures.com
Vimeo: https://vimeo.com/babyboompicturesFor Camera Accessories – Monitors and Batteries
website: https://www.EigRig.com -
Point the cache at any location you want in the library settings.
Yes, you can do what you are requesting, it’s how I work exclusively. I keep the cache external from the library on a fast SSD. Media is external on a raid, and library on the main boot drive.
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My setup is almost the same as Jeremy’s. I keep the cache files on a very fast SSD two disk RAID 0, the media is stored on a four disk RAID 5, the Library is kept on a two disk RAID 0 that is backed up hourly to a Time Machine disk and daily to a networked server via Retrospect.
Once a job is completely finished, I consolidate ALL the files into a single job folder and archive the entire project on to tape. The tape is then duplicated, one goes into a vault on-site and the other in a vault off-site. I then remove all the work files associated with that job from the drives and servers. I keep a master file of the delivered final cut on a server.
Robert Olding
Studio Eight | Director of Photography
https://www.studioeightmn.com
Minneapolis, MN -
I like keeping everything related to the job in one folder on an external raid 5. Nothing but apps on the internal. If you create the library on an external RAID, the rest of FCPX default settings are great. You won’t accidentally fill up your system drive with renders and if you copy your media into the library it’ll be on the same drive (I copy camera cards to the job folder before import). Your backups will automatically be on the internal by default, a different drive from the Library.
It works for me. Camera masters either always exist somewhere else. Usually on client’s drives or small USB 3 drives. And with the Library on a Raid 5 there’s that protection plus additional protection of it being on the system drive as a backup.
Once projects are finalized, I create a consolidated library that contains just the media used and additional assets required (like custom motion or AE work) and save it all to a mirrored raid. Every year I send one of the mirrored raid drives to a family member and the other to another family member after copying the data to two new drives that are bigger.
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Correct me if I’m wrong, but regardless of where the library is, the small “project file” that we were used to is stored on the boot disk – Users – FCPX backups > My Epic. date/time. Or words to that effect.
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That’s a backup not a full library.
If you restore that backup, the library will quickly go back to the size it was before the restore.
FCPX libraries with no media or cache (that is media and renders that are stored outside the library file) are bigger than fcp7 project files, yes, but they still aren’t huge.
FCPX libraries with managed media and cache (that is media and renders that are stored inside the library file) have potential to be very large.
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Yes Jeremy, like the old FCP7 Project file was. Where you could copy it to a thumb drive at the end of the work day as a safeguard against catastrophic failure, or hand it over to another computer. No?
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[Roger Poole] “Yes Jeremy, like the old FCP7 Project file was. “
Just keep a library with media external, and you will have the same thing. The backup files you mention, can be sent (from FCPX) to anywhere, like, say, iCloud Drive. In FCPX, you have the choice of where to put the backup files as a failsafe.
Jeremy
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Whilst I’m a relatively newcomer to FCPX I have been editing for more years than I care to remember. Greg’s concern was about the project file, as in FCP7. That as we know is just a database of all the edit decisions we made, where, when and with which clip. I think we all know to keep the media files on an external disk of one sort or another, whatever system we are using, and as Greg states, that is where his are too. But he seems to have some confusion about the project file in FCPX. My FCP7 project files also lived on my boot disk – Documents – FCP Projects, and this is the problem that Greg was asking about. Compared to FCP7, in FCPX the project is called a library and the timeline a project, which is indeed stored within the library along with all the imported media. What in FCP7 terms is the “Project file” is now called the “backup file” in FCPX terminology. Nobody was addressing the project file question and this was what I was trying to do. Hopefully this will clear it up.
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[Roger Poole] “in FCPX the project is called a library and the timeline a project, which is indeed stored within the library along with all the imported media”
I think the confusion here is that the location of the media and render files are actually a choice in FCP X. Yes, you can choose to store them within the library file, but you don’t have to. I always store the cache and media in it’s own folder to make a compact library file and to provide easier access to the media outside of FCP X.
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