• Apple Final Cut Pro Legacy

  File Transfer and Locations

  Posted by Colin Kelly on March 6, 2011 at 10:11 pm

  Hello,

  I have recently purchased FCP 7 and have only made two short 5-7min long films. I did not have money for an external hard drive, but just purchased one today (Lacie 500gb firewire800). All my files were saved to my internal OS (i know…bad idea. Thats why I got an external), Including all the final cut pro docs, capture scratch, autosave files, etc…

  My question is this:

  Can/Should I move all of my files from my OS to my external?
  How will this effect what I am working on in my timeline?
  Should I leave any of these final cut pro files/docs on my OS or send the all to my new external hard drive?

  Any advice would be great!

  Thanks!

  Ron Pestes replied 15 years, 2 months ago 4 Members · 5 Replies
• 5 Replies

• 

  Ron Pestes

  March 7, 2011 at 12:45 am

  I would definately move all your files to the external drive. You can leave the Final Cut Pro Documents folder on the C drive but move all you footage and project files to the new drive. You will have to relink them but that is an easy one time task. I keep all files for each project in its own file with folders inside seperating footage, titles, project etc. That way it is easy to find everything for that project in one place.

  Apple Certified Master Pro FCS 2
  Sony EX-3
  MacBook Pro
• 

  Jeff Greenberg

  March 7, 2011 at 11:39 am

  The proper way to handle this is to have final cut pro Media manage your projects:

  Test it once, replacing these instructions with “copy” rather than move:

  With nothing selected in your browser, choose File>Media Manager
  Set it to “move” media
  Delete NOTHING
  Based on existing file names

  When you do this as a Copy – create a new project. The new project will be linked to the new media (and the existing project to the existing media)
  When you do this as a Move – don’t create a project. The existing project will be linked to the media you just moved.

  I’m only having you ‘test’ it as your new to FCP.

  For the future:
  Create a folder called FCP Documents at the top of the new drive.
  In System Preferences, change the capture scratch, render and audio render to the new drive.

  Now FCP will capture and render there.
  (no need to change the cache+autosave)

  Best,

  Jeff G

  Apple Master Trainer | Avid Cert. Instructor DS/MC
  Come See me speak at NAB!
  Compressor Essentials from Lynda.com
  (older but still good) Marquee, Media Composer (3.5) and Basic/Advanced Color DVDs (1.0) from Vasst.com
  Contact me through my Website
• 

  Chris Tompkins

  March 7, 2011 at 1:30 pm

  It’s fine to keep your “Project” files on the OS drive.
  Keep Media on another drive.

  Chris Tompkins
  Video Atlanta LLC
• 

  Colin Kelly

  March 7, 2011 at 11:43 pm

  Ron,

  Thanks for the info! Could you explain what you mean by “re-linking” them. Obviously I have no idea what I’m doing 🙂
• 

  Ron Pestes

  March 8, 2011 at 1:05 am

  In the browser right click on a clip that has a red hash mark through it. Choose “relink clip” or “relink item” and it will take you to a page that has a “locate” and “search” button in the middle. Click on “locate” (I think) and it will take you to a Finder page where you can navigate to where the clip is located. Choose the clip name and it will take you back to the first page. I don’t have it in front of me at the moment but from there you should be able to figure it out. This will relink you clips for you. Once you have done it you will find it to be easy. Good luck.

  Apple Certified Master Pro FCS 2
  Sony EX-3
  MacBook Pro

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