Corrupt Project Takes All Media Offline?

[Noah Kadner]

Did you try restoring a backup? Sounds like your Library became corrupted which has the potential to affect anything within it.

Noah

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[James Villeneuve]

Thanks for your response!

I tried restoring from back up and all the media was still offline… even though the back up I chose was saved before my problem happened.

I guess I just can’t understand how a corrupted project could affect my media. I understand if my media is corrupted how it would affect my project, event or library, but this is crazy. I’m looking to understand how/why the problem would happen this way. How does FCPX’s inner workings result in a single 20 second project file corruption taking all the media offline. It was very clearly related to that project as once I removed it, everything relinked perfectly. the library is now perfectly fine. If I put the project back in… it shits the bed again.

Just… weird.

Anyhow, I also wanted to share this experience in case someone else has a similar problem. I always learn stuff on this website from other people’s problems and solutions.

[Bill Davis]

Maybe this thinking will help you better understand the possibilities.

X operates by importing assets into a database. From there, everything that happens is metadata applied to calls on that database. Usually, everything you do flows from the Event (the import landing) downstream to the projects.

BUT

There is also constant database reporting flowing upstream back from the events to the project level of the metadata expressions.

For example, every time you create a compound clip, it gets reported upstream to the Event Library in the form of the copy of the compound clip that shows up in your event browser.

For me, it’s helpful to think about it as launching X is launching a database with live links among it’s elements. When you launch a new library – you integrate the new library elements into the overall database. This is partially why it’s not trivial to dump a library once you’ve opened it. It’s got “reporting relationships” that are active.

In that context, it makes absolute sense why if X has a damaged project somewhere inside a Library – and the database can’t make the connections it’s expecting BECAUSE even tho they are defined in the overall database of operations you’ve asked to have available – they’re NOT available – then it could cause problems at the Library level.

Does that help?

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[Craig Alan]

Bill, if there is a compound clip saved in an event of one library and used in another library event as a child, what happens if u make changes to the parent or child if the other library is offline? How could the database interact with media that is off line?

Not a fan of this rippling changes from one project to another. Copy pasting yes; auto changes between projects, no.

Off line meaning on an unmounted drive.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Bill Davis]

Craig,

Libraries are autonomous and don’t communicate outside themselves. If you want the same media in two libraries, you have to duplicate it into each. And events are contained in libraries, so again, you can’t have a situation where closing a Library effects anything outside of it.

Know someone who teaches video editing in elementary school, high school or college? Tell them to check out http://www.StartEditingNow.com – video editing curriculum complete with licensed practice content.

[Robin S. kurz]

[Craig Alan] “if there is a compound clip saved in an event of one library and used in another library event as a child, what happens if u make changes to the parent or child if the other library is offline?”

Clips can only be MOVED or COPIED from library to library. Therefore there is no possible connection between the two instances (assuming it was copied). If the media within goes offline it will obviously go offline in the library also, should you not have CONSOLIDATED after the move/copy, which creates new instances of the footage in the second library.

[Craig Alan]

That’s great. So the only parent child relationship where the changes ripple to other uses of the same compound are within the same library. Since I use a new library for each new project not really much to be concerned about.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Thanks, Robin. I have made it a practice to consolidate each library’s assets in their own set of folders outside the library: P2 card copies, Media, Render, FC Backups within a sparse bundle. I know with the latest changes to FC that sparse bundles are a bit redundant; but it is the only way I know to isolate and protect student projects and all related media from all other students. It also makes it easy for me to copy, move, bring home projects, delete projects without loosing track of where all the assets are. Just wanted to make sure that if I were to do this with a project containing compounds and multi cams that it wouldn’t be searching for a parent or siblings off-line if that project had these clips copied from another library.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Robin S. kurz]

[Craig Alan] “I know with the latest changes to FC that sparse bundles are a bit redundant”

Completely, yes. I don’t see what possible advantage or function they could possibly offer that isn’t in fact redundant to what you can already do with just a simple library, no.

[Craig Alan]

Two purposes. If you keep your media and render files outside the library then there is still one package that contains all your assets: this could be any folder.

And more importantly for me – a sparse bundle can be unmounted like any drive and cannot be mounted from a simple finder. Thus students cannot open other student’s projects and do any harm.

I had read that a library that gets too full is more likely to slow down and have other problems. If this is no longer the case, I would not mind skipping creating non-managed folders for media and render files. Though I would still need one for a copy of the P2 cards and back-up files.

The only downside I see to the sparse bundle is if everything is inside it and it got corrupted then all would be lost. Hasn’t happened yet and this is true of a library that contained everything as well. Either way, if it is critical, you need to back it up on a different drive. With a bundle you can back-up all assets at once.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.