FCPX Crashing on Import of Sony A7s2 files

[Andrew Johnstone]

OK, so I managed to import one clip and now the app has started to crash again.

It is possible that it is a corrupt project file, so I will try and renew it, but honestly,. this is a pain.

My experience with FCPX has been that when projects start to crash, you never get them back. Very flakey.

Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com

[Joe Marler]

What version of FCPX and what hardware? If this is 100 mbps 4k XAVC-S, I have imported about 100 terabytes of this content for various documentaries over the past few years, although from the A6500, A7R2, A7R3 and A73. However I think the codec is identical.

The only crash during import I ever had was a couple of years ago which was due to a certain .M4A audio file being in the import folder when using the FCPX import dialog, not the drag-and-drop method. This was difficult to perceive because there was a small but variable delay in the crash. You could sometimes click on a video file, then it would crash, which gave the impression it was that file. In actuality was was the .M4A file in the import folder. That file was not apparently corrupt or damaged.

Since the import dialog remembers the last folder location, every subsequent import attempt would crash upon launching the dialog or almost immediately thereafter. You couldn’t navigate to a different folder — it would usually crash when enumerating the files in the import folder. In my case the solution was to identify and remove that iTunes .M4A file. I vaguely recollect other people had this with different files, not just .M4A.

I haven’t seen this recently, but on the outside chance your case is related, try removing all files from the import folder, then start FCPX and point the import dialog at another folder, preferably an empty one. It will remember that and you can proceed with import tests. Then move all your files back to the original import folder.

You could also try importing the “problem” file via drag-and-drop and see what happens.

If that doesn’t work, reset FCPX preferences (item 11 in this list): https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT203477

Also make sure you have installed the latest version of Apple Pro Video Formats. Starting with Mojave this is done via System Preferences>Software Update.

Unless you have copied the .MP4 files out of the XAVC-S folder tree it will copy those to the library (or designated storage location) during import. If you are short on disk space on that volume or if that drive has any problem that could destabilize FCPX.

If your FCPX import preferences are set to create optimized or proxy media, it might be crashing during the transcode phase. If enabled try importing without transcoding.

If your media or library is on a NAS, try an import test where that is on directly attached storage.

If that doesn’t work there is an undocumented menu to verify and repair project integrity. However media import and project access are two different things, so I wouldn’t expect a corrupt project to cause crash during import. Nonetheless, to reach this select the project, then press OPT key while selecting the Clip menu>Verify and Repair Project. I suggest making a file-level backup of your library before doing this.

It also wouldn’t hurt to run Disk Utility First Aid on all volumes, also build Spotlight indexes on all volumes:
https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201716

If it still crashes, post the stack trace of the crashing thread.

[Andrew Johnstone]

Thanks Joe,

I did all the usual house keeping and made sure all systems and software was up to date. I have also cleared some headroom on my main system HD.

I have now traced the issue down to a faulty SD card. I refomatted another SD card and FCPX is playing nicely with the material at import.

Hopefully this is all it was.

Thanks for all your help

Andy

Andy Johnstone
Wild Dog Limited
film & multimedia production
http://www.wilddogworld.com