FCPX doesnt duplicate project from space disc image

[Bill Davis]

Hi Lucy.

I’m having trouble with a bit of your description language.

I get that you have a sparse disk image with 5 projects. But those are just digital repositories and X does not read them directly. To read the contents, you need to launch the sparse bundles and let X “see” them as mounted drives. When you do that, X will use metadata to re-populate any projects that are looking for that media.

With the media properly mounted, THEN you can use the X duplicate timelines function to crate copies of timelines and the assets that they are created from.

Remember the fundamental process of FCP-X is reference via metadata. What it wants to see are “asset location data as it is known by X” – which means when you bring an asset into X, it “sees” where it’s located and looks for it in the same place next time – and IDs it not by name or finder stuff, but rather by deep digital IDs burried down in X. Disk image and Sparse Bundle workflows succeed because they create a digitl “snapshot” of a production asset with all that ID metadata perfectly intact.

So if you aren’t “launching” your sparse bundles. Or if the way you’re creating them fails to capture all the digital asset ID info properly – the process won’t work in the software.

X has to be able to SEE the assets – or nothing else works.

And don’t be fooled if you can see the clips in your storylines and think that THAT alone means they are on-line. X is very sophisticated under the hood and will link to all sorts of proxy files or thumbnail files in order to present the user with it’s iconic interface. That does NOT always mean that the assets are present and available for editing.

Workflow is pretty important in using X.

Hope that helps

Ask more if you’re still having trouble.

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.

[Lucy Slavinsky]

Hi Bill,

Thank you for your response. Yes, i launched the sparse bundle. I can see the volume in both Event Browser and Project library. I can see clips in the Event browser and I can see the project in the time line. when I click reveal in finder I can see all the clips in the dedicated volume. The property of each project shows all the clips in the same volume as well .
I have no idea how to get around this issue. Obviously something is wrong with metadata, but what exactly and how to fix it.

Best,

Lucy

[Bill Davis]

Okay,
The next easy thing I’d re-check is your targeting.

When you go to duplicate your projects, are you being careful as to where you’re pointing the database as to the target drive/project/event structure? Is there a chance that there’s already some kind of file already in existence there at the root level with a similar file name?

Doesn’t really sound like that since you can “see” the files you want to work with and load them in X. But what about where you’re trying to WRITE your duplicates? Does your system seem to be creating the proper Project and Event structure on the target drive to reflect the landing zone for the duplicate projects/event?

Are those “landing zones” clear of confusing assets vis a vis the files you’re trying to create?

These are random thoughts about how X can sometimes lose it’s way.

Keep describing and we’ll keep doing our best to try to help you think it through.

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.

[Lucy Slavinsky]

Hi Bill,

I have created a blank sparse disc image exclusevly for duplicating these particular projects. When I click “duplicate project” I choose the same project name and choose the blank sparse disc image from the drop down menu.
FC creats folders, but they are empty. When I open them in finder I can see some files, but there is no project file for sure. I can make screen shots of FC and Finder if it helps.

Thank you very much for trying to help!

Best,

Lucy

[Craig Alan]

I can suggest a few things. It is true that for duplicating and moving projects and events, it is usually recommended to do so within FCP X. Since this did not work – trash the new sparse image and make a new one. A sparsebundle image is a better choice by the way. Try again. Maybe it got a corrupted directory of something. Did you allow enough space in the new sparse image for your media? Make it bigger than you need – it will only use the amount you fill it with. How did you format it?

In the new sparse image, create a project and event folder named exactly like what you have on your other sparse image – the one that is working: Final Cut Projects Final Cut Events.

FCP X will see projects and events in the projects and events folders on the root level of any drive including sparse images. But it only wants one of each folder per drive. So make sure there is only one of each.

If that does not work. I would try copying the entire a sparse image to the new location in the finder. Dismount the older one. Mount the new one and see if it opens in FCP X and all is working. If not check the old one, maybe it got corrupted. If it did, run disk warrior on the sparse image and see if it corrects the problem.

One more thing worth looking at. When you try to duplicate the projects and events, open the background tasks window in FCP X under window and see what is taking place. Maybe you underestimated how long it would take.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Craig Alan]

Oh and make sure that both images with identical project/event names are not open at the same time.

Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV30/40, Sony Z7U, VX2000, PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.

[Andreas Kiel]

Lucy,

Bill and Craig described pretty good where you have to look at.
Also as Craig said better use a sparse bundle – they are more safe and only cover the space needed for the real data – at least as long you don’t delete any files.

When duplicating projects there is always a buffer needed (means enough free space on the volume). It’s needed to verify the copies.
So expand your sparse image before mounting (safest would be double size).
Make as said the destination sparse as same as big.

Then use the FCPX duplicate functions and stay patient.

-Andreas

Spherico
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools

“He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby
become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will
also gaze into thee.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil

[Lucy Slavinsky]

Thank you very much Craig, I ll try and let you know how it worked. What exactly is the advantage of the sparsebundle over the sparse disk image?

Thanks again!

Best,
Lucy

[Lucy Slavinsky]

Thank you Andreas,

I will follow Bill and Craigs advice and post the result. Have one question though – how would you guess the size of the sparse bundle? I understand I need to double size it, but where in Finder should I look for the number? Sorry for the obvious question.

Best,

Lucy

[Andreas Kiel]

Lucy,

… how would you guess the size of the sparse bundle? I understand I need to double size it, but where in Finder should I look for the number? …
It’s pretty simple:
For a sparse image just click the image file in Finder and press cmd-I or just activate the “Size” column in the Finder window.
For a sparse bundle image mount it and do the same as described above with the finder info.

To answer your other question.
If you create a sparse image with a capacity of 500 GB it will cover 500 GB on your hard drive – regardless whether there are any files on it or not. That’s because the sparse image is just one file. You can fill it up to the limit. Once you reached the limit you have to resize it.
Sparse bundles are directories with some subdirectories in it, but they look to the user as same as sparse image when mounted. If you create a blank sparse bundle with a capacity of 500 GB it will cover about 50 MB on your disk that will grow when adding files. Deleting files though won’t make the covered disk space less. You have to unmount the sparse bundle image and “clean” the unused space with some terminal commands. The next advantage of sparse bundles is data security. Cause of of their structure in most cases the image can be repaired if only a few internal directories are damaged. This can’t be done with sparse images.

To work with disk image you may have a look at my X-File Pro and even if you don’t want to use it read the manual/help file.

-Andreas

Spherico
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools
X-Files Pro, tools for working with FCPX
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools/X-Files/index.html

“He who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby
become a monster. And if thou gaze long into an abyss, the abyss will
also gaze into thee.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, Beyond Good and Evil