fcpx “Original Media” folder

[Jon Cairns]

[Craig Alan] “The advantage for me is that the sparse bundle contains all media connected to that particular film – original media and edited media. I can copy and move the entire contents easier. But I see the advantage of having the origin media on a different physical drive. The media drive would be less full. If the media drive goes down, you still have original files.”

It sounds like we work the same way, only I don’t use the sparse bundle approach. I use a master folder for each project. When I said working drive earlier I meant that that drive had the raw footage and all other media related to that project. So, like you, I can move or copy all of the project contents in one go. Sorry I wasn’t more clear about that.

jon

[Craig Alan]

Thanks Jon,

My need for the sparse images are these:

I can mount or unmount them keeping the FCP X interface less cluttered. And more importantly, I am preparing to set this up in a program with many students and many projects sharing a limited number of Macs. I’ve learned that in a simple-finder-account the option to mount sparse images is grayed out. Thus as admin, I can mount and unmount a student’s (or project’s) entire virtual drive without other students being able to do the same.

I think, though have not tested enough, that permissions for external drives and folders in general, has gotten less buggy in recent versions of OS X. So it might be possible to do this by setting permissions on individual master folders for each account. However with sparse images I have no need to create multiple accounts and log them in and out. I can have just two accounts: admin and student and manage student access to their work and only their work by mounting and un-mounting sparse images. This does require quitting FCP first. The ‘bundle’ sparse image approach allows this virtual drive to only occupy as much space as it actually uses. I have also run into corrupted accounts in the recent past. If all work is saved to sparse images on the media drive then recreating the student account does not require too much effort.

FWIW, I first heard of the sparse image approach being used by post shops that did not want their clients to see their other client’s work load in FCP X. My understanding is also that if too much media is loaded in FC that is slows things down. I don’t know if this is true or not.

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.