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Final Cut Freezes sometimes with HD
Occasionally, when working with HD files in Final (mostly ProRes) the system will suddenly get very slow and “pinwheel” all over the place. I can edit a whole project, then on the next project or next day this will happen. When it happens, every project, even SD effected. The only way to kick Final Cut out of the funk, I’ve found, is to start a brand new project from scratch including digitizing the footage all over again. After that, all projects work fine. Any suggestions. Specs – 2×2.93 GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon, 12GB 1066 MHz DDR3 Memory, Mac OS X 10.6.6, Final Cut 7.
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12 Replies
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And what about the media HDs you are using?
What kind of System maintenance you do?
rafael -
I have an external 2TB drive connected with Firewire 800 cable. I do not do any regular system maintenance other than clearing out old/unused media. I’d love to know what kind of maintenance I could do we are without IT support for the system. When I have trouble, I usually delete FC preferences and user data. That sometimes fixes certain problems.
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Hi Mike,
Beside “Repairing Permissions”, that you can do with the DiskUtility, there is another operation that is very important: Keeping clean the HDs Directories.
The Directories are lists that the system use for fast track of any file.
Is not just that the Directories get messed with the daily use; in fact when you start with a brand new system, the Directories are in a very poor condition.
Rebuilding all your HDs directories make things works.
To do this you need a third part application: Diskwarrior or TechTools.
The best investment in software you can ever do if you are running a Mac.
rafael -
I have the same problem happen to me a lot. We are cutting a 3D show for Discovery, so lots of HD media, and 2 video layers at that for each eye. Its a heavy load on the system. I’m open to hearing more of this conversation as it really bugs me how slow it can get sometimes.
My temp solutions have been to keep project sizes under 100 mb, don’t keep more than 3 or 4 sequences open in the timeline ( tabs ), restarting, and sometimes doing the preferences thing like you.
Yes, we are Pro Res and working over a shared network on 2 Quad 2.66 Intel FCPro 7
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Re-booting can refresh everything as well.
Chris Tompkins
Video Atlanta LLC -
Thanks for the help. I did the Repair Permissions, I’ll see if that helps. Rebooting didn’t seem to do the trick. I’m going to get Diskwarrior. The descriptions of the HD Directories seems logical. When the problem occurs, it really seems like Final Cut has lost its connections to the HD files or they’ve become corrupt. They won’t play and Final Cut won’t respond to commands.
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[Mike Alexander] “When the problem occurs, it really seems like Final Cut has lost its connections to the HD files or they’ve become corrupt. “
Mike,
If talked about the Directories, but those applications make few more things. Files have the so called called “File Finder Info” that, although doesn’t corrupts the very file, makes difficult the managing.
Many of those errors and mistakes there are not critical, but they are accumulative.
As I said here many times, I live two hours flying from the nearest Apple service; those applications has been saving my work and peace of mind the last 7 years.
I work with a MBP and ‘heavy footage” (MPGE-2, 100/220Mbps): No crashes, no funny behaves.
rafael -
Mr. Amador,
I have been using a Mac Pro for over a year, only to edit with Final Cut Pro, but has never done any “cleaning” outside of just deleting completed projects and related material.
Your suggestion of software is of interest to me. Unfortunately I am NOT a computer person as I am sure you have noted in several of my postings here.
In reading about the two recommended software, it looks to me like Tech Tools might do all the cleaning of my computer which I do not know how to do and keep it running smoothly.
Is my assumption correct?
Thanks for the info.
Bert
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[Mike Alexander] “I have an external 2TB drive connected with Firewire 800 cable. I do not do any regular system maintenance other than clearing out old/unused media. I’d love to know what kind of maintenance I could do we are without IT support for the system. When I have trouble, I usually delete FC preferences and user data. That sometimes fixes certain problems.”
A single hard drive will definitely cause you to slow down if you are using a lot of data on that drive. The more full the drive is, the slower it will get.
Simply deleting old media from a hard drive will actually cause more issues as well. You need to complete ERASE that hard drive from time to time to completely clean it up. When you simply delete and re-write, you still have fragmentation all over that hard drive.
How you set up your Capture Scratch also affects performance. If you over manage the project rather than letting FCP manage your data, you can create all sorts of issues. For the Capture Scratch I simply select the hard drive and let FCP put all the folders in place. I’ve seen people create a folder for each project, each element of a project and so forth. If you create too many directory paths for your data, that can severely slow down FCP.
Walter Biscardi, Jr.
Editor, Colorist, Director, Writer, Consultant, Author, Chef.
HD Post and Production
Biscardi Creative Media“Foul Water, Fiery Serpent” Winner, Best Documentary, LA Reel Film Festival.
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ProRes and FW800 works for 1 stream.
Get S-ATA storage for your media.
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