Final Cut Pro crashing…

[Randyp]

I also had a large project nearing completion which began to crash on me. I know what you’re goin’ through. Rather than rehash here what I tried in dealing with the problem, please check my previous posts for possible suggestions or clues about what to do. Maybe something there will help.

Randy

“You are:
1. Untalented but excessively persistent
2. Unbelieveably stupid
3. An artist
4. All of the above”

–Norman Rockwell

[Christopher Noice]

Randy,
This just happened to me, too. And on a large and important project. Were you ever able to figure out:
a) what this error was
b) how to get your project back
c) the cause and prevention
Thanks,

c

[Randyp]

[chrino21] “a) what this error was
b) how to get your project back
c) the cause and prevention”

a) Sorry, we never have discovered the specific error in FCP. Recently my system was upgraded to OS X Tiger and FCP 5.0.4, so maybe those problems were left behind.

b) Unfortunately, the best I could do was go back to the most recent autosave or backup copy and go on from there.

c.1) We have only theories about the cause, which is either a corruption over time in the “undo” cache or some kind of software volitility because of the size, number of short clips, and frequent complex transitions in my project.

c.2) Here are some steps I’ve implemented after experiencing problems opening FCP project files myself. They won’t help you open a corrupt file, but might help you prevent file corruption in the future:

c.2.a) I strongly suggest regularly saving copies of your project. Auto Save is not always a “lifeboat,” because I found that I could be running an already corrupted project (corruption I wouldn’t discover until after closing FCP and trying to re-open), and Auto Save would faithfully copy multiple already-corrupted-versions to the Auto Save Vault. I’d discover the project wouldn’t reopen and that the Auto Save files also wouldn’t reopen, and would have to search back in time through those files to finally find one auto-saved before the corruption set in. After learning this sad fact, I finally began regularly saving the project file to a new version name in the morning and to a new version name after lunch. (I add the date and “AM” or “PM” to the file name in the new versions.)

c.2.b) In addition to this I also have my Autosave set to save about every 5 to 7 minutes. I have lots of memory for Autosaved copies, so if there is a problem, and I can restore from the Autosave Vault, I hopefully don’t have to recreate some edit or change I’ve just made.

c.2.c) As a routine preventative step I also restart my computer first thing in the morning and then once or twice during day to refresh all the cache files, the connections to my Medea, and the FCP application software. If I start getting drop-frame warnings, a restart will usually correct those too. (It’s usually when I restart that I immediately save my project to a new file name, as I described two steps above, before I proceed with editing.)

c.2.d) I also found if I leave FCP running for untended for long periods sometimes something corrupts all by itself, without me making any changes, so I try to avoid leaving the software and project open overnight or on weekends.

c.2.e) A sign of impending trouble I noticed in particular with my FCP 4.5 was that after working on a project for a while I could no longer “undo” changes. Whenever I noticed this, it was immediately time to “save as” and restart the system.

c.2.f) Occasionally I will “Select All” and bulk copy my entire timeline of video and audio clips over to an new, empty sequence. (This is something I used to have to do when I edited on the old Turbo Cube and the Stratosphere to rid my project of “ghost” files, the traces of files deleted and changed which seemed to accumulate over time. I don’t know if FCP has a “ghost” file problem, but I do it anyway, once in a while, just in case.)

I can imagine how frustrated you must feel about your project. No horror quite like creatively working all day and then finding you’ve lost all that work. Hope this helps you avoid that feeling in the future,

Randy

[Christopher Noice]

Thank you so much Randy for taking the time to share your information! I had suspected that a couple of these suggestions would work (and were actually helping when I tried them) but – being a new user – I also thought I might just be crazy. These will be invaluable bits of advice in the future.

I was, in fact, able to find an autosave file (oddly, none of them were corrupted), and wondered whether they too could refuse to open. Thanks again.

–Christopher

[Randyp]

This interchange of ideas is why I love Creative Cow and find it more helpful than trying to wade through some manufacturer’s (typical poorly) written user manual.

Another suggestion to pass along to you:
When I close FCP, first I right click (or Control-Click, if you don’t use a two-button mouse) on the Project Tab–the one with the specific project file’s name on it–in the Browser and close that tab. This will close the file, and the sequences/nests that go with it, separately from closing the FCP program itself. If I’ve made any changes, a window pops up asking if I want to save any changes to the file. After this, I close the FCP program.

The reason behind this is to avoid any corruption of a file or sequence that might occur when closing the program. Maybe this isn’t a problem any more with FCP 5, but evidently some users have run into it in past versions and suggested this procedure on the Cow. (if you’ve been burned by a project that wouldn’t open, you’ll gladly take all precautions available.)