Final Cut Pro Documents folder safe to appear on system drive?

[Victor Perez]

There has always been a “Final Cut Pro Documents” folder in my System drive:
Users>Documents>Final Cut Pro Documents

The Autosave Vault, Thumbnail Cache Files, and Waveform Cache Files are stored there.

Thumbnail cache files store small representative images of your clips that appear in the
Browser and Timeline.
A waveform cache file contains a waveform overview for audio in your project.

hope that helps

Victor

[David Roth weiss]

The directories are created where the settings in System Preferences are set to point. If you change that, the directories will be recreated in the new place you point to in the System Settings. You need to decide which drive you wish to be your permanent spot for these directories and their contents, then you can delete the identical directories on the other drive. FCP will automatically recreate the ones for projects that you delete the first time you open those projects. It takes a few seconds extra, but that’s about the only issue you’ll have.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Peter Dunphy]

Thanks Victor and David for your prompt responses – I really appreciate it.

Since all the below System Settings seem to be pointing to my Sonnet D800 Raid 5 and not my 1TB internal system/boot drive do you think I would be able to delete the Final Cut Pro Documents folders on my system drive (even though they contain some small files)?

Or, should I perhaps ‘Set…’ a new setting in my System Settings to ensure that the Final Cut Pro Documents folders all stay and remain on my Sonnet D800 Raid 5, which is what I would like?

In my System Settings:

1. My Waveform Cache is set to my Sonnet D800 Raid 5: Final Cut Pro Documents

2. My Thumbnail Cache is set to my Sonnet D800 Raid 5: Final Cut Pro Documents

3. My Autosave Vault is set to my Sonnet D800 Raid 5: Final Cut Pro Documents

4. Video Capture, Audio Capture, Video Render and Audio Render are all also set to my Sonnet D800 Raid 5: Final Cut Pro Documents

Thanks again for your kind assistance.

[Victor Perez]

Having the files on the Sonnet drive should be fine. Before deleting the ones on your System drive I would go thru the Autosave to be sure you do not need any of the backup projects. Possibly burn to CD or DVD depending on how many Autosave projects there are just in case.

I usually keep the latest Audosave project from each FCP project and eventually burn to DVD when I have enough to fill a DVD. Thats just in case of a failure. I believe in saving as much as possible after a project is done since DVDs are so cheap.

hope that helps

Victor

[David Roth weiss]

Yes as Victor says, the only one that could be an issue would be the Auto Save Vault. It couldn’t hurt to move the contents of that directory over to the same directory on the raid.

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Peter Dunphy]

Thanks David and Victor I’ll give that a try once I’ve finished capturing all my tapes (on 102nd!) and will repost in this thread will how I get on. Thanks again for your valuable advice.

Peter

[Peter Dunphy]

Hi again guys

With FCP quit I moved the FCP Documents folder that was on my system drive to trash. The folder didn’t contain any Autosave files – just 2 small Thumbnail Cache files in a Thumbnail Cache Files folder and in the Render FIles folder there is a Constant Frames folder which contains 5 small files. There is nothing in any of the other folders.

My proper FCP Documents folder still remains on my Raid 5 with all my captured material in it.

When I restarted FCP my timeline for my project had disappeared. I was unable to select it from the menu nor would it appear in any window layout e.g. standard.

I quit FCP again, retrieved the FCP Documents folder from trash and replaced it on my system drive documents folder.

Still no timeline.

I quit FCP, trashed my preferences and opened it again, and it revealed a blank project with a timeline.

However, when I opened my original project the timeline is still missing.

At this moment in time I am logging shots and haven’t starting editing in earnest. I have been titling my ProRes clips, trimming them with Media Manager, and placing the clips into Bins relating to certain themes in my video.

Is there anything I can do to retrieve my timeline please?

All the best

Peter

[Peter Dunphy]

Silly me!!! Just doubleclicked on sequence in browser to get it back. Hadn’t used FCP in ages and forgot all about that one! :o)

[David Roth weiss]

You scared the heck out of me Peter… I think I need a beer to calm my nerves now. So, if you had not restored the files from the trash would you still be okay?

David Roth Weiss
Director/Editor
David Weiss Productions, Inc.
Los Angeles

POST-PRODUCTION WITHOUT THE USUAL INSANITY ™

A forum host of Creative COW’s Apple Final Cut Pro, Business & Marketing, and Indie Film & Documentary forums.

[Peter Dunphy]

:o) Enjoy your beer David – sorry for scaring you! :o)

Yep I think I would have been okay had I not restored the files. I think I’ll leave them be though just for now to play safe until I get this video edited.

Thanks again for your kind advice,and have a great weekend!