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Final Cut X Problem- Running slowly
I am running FCP X and it is running very slowly. Just a few things you should know before I start about the memory on my computer- it is a stationary Mac OSX with 8 1066 Mhz DDR3 memory. The external hard drive has been partitioned into 3 sections each with 1/3 TB titled Edit A, Edit B and Scratch. The local drive has 1 TB, and there is also something called ‘Stor’ that has another TB memory.
Originally, I had 5 events with about 3 hours of media on the Macintosh HD. I also had 7 projects on Stor. This was when it was at it’s worst- everything I tried to do was incredibly slow and it would crash often. I combined all of the projects into one and things got slightly better. I also deleted a few large still photos and this improved it as well. However, my program is still not quite right. Sometimes it runs perfectly, but just for ilk 30 or so seconds at a time, then it will start to lag a lot and I get the spinning wheel when trying to do anything(even moving 1 frame can take 30 seconds!).
Right now I am copying the events from MAC HD and moving them to the external to see if this helps(separate applications/computer media from my media).
I do not know how to determine the format of my clips- this may be the problem(if one or a few are in the wrong format).
My questions are the following:
1) how to check format of clips
2) Why do you think it is moving so slowly? Should I move the events/projects to another drive? Or split them up among drives? I only have about 3.5 hours of footage total so I do not see why this would be a problem.
IF there are any clarifications needed to answer this let me know, thanks!
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2 Replies
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Try creating a new user account on you Mac (with admin privileges).
Log in with your new account and run FCP X to see if you’re experiencing the same issues…
(Do NOT move any of the FCP prefs to the new account, let it create new ones). -
It sounds like your computer and ram should be fine.
I think you’re problem is the partitions. Most HD’s already spin slow for video work, and the fact that you’re hitting one hard drive up to 3 times spread across partitions is probably the biggest culprit causing the slow down. And considering that they’re relatively small partitions I can’t really think of any advantage to keep it partitioned. Personally I’d back everything up on that drive and reformat it with a single partition.
If the external is USB 2.0 then that will also really slow you down, and I imagine particularly with the partitions. I edit with a US B2.0 external, and it’s not bad. However I only use Prores proxy and I keep both the project and the event on that drive. I have all of the source media stored in the event folder as opposed to references.
Protip: A good editing practice is to never store media on your system drive. You want to keep your system drive stable, light, and fast. If you’re storing media or projects on your system drive that could also cause more severe slow downs depending on your setup.
Here’s an easy way to check the format of your clips:
-Right click and select “reveal in finder”
-Open in quicktime.
-In the menu, select “Window” and “Show Inspector” (Command-i)
You should see your format in the inspector. If it’s h.264 or HDV or MPEG2, this will also slow you down, and I’d recommend allowing FCPX to transcode to proxy or optimzed.————-
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