Re-linking problem

[Jeremy Garchow]

You can relink to corrected media, with caveats.

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12701

As for why your clips aren’t relinking, what are the steps you took to get to X?

[Lance Bachelder]

I used 7toX – the files I’m attempting to relink are the exact same files used in 7 but X says they are not. This is not the first time this has happened. FCPX could also use a “replace” file feature like every other NLE.

Lance Bachelder
Writer, Editor, Director
Downtown Long Beach, California
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1680680/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1

[Jeremy Garchow]

Try reimporting ONE of clips. Does it relink or bring in a new instance?

You haven’t used Adobe products in the middle of it, have you? XMP can cause problems.

[Bret Williams]

You’re not using a Canon 5D mark III are you?

That could be the culprit. 10.1 recognizes the TC (to do think). So if you didn’t use log and transfer in 7, the TC wouldn’t match.

Previous to 10.1 X didn’t recognize time of day as time code and every clip from canon started with 0.

Now every canon I’ve used still has 0 TC except the 5D mark III. So any projects pre-10.1 exhibit the problem you’re describing. The mark III clips absolutely can’t connect. Projects mixing a mk III, 7D, T4i, etc relink everything but the mk III.

Thankfully just a nuisance since those projects are completed.

[Mitch Ives]

[Jeremy Garchow] “You can relink to corrected media, with caveats.

https://support.apple.com/kb/PH12701“

I wish it were that simple. In the process of moving files from the old Mac tower to the new flame throwing Mac Pro, we experienced a linking problem in a project. Remember, these are files from a machine with the identical OS version and the identical version of FCP X. The files are all linked perfectly on the old machine and play perfectly in any project, including a new one made as a test.

Got the following error message:

So, we moved the project and all associated files again. Same problem. Lots of files linked fine, just a group that wouldn’t. Got frustrated after no success with several attempts at manually relinking, so went to sleep. Next morning, made one last attempt at relinking and surprise… some files manually re-linked… the same files that wouldn’t the day before even with a dozen attempts. Still, it was a partial victory, since other files still wouldn’t relink. Just the ones we selected at that first attempt in the morning (maybe you only get one wish each day). Very flaky behavior.

In the end, I had to reimport a whole load of camera files as new clips, and manually reset all the in and out points of the affected clips, and then replace those clips on the timelines. It was like being forced to re-edit these projects. I think I’ll suggest Sheriff Joe use this tactic as a form of punishment for inmates.

So, there is something deep inside FCP X that still isn’t dialed in. No consistency as to what causes the problem, as many older projects relinked just fine. So did newer ones. So did ones made the same week as the problem project. We were careful to keep everything organized and in the same places as on the old machine. We didn’t get creative… just wanted to have the new machine replace the old one.

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill

[Jeremy Garchow]

Perhaps it’s a file extension problem?

[Mitch Ives]

[Jeremy Garchow] “Perhaps it’s a file extension problem?”

In what way? If it all works fine on the donor machine, what change could have occurred?

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill

[Jeremy Garchow]

In the way that moving files to a new system can sometimes mess up file extensions due to new prefs.

Also, if you clicked on a file in the relink dialogue, what did it say was incompatible?

It looks like there’s some media that’s managed and not external?

[Mitch Ives]

[Jeremy Garchow] “In the way that moving files to a new system can sometimes mess up file extensions due to new prefs.

Also, if you clicked on a file in the relink dialogue, what did it say was incompatible?

It looks like there’s some media that’s managed and not external?”

I’m not sure how the extension would be changed. I never change any extensions and I import all media through FCP X. When the file system changed, all projects were updated on the old machine, and everything went flawlessly. As I said this media is linked fine on the old machine.

The fact that I could right-click in the media window, choose Import Media, and point to the very same files on the disk array and have them import as a second instance of those clips, would indicate that the files are all intact.

The error message I posted earlier is the error message I got over and over.

There is a downside to every upside, and this is the sort of thing that happens when you build your world around a database. Lots of upside to this approach, but here’s a downside… if the database isn’t happy, you don’t get to pass Go. I’d like Apple to give us an “I wan’t to take the damned seat belt off” option, where I can force FCP X to link to those files, regardless of what it “thinks”. You know, like TurboTax does, where even though the program thinks it’s smarter than you, you can still override a box and enter a value, when you’re actually smarter than it thinks it is…

Mitch Ives
Insight Productions Corp.

“Criticism may not be agreeable, but it is necessary. It fulfills the same function as pain in the human body. It calls attention to an unhealthy state of things.” – Winston Churchill

[Jeremy Garchow]

[Mitch Ives] “I’m not sure how the extension would be changed. “

Not changed, deleted. It’s a Finder preference. If you did some sort of file copy and a preference was deleted, sometimes, X can be confused.

[Mitch Ives] “As I said this media is linked fine on the old machine.”

Because it had the correct prefs. The new machine has new/different prefs.

[Mitch Ives] “The error message I posted earlier is the error message I got over and over.”

And when you single click ONE of the files in the relink window, it doesn’t give you anymore information?

[Mitch Ives] “There is a downside to every upside, and this is the sort of thing that happens when you build your world around a database. Lots of upside to this approach, but here’s a downside… if the database isn’t happy, you don’t get to pass Go. “

All NLEs are a database. X’s relink is pretty sensitive, but FCPX will relink to different files as long as there is certain common criteria.