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Restoring from Library Backup
So restoring from the Library Backup does not seem to work for me. Fortunately I didn’t end up needing it. But what the f***!
First the way my media is structured. I store my media in external folders in multiple NAS volumes. I can pull from up to 15 volumes for the same project. I store my library files within sparse bundles on the same NAS volumes.
So I want to be protected if my sparse bundle OR library file get corrupted. So to test I eject the sparse bundle that has the original library file on it. Then I try to restore by double-clicking a Library backup on my system drive. It tells me the original drive isn’t there and gives me the opportunity to save it elsewhere. So I save it on the desktop. All honky-dory until I open the library. All the media shows up as missing. Even though it’s accessible where it has always been. Even though it would be a ton of work to relink, it doesn’t even give me that option. No clips show up as “missing” in the relink window.
What the heck is going on here? Do library backups not work for externally managed media? How is this even remotely a backup of any kind if it doesn’t work?
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5 Replies
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[Brett Sherman] “What the heck is going on here? Do library backups not work for externally managed media? How is this even remotely a backup of any kind if it doesn’t work?”
Have you tried the actual restore from backup command?
It’s under “File > Open Library…”
A backup file has nothing in it except the guts of the Library. It does not keep the aliased files, this makes the backup very light weight.
If you click the “All” button in the relink window, it should show you all of the files to relink?
If you drag the footage back in to the Library, the links will also be restored.
Jeremy
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[Jeremy Garchow] “A backup file has nothing in it except the guts of the Library. It does not keep the aliased files, this makes the backup very light weight.”
Hmmm. So I have to have a backup strategy outside of the FCP X backup. That’s dumb. Ironically, my protection against failure was much stronger with the Event and Project structure. I’m a lot more nervous now.
Backups should be protection against all sorts of failures including hard drive failures, lost/deleted alias files, corrupted sparse bundles, etc.. It seems the ONLY thing this protects against is library corruption. I don’t think alias files really take up a lot of space. It would be nice to have the library backup include those or at least give you the option. Looks like I’ll have to use a third-party solution. Pro Versioner didn’t seem to quite do the job with libraries. I’ll check out Backups for FCP X.
I’d have to know what files are in the project to be able to drag them in one at a time. And that would take forever. For some projects they are scattered all around. Others would be easier.
From what I could tell, selecting all either showed one file or no files. It seems to have lost all connection to the original files. Separately from this problem I’ve had weird missing file problems where it tells me the file is missing. I select Relink… Then it tells me the exact path to the file. I manually navigate to that same path to relink it. If it can tell me where the file is why can’t it reconnect itself?
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[Brett Sherman] “It seems the ONLY thing this protects against is library corruption.”
Hasn’t worked in my case, the backups aren’t restoring my corrupted library
Steve Connor
Class Bully
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\[Brett Sherman] “Backups should be protection against all sorts of failures including hard drive failures, lost/deleted alias files, corrupted sparse bundles, etc.. It seems the ONLY thing this protects against is library corruption. I don’t think alias files really take up a lot of space.”
They don’t take up a ton, but render, optimized, and proxy files do. All of those live in the Library.
Every time FCPX would backup a 4TB library would take a few hours. There’s a reason why the backups are so lightweight.
You can drag folders of media back on to FCPX to have it relink, not just individual files, just make sure everything is deselected in your import prefs.
I’m not a giant fan of every aspect of Libraries right now, either, but they do work.
I also think Sparse Bundles complicate things, but I understand why some need to use them.
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[Jeremy Garchow] “Every time FCPX would backup a 4TB library would take a few hours. There’s a reason why the backups are so lightweight.”
Agreed. But you don’t need proxy or render files to rebuild a project. Apparently and oddly, you do need the alias files, so it should be backing those up. And they are minimal in size so it would be logical to be able to back these up. This is one reason why I never liked the whole alias file business. Is it really hard for an event to contain the location of an external file? Requiring alias files just makes the system less reliable and more prone to disaster.
[Jeremy Garchow] “I also think Sparse Bundles complicate things, but I understand why some need to use them.”
Agreed. But I have no choice at this point. No way to open a library on a NAS server. There is a lot I like about the library structure. It just seems haphazard and not well-planned. Had FCP X had the file organization structure right from the beginning I think we wouldn’t be in such a an immature place with library files. Heck we’d probably have externally located render and proxy files by now. Gripe of the day!
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