Sharing Library and merging metadata.

[Noah Kadner]

You can export/reimport XML-that’s the simplest way.

Noah

FCPWORKS – FCPX Workflow
FCP Exchange – FCPX Workshops

[Mark Smith]

Thanks – I thought that might be the option but hadn’t had time to test that path. I really didn’t want to be wasting my effort or complicating the project in some unnecessary way.

Mark

[Jeremy Garchow]

Why not just use the same library?

Work in library at work, take it in the shoot and work on it there, take the library back to work. Work on it at work, etc.

If the media is on separate drives, relink.

I do this often between a SAN at work, and smaller USB drives on the road.

[Mark Smith]

The main project drive is on a 4 drive raid which is more bulky than I care to travel with considering that I already have all my shoot gear to manage, extra bags etc. I’m at the point of “if I add one more thing to my travel pack something is going to break” hence the idea of copying the library to a small travel drive and working on that since all I am really doing at this point is tagging and bagging as they say .

[Jeremy Garchow]

I have a 4TB hard drive that’s the size of a deck of cards.

750GBs is easy enough.

This adds virtually no size and or weight to a backpack with a laptop: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00HXAV0X6/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1456092332&sr=8-1&pi=SY200_QL40&keywords=4tb+usb3+external+hard+drive+portable

[Mark Smith]

Oh sure but bringing the conversation back around to the original starting point. My original library is on a 4 tb 4 drive raid which is bulky and I don’t care to travel that drive. I copied the library to a 2 to drive which is easier to travel and. Will allow me to continue screening and and adding meta data. I just want to be able to bring said metadata that I add while on the road back into the library on the original raid drive since that is what I will use for the edit . A metadata XMLexport from the travel drive after I’ve added metadata that is then imported into the main library drive seems like a reasonable path.

[Jeremy Garchow]

XML will duplicate your events and then merging the duped events will dupe metadata. It’s much easier to simply pass a library file around.

I propose to simply move the actual library file between your road and other setup. Simply reconnect the library to whatever media location you want.

[Mark Smith]

I did find another useful tip by Larry Jordan about transferring a library where media is managed to a library where media is external . If I am thinking about this in the right way I could set myself up with a library for this project with 2 media locations, both external and be able have one sit on my desk and the other on a travel drive for remote work . I’ll investigate this option further once I get back to my desk.

[Mark Smith]

THe link now that the Internet is cooperating
https://larryjordan.com/articles/fcp-x-convert-managed-to-external-media

[Mark Smith]

I think waht I seem to be asking for is 2 versions of my media files which are identical copies – one copy of my media files ( all 720 GB) is on small travel drive that I can throw in my backpack and take on the road with for screening purposes and an identical set of media files on my raid drive in my office . The way I am thinking of this is that making the media files external instead of managed and having 2 copies, I could use one library file to whether I am on the road or in my office to open the project and do screening work and then obviate the need to be constantly exporting xml’s from either the home or road versions and importing to update organizational work that I have accomplished.

Or maybe I am asking the wrong question and going about this in the wrong way…. Which is yet another question.