Sharing Library and merging metadata.

[Mark Smith]

So there seems to be plenty of info about sharing FCPX projects which is useful but doesn’t answer my question. I’m at the organizational stage of my project screening, favoriting, noting and tagging clips. I want to be able to do this remotely or in my office. Do I keep the library on iCloud or drop box and 2 identical copies of media eternal to the library, one in the office and one in my pocket for when I work remotely?

[Mark Smith]

Here is my experiment:

I took a small project file and following the Larry Jordan post converted it from a managed media library to a external library. After that I confirmed that the library/project worked properly.

I copied the folders with the external media to second drive keeping the folder names the same on the second drive.

I ejected drive 1 which is the drive that I established the external media for this particular library on and opened the library which resides on Computer ‘A’

I got the message that the media was missing and I was able to point FCPX to drive ‘B’ where I had copied the folders from drive ‘A’ and presto- the media is active and I can work with the library / project.

My conclusion is that in theory I could have the library reside in my drop box , have 2 sets of external media which are identical, one for remote work and the other for my office, use the library which resides on drop box and work either in the office or remotely after pointing FCPX towards the media and have one library file that reflects changes made either in the office or remotely.

I am going to do a test with a larger Library to find out what the re linking process gets to be like with a larger library before I fully commit to this route.

[Mark Smith]

Having one library file with 2 identical sets of external median mobile and one desktop works. The re linking takes a bit when switching from one external set to the other but it works and allows me to keep my metadata , tagging and bagging up to date and clean.

[Jeremy Garchow]

Nice work. I routinely work between copies of data sets, and one library. I find this method to be the most reliable. Yes, Relinking can take a little bit, but it’s much better than having duplicate metadata, and giant libraries.

[Mark Smith]

The media in my library is 684 GB which is spread across a lot of C300 footage, GoPro footage, stills, BMPC footage and Olympus point and shoot video. The media is a real salad. It took about 90 seconds to relink media when switching from one drive to another which I do not consider much of a penalty given that I now have a very portable set of media that I can work with while on the road and a set on a proper raid at my desk that I can switch between without creating a metadata mess. I’m liking this….

[Mark Smith]

So “something ” went off the rails with this experiment. My library file which I keep in dropbox has ballooned to 100-sh GB basically because there is original media now appearing in the Library even though the media locations are set to an external drive. The only thing I can think of that would have caused this media to show up in the library is that at one point when opened the project in the library, some media was off line for some reason. I relinked media pointing to the files on external drive. Is there some reason might have over looked that would have caused the relinked files o be incorporated into the library file which I am purposefully trying to keep small?

[Mark Smith]

Seems like some files that exist on my external media drive got sucked into the library which lives in drop box and caused the sudden bloating. I can find the offending files and re-link pointing to the external media and I believe that will solve the bloating library problem. After I do this I can ditch the dupe files in the library ….

[Mark Smith]

OK Maybe my last question:

I’ve combed through my library and re linked all files back to media on my external media drive, with the goal of keeping the library which is stored on a dropbox folder as slim as possible . Done.

Now I want to go into the library folder and delete actual media that is in the library causing bloating of the library folder on dropbox.

Do I – quit FCPX open the finder go thru the library folder manually deleting each instance of actual media files I find in the library and then empty trash, OR is there some way cooler way to do from inside fcpx..?

[Jeremy Garchow]

Normally, to get the media out of the library, you select the library, choose File > Consolidate Library Files > click the Optimized and Proxy boxes, click ‘OK” and choose a destination.

Since you have already relinked the media, all of your media should be out of the Library and replaced with symlinks to the external media.

Jeremy

[Mark Smith]

Its funny. I thought I went that route- consolidating files out of the library to my media drive but received the opposite effect where the library ballooned. It could have been a mousing and clicking error since I’m a little green here.

In any case, since I relinked files to my media drive the library has been reduced to 3% of its former size as if by magic . Now if I can get dropbox to sync across all my computers, life will be better.