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So, who’s using Sparse Disk Images?
I’ve read that a few people here are using them. Anyone else? Any particular workflows working for you? Read this story this morning on fcp.co:
https://www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/news/867-metronome-celebrate-a-documentary-series-cut-on-fcpx-with-a-birthday-cakeThey’re using them as a check-in check-out system. But I don’t understand how, in the sense that multiple users could still open the same disk image, correct?
My ever-so-brief experience with them was ok – I like how it makes the event and projects a compact unit – but I had issues with the disk image filling up and causing FCPX to crash (if I rendered within them). It seemed like too much of a nuisance to use a command line to increase their size. And then there was the time involved in copying the files into it. In the end, I’m just using Event Manager and it’s fine for my needs.
So, am I missing anything here? Are they the way to go when archiving a project or SD cards? What are the real benefits?
Looking forward to the lafcpug event tonight. Who from here is going?
Thanks for your input.
Michael Garber
5th Wall – a post production company -
12 Replies
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Not sure if the XSan section at the bottom of this page helps:
https://www.rippletraining.com/managing-fcp-x-events-projects-with-disk-images.html -
Micheal,
Sparse(bundle) images are pretty helpful for me as they can grow and shrink and I can keep customers and their projects cleanly separated.
You can use use them for archiving finished projects as well.
But keep in mind that they behave like virtual hard disks. So if the disk is full it is full. So when creating a sparse(bundle) make it big enough allow enough room for later changes.
They also allow to use non SAN volumes to share projects.
I made a little free utility that allows easy creation of sparse(bundle) disk images and shrinking of them as well, without running commands in Terminal.
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools/createDiskImage
Andreas
Spherico
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools -
[Andreas Kiel] “I made a little free utility that allows easy creation of sparse(bundle) disk images and shrinking of them as well, without running commands in Terminal.”
Another great tool! Many thanks, Andreas. Really quick and useful.
Simon Ubsdell
http://www.tokyo-uk.com -
Thanks Simon,
Just a few minutes ago I made an update of this app with some cosmetic fixes (numbers where swapped between the volume sizes).
Though this bug wouldn’t do any harm, it’s recommend to download the updated version.Andreas
Spherico
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools -
This is what I love about the new FCPX.
That grass roots feeling when others offer up their help and expertise.
Thanks Andreas! -
Andreas – thanks!!! That is a great helper app. So, the key with sparse bundles is that you can’t expand their size, only shrink, correct?
Michael Garber
5th Wall – a post production company -
I need to learn a workflow for them as well. My need comes from sharing media drives among different groups of users in a lab. You can password protect a sparse image and the content will not load in FCP X until the sparse image is opened/mounted. The project files are already protected on the system drive by having user accounts. But OS X has always been iffy when it comes to assigning permissions to external drives.
I need to figure out an efficient way to open and close the user accounts and mount and unmount the sparse images that “belong” to them. I got a copy of Apple Remote Desktop. Hopefully this will do the trick but I’m new to using ARD. It would be great if I could learn to automate the process: unmount, log out, log in, mount (to 30 stations at once).
MacPro4,1 2.66GHz 8 core 12gigs of ram. GPU: Nvidia Geoforce GT120 with Vram 512. OS X 10.6.x; Camcorders: Panasonic AG-HPX170, Sony Z7U, Canon HV30/40, Sony vx2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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A quote from
https://www.fcp.co/final-cut-pro/news/867-metronome-celebrate-a-documentary-series-cut-on-fcpx-with-a-birthday-cakeThe assistant editor creates a sparse disk image for every single story on our server. This way, editors and journalists are able to access and share events and projects on a “check in check out basis”. We are not on a Xsan network but work entirely on an ethernet platform connected to a Mac Pro server. We have nine clients connected to this server and each user gets about 109 mb pr second.
Andreas
Spherico
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools -
Craig – I have been using ARD for years now. I absolutely love it and it is one of my keys to running a small, efficient post house.
Once you figure out your strategy, please let us know. I’m very curious to see how this works for you.
I discovered that, if you open the sparse disk image and hit info on the volume, you can deselect “ignore ownership of volume.” This allows you to have the disk mounted on one station at a time. But I haven’t done any tests beyond that, yet.
Now, if I can figure out how to increase the size of the image when necessary… When I mounted the image in Disk Utility, I was able to resize it, but not without reformatting it, due to the need to expand the partition. Anyone know any workarounds? Andres – any way to add this to your utility?
Michael Garber
5th Wall – a post production company -
by Michael Garber on Jun 28, 2012 at 6:15:52 pm
Andreas – thanks!!! That is a great helper app. So, the key with sparse bundles is that you can’t expand their size, only shrink, correct?
Michael Garber
Micheal I updated the app last week but there was a stupid error (nothing serious)
So it’s up again with the option to expand the size.Andreas
Spherico
https://www.spherico.com/filmtools
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