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Sparse Disk Bundling, Revisited.
When John D posted his interesting thread about how the evolving Library model post 10.1.2 was driving sparse disk workflows out of his distributed NAS system, it caused me to spend some time considering the proposition of whether sparse disks still have a place for me.
And it only took an afternoons work migrating my Lightroom stills collections to LR 5 to answer the question for me.
Sparse disk workflow aren’t really an FCP X solution as much as they are a general convenience for ANY referenced media process. They may well slow things down for NAS focused video shops. But for any editor who shoots on cards (or drives) who sees the benefits of a single file package that bundles content and and it’s attendant metadata into a standalone unit, it still rocks.
That I was able to upgrade my software across scads of client projects and still launch and work with my original external sparse disk media bundles was comforting.
And having mirrored card backups of all my video and stills in one format is really nice.
(It took the sting away from being forced to sign up for Creative Cloud yet again to try to figure out how to upgrade my Apple Store standalone version of Lightroom. This will be the third time I’ve had to open then dump a CC account. Twice for me and once for my project manager wife at the end of her short duration Photoshop required client project. Arrrrgh!)
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15 Replies
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[Bill Davis] “for any editor who shoots on cards (or drives) who sees the benefits of a single file package that bundles content and and it’s attendant metadata into a standalone unit”
I believe those are called “Camera Archives” in Final Cut Pro. 😉 Archives that in fact can be accessed as if they were the original camera/disk/card and are closed packages, as are sparse bundles. Perfect for archiving (hence the name :D).
All in all, I don’t see how images of any sort could be of any advantage compared to what FCP offers by default. Be it in the form of archives or libraries. With the advent of Yosemite and “Photo” even your Lightroom libraries won’t need any special treatment compared to all the other libraries you might have. That is, assuming that Adobe in fact embraces the whole concept and doesn’t, once again, think they can do it better with their own thing, whatever that may be (Bridge et al?).
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They definitely have uses outside of how we used them. I’m glad we’re free of them though, if for no other reason than the fact that we’re using the program a bit more like we’re supposed to! 🙂
John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.
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[Bill Davis] “(It took the sting away from being forced to sign up for Creative Cloud yet again to try to figure out how to upgrade my Apple Store standalone version of Lightroom. This will be the third time I’ve had to open then dump a CC account. Twice for me and once for my project manager wife at the end of her short duration Photoshop required client project. Arrrrgh!)”
I was able to upgrade my standalone version of Lightroom to v.5 a few months ago without having to open a CC account. Looks like Adobe changed the rules of their game. Again.
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I thought you ran into a snag with the XLM files being buggy?
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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The team told me they would rather just backup the entire library for work projects and keep the XMLs for series metadata. Since all library media and cache is outside of the library file now, the library only gets about 40 megs big.
John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.
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Gotcha. Makes sense. The library is a small folder now and I guess the XMLs are still buggy? Or did you solve that part of it?
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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XML’s don’t retain smart folders, on screen text data, and effect keyframes. I don’t know if it’s technically considered a bug or just not information XML is capable of preserving.
But with libraries relatively small it isn’t an issue.
John Davidson | President / Creative Director | Magic Feather Inc.
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Thanks. They don’t seem trivial to me. I’d think they need to be fixed to allow XMLs to be a viable solution going forward. But the new library structure seems very solid and can be kept very small. Kinda like Time Machine is worth using but does not replace cloning.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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A general question regarding using Image Discs. Has anyone had issues with file corruption? I mean if all media is “open” in a folder the odd chance of a corrupt file might ruin 1 out of 100 files. If you’re unlucky enough to have a corrupt disc-image the entire project could be un-repairable. Or is this so uncommon one doesn’t have to think about it or deal with it?
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I ran all the past year with hundreds of these bundles on 7 computers. Not one failed. However, if you have mission critical stuff, they are no more reliable than any drive. You need a back up strategy. One advantage to bundles is you can back them up and have all your assists in them, including libraries and media folders outside the library. By the way the same logic applies to raids. We use Raid 0 which is the highest risk but the most storage and the fastest. For important projects we back up.
Mac Pro, macbook pro, Imacs (i7); Canon 5D Mark III/70D, Panasonic AG-HPX170/AG-HPX250P, Canon HV40, Sony Z7U/VX2000/PD170; FCP 6 certified; FCP X write professionally for a variety of media; teach video production in L.A.
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