Still need a vault!

[Michael Garber]

I’ve been using Digital Rebellion’s Pro Versioner. It’s got pluses and minuses. But overall, it does what I need it to do. It will also back up to dropbox for you (without having to have dropbox installed on your station). I’m sure there are other backup solutions that might be free or cheaper. Curious to hear what others are doing.

Michael Garber
5th Wall – a post production company

[Mark Morache]

Ahhhhh, third party solutions. I’m curious about the minuses. And 59 bucks sounds pricy. Worth it?

I would think there would be a way to use Automator to create backups.

———
Don’t live your life in a secondary storyline.

Mark Morache
FCPX/FCP7/Xpri/Avid
Evening Magazine,Seattle, WA
https://fcpx.wordpress.com

[Michael Garber]

[Mark Morache] “I’m curious about the minuses. And 59 bucks sounds pricy. Worth it?

I would think there would be a way to use Automator to create backups.
“

It’s worth it in the sense that it is a solution to backing up projects and events and it’s not that expensive compared to the cost of FCPX. If a project/event goes down, I have a backup from 10 minutes prior. So, yes, it’s worth it.

If you are making money as an editor, it should cover the $59. That said, would I prefer FCPX to manage this for me? Yes, it would simplify things.

I think the minuses for me are:

You have to use the program to manage and restore backups. It assigns a UID to each project/event backup, so it’s not in plain English. Maybe this is a positive, but I like to have a little more control from within the Finder. Be careful if you use the backup to dropbox functionality as projects/events can mushroom in size when backed up 10 times each. Also, if you dupe a project, it will automatically create it, but won’t delete the backup if you delete the project. This makes sense, but just something to be aware of.

This feature may be customizable, but it shows a growl message each time it backs up. Also, it take screencap every time it backs up. However, it’s a screen cap of what project you are working on. So it might backup 6 projects, but it will show a screencap of the time of the backup. So that can be confusing.

On a side-note, I’ve come to realize that I am just not a programmer. I see that what these folks do is a very specialized task, same as our own as editors. My work life is now inextricably bound to programmers and developers, so the best I can do is make friends and hope I can somehow influence their decisions to build the software I need to get the job done. Assuming the price is right, which it usually is these days, I like to support them and their work. A well-written app is an art as well as a science – again, much like good editing. 🙂

Michael Garber
5th Wall – a post production company

[Jon Chappell]

[Michael Garber] “You have to use the program to manage and restore backups. It assigns a UID to each project/event backup, so it’s not in plain English.”

On an internal level it uses UUIDs but we use a trick to make the project name appear in the Finder. The project names should be showing, even if you are not using an English language. What functions do you wish to perform at a Finder level?

[Michael Garber] “Be careful if you use the backup to dropbox functionality as projects/events can mushroom in size when backed up 10 times each.”

I recommend selecting “Delete synced files when I delete them locally” as it will automatically delete backups from Dropbox when local backup management kicks in.

[Michael Garber] “This feature may be customizable, but it shows a growl message each time it backs up.”

This can be switched off in the General section of preferences but I personally like it because it gives me peace of mind knowing that the backup was successful. I have used other automatic backup software that stopped working for some reason and I didn’t realize it until weeks later.

[Michael Garber] Also, it take screencap every time it backs up. However, it’s a screen cap of what project you are working on. So it might backup 6 projects, but it will show a screencap of the time of the backup. So that can be confusing.”

This is unfortunately a side-effect of the way FCPX works. It frequently writes to project files that aren’t even open, which triggers Pro Versioner, and there is currently no way to detect which is the current project and which are ones that FCPX has updated for no reason at all.

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools – Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools – Edit QuickTime chapters and metdata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools…

[Michael Garber]

Jon,

Thanks for the clarifications on the features of the program. I’ll be implementing those asap.

As for the UUIDs, on my system, the UUIDs show up on the finder level in my Dropbox folder (under Apps:Pro Versioner). Is this to be expected? In Pro Versioner, they show up with the correct names.

Michael Garber
5th Wall – a post production company

[Jon Chappell]

Ah yes, currently Dropbox backup directories display as UUIDs only.

My software:
Pro Maintenance Tools – Tools to keep Final Cut Studio, Final Cut Pro X, Avid Media Composer and Adobe Premiere Pro running smoothly and fix problems when they arise
Pro Media Tools – Edit QuickTime chapters and metdata, detect gamma shifts, edit markers, watch renders and more
More tools…