[Jason Rundle]

Thanks for suggesting Preference Manager. I was trying to decide if I wanted to buy a similar tool for $60.

I set Preferences Manager to “Show the System Settings dialog for projects without an associated backup”. I also created an Automator macro for launching FCP and opening the System Settings automatically…Since I don’t usually launch projects from the project files. That way I will always be prompted to check the Scratch Disk settings to make sure I’m not co-mingling my project media.

For an added level of laziness I downloaded Quicksilver and set a keyboard shortcut (Trigger) to launch the Automator macro that I created. So, all I do is hold down Ctrl+Option+Cmd and hit F…. The Automator macro causes FCP to launch and open System Settings.

It sounds like a lot to solve such a simple problem. And there are probably a million other ways to do the same thing. But, I’m sick of trying to figure out where my media went after starting a new project.