Media Management in FCPX - question

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Media Management in FCPX - question

I'm about to move a film (Film A) from one drive to another. The new drive will also have a number of other films on it. So the original folder hierarchy will have to change.

Drive #1 folder hierarchy = 'Film A' > Media > Final Cut Original Media

Drive #2 folder hierarchy = Star Productions > Films > 'Film A' > Media > Final Cut Original Media

When I want to open the 'Film A' Library and have all the clips still attached to their media ... can I just change the settings in my 'Film A' Library Properties > Storage Locations > Modify Settings - to the new location, and then do a Consolidate and expect all my clips to be reconnected to their original media in spite of the new folder hierarchy?

Or is there a better way to do this? I'm seeing that if I do it this way I first have to open the original Library ... which may or may not figure out the new folder hierarchy automatically (in the past this would never work). Then when it's opened all the clips will be disconnected. I set the new Library Properties ... close the Library ... reopen it ... and the clips will reconnect?

Any suggestions would be enormously appreciated. I'm about to consolidate media from 8 different 5 TB drives to this one master drive ... a six year shoot on one film ... so that I can contain the massive amount of media in one easily accessed place.

Ben

Posted on Dec 3, 2020 5:45 AM

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Answer 1

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Luis Sequeira1

Level 9

64,676 points

Dec 3, 2020 6:38 AM in response to Ben Low

If you change the location for media in the library to the new one, and click Consolidate, FCP will copy everything there, so you should not even have to copy it manually yourself. Keep in mind that copying a lot of stuff can take a long time, so don't disconnect your drives or erase anything until it is finished.

Alternatively, if you move things manually in the Finder, you can use the Relink functionality to point everything to the new location.

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Answer 2

Ben Low Author

Level 1

106 points

Dec 3, 2020 6:44 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Aha! Thank you Luis,

That makes it so easy. And safe. And long. Ha ha ha. I suspect it'll take a night and a morning at least.

I've got 8TB full on my new MacBook Pro (SSD) ... and had to stop the film as I ran out of space. And am now so spoiled working with the SSD, that the idea of returning to HDD is too disturbing. So I indulged and got a 16TB ThunderBlade ... will copy everything over ... then delete the media from the MacBook Pro and have, whew, some working space again. And the screamingly fast ThunderBlade to finish the film with.

Thanks again, super appreciated,

Ben

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Media Management in FCPX - question

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