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Final Cut Pro transfer issue

I saved a Final Cut Library/Project onto a new external drive from another external drive. All 33gb moved but when I open it, the clips all say "File Missing". The above explanation is not working. Any ideas what I am doing wrong?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 12.4

Posted on Jul 19, 2022 11:58 AM

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Posted on Jul 19, 2022 12:46 PM

I just copied the entire contents of the drive (2+TB) which included the Final Cut Libraries onto the other drive. Nothing more.


I spoke to an editor - this is a paraphrase of what he said, 'Final Cut creates paths and the content needs to be linked back, it won't just read it because everything was moved." My unparaphrased was response was "that's crap UIUX and could have been solved with better coding logic." THAT being said, I did find all the files (no help from Apple) on the new drive and dropped them in.

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jul 19, 2022 12:46 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

I just copied the entire contents of the drive (2+TB) which included the Final Cut Libraries onto the other drive. Nothing more.


I spoke to an editor - this is a paraphrase of what he said, 'Final Cut creates paths and the content needs to be linked back, it won't just read it because everything was moved." My unparaphrased was response was "that's crap UIUX and could have been solved with better coding logic." THAT being said, I did find all the files (no help from Apple) on the new drive and dropped them in.

Jul 19, 2022 5:02 PM in response to sxandon

There are good reasons you *don't* want FCP to decide for you where it thinks the media files are when it can't find them. Let's say you moved the library to another drive and on that drive media files with names Clip0001.mov, Clip0002.mov, etc. already exist. When the moved library is opened, its database says its files are in xyz location, but they're not there. If FCP were to automatically look locally, it might find files with the correct names (and if the same camera was used), frame rates and sample rates and then relink them. Your project would be a mess and you'd have to relink anyway. Much safer and extremely easy to do as Luis says and point FCP to where the media files are and Relink. Takes 3 minutes. This way you're guaranteed that the library references the correct media. For large projects, media management is critical. Hopefully this helps you to understand its importance.

Jul 20, 2022 1:43 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Thanks Luis - I didn't dismiss the correct advice out of hand because I was never given that advice. The editor just said what I quoted with no other instructions. I looked for directions in several locations and from Apple. I didn't find those very simple (and excellent) instructions anywhere - not that they weren't there, I just didn't see them. I have several more projects, I'll try that out.

Jul 20, 2022 2:16 AM in response to sxandon

sxandon wrote:

Thanks Luis - I didn't dismiss the correct advice out of hand because I was never given that advice. The editor just said what I quoted with no other instructions. I looked for directions in several locations and from Apple. I didn't find those very simple (and excellent) instructions anywhere - not that they weren't there, I just didn't see them. I have several more projects, I'll try that out.


Sorry if my reply was out of line.

The person apparently you needed to "link", which I interpreted as you need to "relink in FCP" - I thought it was implied, but that is probably because I am familiar with the process. I am glad that you worked it out, anyway.

Final Cut Pro transfer issue

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