My library was shut down due to lack of storage space.
Is it enough to clear the hard drive of unnecessary files in order for me to get access to the library, or is something else needed as well?
MacBook Air M1, Sequoia 15.1.1.
MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.1
Impossible to say, without trying.
If you are lucky, then yes, you may be able to just open it, once you have enough space; but it is possible that the library may have become corrupted.
Usually the bulk of space is used by stuff that you don't even need - transcoded media and render files.
Now, these should normally be deleted from inside FCP, which may not be an option right now.
But if you can make some space and can open the library, then immediately do this: select the library in the browser sidebar, go to File->Delete Generated Library Files... and check all the options. Quit FCP and see how big the library is now, and much space you have regained.
And, if you haven't, do consider putting your media in an external SSD, and using not one big library, but one library per production.
Impossible to say, without trying.
If you are lucky, then yes, you may be able to just open it, once you have enough space; but it is possible that the library may have become corrupted.
Usually the bulk of space is used by stuff that you don't even need - transcoded media and render files.
Now, these should normally be deleted from inside FCP, which may not be an option right now.
But if you can make some space and can open the library, then immediately do this: select the library in the browser sidebar, go to File->Delete Generated Library Files... and check all the options. Quit FCP and see how big the library is now, and much space you have regained.
And, if you haven't, do consider putting your media in an external SSD, and using not one big library, but one library per production.
Library for what app?
Free up storage space on Mac - Apple Support
If you have run critically low on free space on your startup drive, then clearing enough data may be very difficult.
You will need to use an external drive for storage of files that you wish to keep while deleting them from your Mac.
These are generated files; they can be regenerated if necessary (which is probably never, in many cases).
Also, turn off “background render” is Settings->Playback, and both the transcoding options in Settings->Import, to avoid creating unnecessary files in the future. Again, they can be created on demand if the need arises.
Thanks a lot, I think I was lucky, I could open the library after having removed a bunch of cinema dng-files.
When you say "check all the boxes", do you mean Delete: Render Files, Optimized Media and Proxy Media? If so, there's no risk that I loose files necessary for the project?
KiltedTim wrote:
You haven't even told us what kind of "library" you're talking about out.
If Luis got it right, it was pretty much just a lucky guess.
I guess it was… I follow the Final Cut Pro forum and I assumed the question was about Final Cut Pro, and apparently it was.
Dewjack wrote:
I posted the question in the fcp-forum (at least it was my intention), because it's a library within fcp, am I missing something?
You surely did, because otherwise I would not have received your post in my e-mail.
However, and I have no idea why, someone moved this to the the "MacBook Air" forum - hence the confusion.
I subscribe to the Final Cut Pro forum, but not the MacBook Air forum.
You haven't even told us what kind of "library" you're talking about out.
If Luis got it right, it was pretty much just a lucky guess.
I posted the question in the fcp-forum (at least it was my intention), because it's a library within fcp, am I missing something?
Apparently you either accidentally posted it in the MacBook Air forum, or the moderators mistakenly moved it here.
This isn't the fcp forum.
How to regain library access after storage shutdown?
