How to Backup FCP X Projects & Events.

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andynick Author

Level 5

4,955 points

How to Backup FCP X Projects & Events.

I have two projects:

SOD intro
SOD Frost & Snow - (heck, I'm nearly giving the plot away!)

Both projects durrently live in my Movies folder on the Lion system drive.

I will be adding more projects - all of which already / will reference the same five Events:

SOD-2009 & Prev
SOD-2010
SOD-2011
SOD-Audio
SOD-Snow

These events house approx 3,700 clips between them. The clips in the Event 'Original Media' folders is alias material.

The 'real' original media is mostly XDCAM EX footage which has been ingested with XDCAM Transfer and is approx 1.2 TB residing in a folder called QT Footage.

All the above Event material and QT Footage resides on a 4 TB external hard drive called G-03.

I have an empty 2 TB external hard drive which I would like to use as a backup for the projects on a daily basis.

I would also like to move the projects to the working drive, rather than the system drive.

Is there a straightforward way to do this?

Andy

This post is a follow-on from my previous topic about media going offline.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3321704?start=0&tstart=0

Final Cut Pro X, Mac OS X (10.7), "I've taught you all I know, and still you know nothing".

Posted on Sep 13, 2011 4:21 AM

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Answer 1

andynick Author

Level 5

4,955 points

Sep 13, 2011 7:48 AM in response to andynick

Erm . . .

Am I using the wrong deodorant?

I think I understand the basics of duplicating a Project or Event (as a backup) but it seems to me that it's best to keep all together. If I duplicate a Project that shares Events with another Project, when I duplicate the second Project, won't all the Events (and Media) be duplicated again?

Secondly, how can I backup using this method - without a massive copying of all the media each time.

This is why I thought 'smart' cloning would be the best way - but it seems not to be the case.

Andy

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Answer 2

Sep 13, 2011 7:49 AM in response to andynick

Good morning Andy. Your system drive now has your project stuff. It is all in your Final Cut Projects and Final Cut Events folders in your Movies folder at present then. What you need to do is to copy the Final Cut Projects and Final Cut Events folders to the root/top level of your new working drive location. Then, after you have backed up the Movies folder of your system drive, delete the projects from within the Final Cut Projects folder in the Movies folder on the system drive. Delete also the events from the Final Cut Events folder in the Movies folder on the system drive.

Then, this next step might be unnecessary, but I would go into the new Final Cut Projects folder in its new location on your working drive and go into the folder of one of your projects (let's say SOD intro). From the Finder, in that folder, double click on CurrentVersion.fcpproject file. This will open up FCP X from the new location and FCP X should show all your projects and events just like before.

The aliases in the Original Media folders will point to the name of the drive and path where the original media file is ... so no confusion there. I actually did exactly what you are wanting to do after I first installed FCP X and then wanted to change it all to an external drive location. It should work well. Just remember that FCP X can get confused if you have the Final Cut Projects and Final Cut Events on two different drives with the same projects and events in both locations so make sure you get rid of the events and projects in the previous locations (after you back things up ... just in case 🙂 ). From then on, with your system as described, things should be happy.

Your 2TB can be used as a backup as you said ... even with Time Machine ... as long as Time Machine is not trying to use your working drive as a backup destination drive. From that point, whenever you create a new project in FCP X, just make sure you tell FCP X to create it under the new drive location in the project browser. Best wishes,

stephen

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Answer 3

Sep 13, 2011 7:59 AM in response to andynick

I replied to you after your first post but before your second. This reply is to your second post. You said ...

"If I duplicate a Project that shares Events with another Project, when I duplicate the second Project, won't all the Events (and Media) be duplicated again?"

From within FCP X, if you Control Click on a project and choose Duplicate to make a new copy of it as a backup, or what have you ... the system should ask you if you want to copy just the project, the project and referenced events, or the project events and render files. If you just want a copy of your project file with your edits information, etc ... choose the first option. No other information (events, etc) will be copied. Of course you could then use that new "project" as a template to start from in your new effort.

I hope I am understanding this all. I know you are very knowledgeable about this stuff. I just have a tendency to state the obvious. Best wishes,

stephen

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Answer 4

andynick Author

Level 5

4,955 points

Sep 13, 2011 9:00 AM in response to still_learning

Better to state the obvious than leave out vital info, stephen.

Thanks for that. I think I have this sussed now. The SOD Frost & Snow project, in fact, only references an Event called 'SOD Snow' - so I can export both projects without duplicating media on the same drive.

I know what you mean about FCP X getting confused if you have similar projects and events on different drives but once I get the projects and events on the same drive, I imagine cloning will work (FCP X will be looking for events on the same drive - much simpler.

Thanks for your input - although you slightly misunderstood the first part (the projects are on the system drive and the events were on an external drive) your clear explanation turned a light on somewhere.

What I had not realised is that duplicating projects and events will not actually shift the original (XDCAM) files, so I'll still be working off the external G-03 drive. I'll explore the possibility of 'optimising' (I don't really understand this). If it's a possibility and I convert to ProRes, I'll need five times the space . . ?

Andy

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Answer 5

Sep 13, 2011 9:08 AM in response to andynick

Yes, that optimizing is really space consuming. (5-7x) Since it creates ProRes simply to make FCP X edit more efficiently and faster, my feeling is that, once the project is really done, you could delete those optimized files ... and the render files for that matter. They could always be regenerated again some day. I just keep thinking that perhaps the prices for multi terabyte drives will continue to plunge and make it possible for me to continue copying everything, including the ProRes files, before I run out of drive space. Best wishes.

stephen

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Answer 6

andynick Author

Level 5

4,955 points

Sep 13, 2011 9:19 AM in response to still_learning

I know!

Every time I buy a bigger hard drive, (the latest is 4 TB) I think it'll give me loads of space, and before you know it, I'm being very careful to conserve space.

I currently have 12 drives with a total of 17 TB - and still worrying!

I just realised how I can get round this though (so simple, I feel silly for overlooking it).

I duplicate the projects and events onto the drive that stores the XDCAM stuff - then I'll clone the lot over to my internal (Raid 0) drive and use that as the working drive.

I'm convinced that if the project is on the same drive as the media, it should all work. (Ever the optimist).

I'll post back with the result.

Andy

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Answer 7

Sep 13, 2011 9:29 AM in response to andynick

Actually, I think you have a great idea ... keeping the project and its media all together ... easy to back them up, archive, share, etc ... drives are cheap nowadays. I could see a scenario where we might need some clips from a previous project some day, but that's what Favorites, etc are for. I also am ever the optimist so even when I am wrong ... it will all work out somehow. Best wishes.

stephen

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Answer 8

andynick Author

Level 5

4,955 points

Sep 14, 2011 1:20 AM in response to still_learning

Well, it worked - but not quite as straightforward as it might be.

I duplicated the projects and events onto the external HD which stores the original (XDCAM) footage as already referenced by FCP X.

Then I cloned that drive to the internal Raid 0 drive on the MacPro.

I ejected the external drive and launched FCP X.

Everything was offline.

I quit FCP X and then renamed the internal drive to be identical to the (ejected) external drive that originally housed the project and events

When I re-launched FCP X - everything worked.

Using SuperDuper ! I can now very quickly 'smart update' my project backup on a daily or even hourly basis, in the knowledge that if I have a major drive failure, I can simply rename the external backup drive and carry on working.

It's worth mentioning that another event (on a different drive) which was referenced by both projects, was actually duplicated but I simply deleted one of the dupes with finder and both projects were unaffected.

Thanks to Tom Wolsky, hafken and stephen (still learning) for all your help with this.

Andy

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Answer 9

andynick Author

Level 5

4,955 points

Sep 15, 2011 11:14 PM in response to andynick

I thought I should mention that originally, my media and events were on a G-Tech 4GB (firewire 800) drive, and the project was in my movies folder in the MacPro.

On the advice given on another thread, I transferred the events to my internal (Raid 0) 2TB drive. I was told this would be faster but in fact, with this setup, the MacPro struggled to play the project (8 mins) and was dropping a few frames.

The project and events were cloned onto the G-Tech external drive as a backup, so I renamed this drive (with the name of my internal drive) and worked from the G-Tech.

It's noticeably faster and plays back the entire 8 minute project with no dropped frames.

Andy

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Answer 10

Sep 16, 2011 7:52 AM in response to andynick

Sounds like a good plan. I need to be doing something similar to this someday soon. Thanks.

stephen

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