Why does my HD fill up on export of 3min clip? (MBA 13 2011 FCP X 10.0.4)

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Level 1

4 points

Why does my HD fill up on export of 3min clip? (MBA 13 2011 FCP X 10.0.4)

I'm on a macbook air 2011 13inch runing 10.7.3 with 37gb of free space and I'm trying to export a 3 mintue clip I put together in Final Cut Pro X (version 10.0.4). When I go to share the clip (720p 1080 x 720 24p video) to an h.264 quicktime video, my hard drive fills up completely before the export is finished causing me to force quit FCP X and reboot to re-claim my missing hard drive space. I've run space gremlin after one of these HD filling cycles and can't identify where the space is going...this is the first time I've experienced this with FCP X, other projects have exported just fine. Going to try copying the project to an external USB drive, but that not doesn't really resolve this insanely baffling situation.

Final Cut Pro X, Mac OS X (10.7.3)

Posted on May 5, 2012 11:23 PM

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Answer 1

MCZ0L0 Author

Level 1

4 points

May 6, 2012 9:34 AM in response to MCZ0L0

also noticing the hard drive mysteriously filling up while just doing basic edits in the program (background rendering turned off).

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Answer 2

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,980 points

May 6, 2012 9:58 AM in response to MCZ0L0

Filling up is pretty vague. You need to give real numbers. How big is your drive? How much space is available? What format are you working in? USB is not suitable for video editing applications.

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Answer 3

MCZ0L0 Author

Level 1

4 points

May 6, 2012 10:28 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

128gb SSD hard drive, with currently 37gb free.

By filling up I mean I can literally watch my available space run down to zero in a matter of minutes when I try to export the video. I know, I definitely don't want to use USB as a solution as it's painfully slow...

One thing I've noticed is that it doesn't seem to do this if I render all the footage first and then export. But if I try to export first with even a small portion of the video left un-rendered this issue arrises.

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Answer 4

MCZ0L0 Author

Level 1

4 points

May 6, 2012 10:29 AM in response to MCZ0L0

also, when the hard drive is full final cut asks me to forcequit other applications or free up space to keep working. I've also gotten the error that FCP is unable to save and that I need to quit to make sure I don't lose unsansaved progress. That's what I mean by filling up the hard drive.

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Answer 5

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

150,980 points

May 6, 2012 11:34 AM in response to MCZ0L0

You should take your computer an an Apple store or service technician. It sounds as if there's a problem with the SSD drive and the way it's caching material and/or swapping in virtual memory.

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Answer 6

MCZ0L0 Author

Level 1

4 points

May 6, 2012 1:31 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

Will do! Thank you! Yah, this just didn't seem right. I haven't experienced this with a non-ssd drive. There are some other odd issues I've been experiencing with this machine and have been meaning to take it in anyway For example, when plugging in to a projector, I lose signal when I un-hide the dock...

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Answer 7

Jun 7, 2012 2:48 PM in response to MCZ0L0

Did you ever take your computer in to the Apple Store? I'm experiencing the same thing--70GB free on my Air's hard drive, but while trying to export a 4-minute clip out of FCP X, I, too, watch my hard drive space dwindle down to MBs, and of course my system then freezes up.

I've been having to transfer projects and events to an older iMac to get them into delivery format.

This has happened now with 3 separate FCP X projects. Curious to hear what they said if you took yours in.

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