HT203477: Final Cut Pro X 10.1 and later: Troubleshooting basics

Learn about Final Cut Pro X 10.1 and later: Troubleshooting basics
momcmorrow

Q: I can't open Final Pro X. It says "files are contaminated" and I can't seem to fix it. Please help! Thanks.

I can't open Final Cut Pro X and I'm working on a job with a looming deadline! It says "files are contaminated" and says to quit final cut and it will be restored and mended but that doesn't seem to fix it at all. Won't open. Please someone, anyone... help.  : (    Mo  thanks  : )

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.2)

Posted on Mar 10, 2013 10:38 AM

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Q: I can't open Final Pro X. It says "files are contaminated" and I can't seem to fix it. Please help! Thanks.

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  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Mar 10, 2013 11:23 AM in response to momcmorrow
    Level 7 (21,800 points)
    Quicktime
    Mar 10, 2013 11:23 AM in response to momcmorrow

    Try hiding the project folder you were working on in a temp folder. If it opens delete the project's render files.

     

    Russ

  • by momcmorrow,

    momcmorrow momcmorrow Mar 10, 2013 8:05 PM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 10, 2013 8:05 PM in response to Russ H

    Thanks for that Russ. I'm afraid that didn't work or more to the point I wasn't able to make it work. I'm pretty new to all this stuff. Way better on the creative side than the technical side. I might have to bite the bullet and pay for the specialized tech support. Meanwhile I've been able to locate the original media and download it to my desktop thereby bypassing the external hard drive when opening final cut. I have to start the project over but at least I can get it done. Still though I have to figure out how to open the external hard drive eventually...

     

    Mo

  • by Luis Sequeira1,

    Luis Sequeira1 Luis Sequeira1 Mar 11, 2013 3:07 AM in response to momcmorrow
    Level 6 (12,085 points)
    Mac OS X
    Mar 11, 2013 3:07 AM in response to momcmorrow

    Do you actually see a dialog with the word "Contaminated" in it?

    Do you have installed some software that claims to "protect" your mac, like "MacKeeper"?

    This is known to cause immense trouble - you should never install it.

    If you have it, then you should uninstall it and then trash FCP X and redownload it from the Mac App Store.

  • by Russ H,Solvedanswer

    Russ H Russ H Mar 11, 2013 4:49 AM in response to momcmorrow
    Level 7 (21,800 points)
    Quicktime
    Mar 11, 2013 4:49 AM in response to momcmorrow

    momcmorrow wrote:

     

    I might have to bite the bullet and pay for the specialized tech support. Meanwhile I've been able to locate the original media and download it to my desktop thereby bypassing the external hard drive when opening final cut. I have to start the project over but at least I can get it done. Still though I have to figure out how to open the external hard drive eventually...

     

    Mo

     

    Hope you appreciate the specialized support is $799 – no small bullet.

     

    In your first post you said you couldn't get FCP to open. What exactly happens when you launch it?

     

    In your follow up post you said you can't open your external drive, but it appears you can now launch the app? Are you saying that you cannot get it to mount? Where exactly are your project files located?

     

    Thanks.

     

    Russ

  • by momcmorrow,

    momcmorrow momcmorrow Mar 17, 2013 7:59 AM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 17, 2013 7:59 AM in response to Russ H

    Hi Russ, thanks so much for responding and sorry for late reply. I'm new to these types of forums...

     

    I can open FInal Cut no problem so long as the external hard drive is not plugged in. which means there's a lot of footage I can't access now. I temporarily bypassed the problem for this particular job by re-importing the original media on to the desktop and then importing it into final cut direct from the desktop bypassing the external hard drive altogether.

     

    However when I open Final Cut with the external hard drive (G DRIVE mobile)... it tells me that files are comtaminated. Very frustrating!

     

    Mo

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Mar 17, 2013 8:16 AM in response to momcmorrow
    Level 7 (21,800 points)
    Quicktime
    Mar 17, 2013 8:16 AM in response to momcmorrow

    Can you post a screenshot (Shift Command 4) of that error message?

     

    Russ

  • by momcmorrow,

    momcmorrow momcmorrow Mar 17, 2013 8:30 AM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 17, 2013 8:30 AM in response to Russ H

    Screen Shot 2013-03-17 at 10.26.50 AM.png

  • by momcmorrow,

    momcmorrow momcmorrow Mar 17, 2013 8:41 AM in response to momcmorrow
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 17, 2013 8:41 AM in response to momcmorrow

    hmmm i see it say corrupted not "contaminated". It sure pays to take a screen shot for clarity, that's for sure!

    Mo

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Mar 17, 2013 8:59 AM in response to momcmorrow
    Level 7 (21,800 points)
    Quicktime
    Mar 17, 2013 8:59 AM in response to momcmorrow

    I'm going to assume that one of your events is the problem and think your best approach is to open your G Drive in Finder with FCP closed. Create a temporary folder and select all the events within the Final Cut Events folder and drag into that new folder (so FCP can't see it when you open the app). If FCP opens OK with the GTech drive connected, you'll know you're on the right track. Then close FCP and move one of your events from the temp folder back to the empty Final Cut Events folder. Repeat until it crashes and you will have probably hit upon (hopefully the only) corrupt event.

     

    BTW, what I just described can be done a lot easier in Evens Manager X, which is a $5 download from  http://assistedediting.intelligentassistance.com/

     

    Good luck.

     

    Russ

  • by momcmorrow,

    momcmorrow momcmorrow Mar 17, 2013 9:11 AM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 17, 2013 9:11 AM in response to Russ H

    Hey thanks! I'll buy Events Manager X for sure.

     

    By the way, a couple of times it told me the exact files that were contaminated. There were 2. Cna these be fixed?Screen Shot 2013-03-17 at 11.09.24 AM.png

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Mar 17, 2013 9:28 AM in response to momcmorrow
    Level 7 (21,800 points)
    Quicktime
    Mar 17, 2013 9:28 AM in response to momcmorrow

    Possibly – if the backup is good.

     

    You could hide the CurrentVersion file. Then move the backup fcp.event file from the backup position in the folder heirarchy to where the CurrentVersion is and rename it Current Version.

     

    Russ

  • by Tom Wolsky,

    Tom Wolsky Tom Wolsky Mar 17, 2013 9:29 AM in response to momcmorrow
    Level 10 (118,212 points)
    Apple TV
    Mar 17, 2013 9:29 AM in response to momcmorrow

    Each of the events should have a folder with a backup. See if you can replace the corrupted file with this and if it helps.

  • by momcmorrow,

    momcmorrow momcmorrow Mar 17, 2013 9:46 AM in response to Russ H
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Mar 17, 2013 9:46 AM in response to Russ H

    How do I hide it? (sorry if it's a stupid question) And I don't know what you mean by folder heirarchy. Don't give up on me just yet!  Screen Shot 2013-03-17 at 11.43.44 AM.png

  • by Russ H,

    Russ H Russ H Mar 17, 2013 10:03 AM in response to momcmorrow
    Level 7 (21,800 points)
    Quicktime
    Mar 17, 2013 10:03 AM in response to momcmorrow

    It's easier to show the heirarchy in list view. Here's one of a number of events of mine named Nathan Hale with all of its subfolders. Note the level of indentation that indicates the heirarchy. I could open each of the other folders and I'd have quite a long list (which would be even longer if I'd made optmized or proxy files at import time!).

     

    Screen shot 2013-03-17 at 12.53.36 PM.png

     

    Russ

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