Backing up FCP after working each time...

Question

Level 1

8 points

Backing up FCP after working each time...

Hello!....I'm trying to do a daily backup working in FCP Studio editing a documentary project. I'm using a 4tb OWC firewire 800 external drive, and backup with an external 4tb Seagate USB 2.0 I've already backed everything up onto the Seagate, but I just want to keep the edits I do each day to keep it consistent and backed up so that when the drive goes down I can transfer everything onto a new drive and start where I left off ( I know I can not edit useing the usb 2.0 Seagate, it is just for backup purposes. Could I just drag the FCP Icon onto the backup drive, would that do it? Thank you for your help!

Final Cut Pro 7, Mac OS X (10.7.5), Imac

Posted on Mar 23, 2015 12:43 PM

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Answer 1

Shane Ross

Level 8

43,110 points

Mar 23, 2015 2:46 PM in response to tokun1

The FCP icon is only the application. It isn't the project file nor the media. Do you want all the media, and the project file? Or just the project file? Or just the media?

The project file is by default located in your DOCUMENTS folder, in a FCP Projects folder. And yes, backing that up nightly is a good idea. MEDIA? That's rarely backed up nightly. Some people have two copies of the media drive. And really, it should only be backed up again (If you want to do this), when you add new footage. In which case you only back up the new footage.

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Answer 2

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Mar 23, 2015 4:09 PM in response to tokun1

Get a copy of Carbon Copy Cloner (aka CCC - not free but worth every penny). Set your FW800 4TB as the source and the 4TB Seagate as the target. Leave them both attached and set a schedule to backup at a certain time (when you will not be working). This will happen automatically and will only record changes.

Best,

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Answer 3

tokun1 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 23, 2015 8:53 PM in response to Studio X

Thanks for your reply, but that would mean leaving them running? Is that correct?

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Answer 4

tokun1 Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 23, 2015 9:01 PM in response to Shane Ross

Thanks for the reply and answer, still a little confused as to what to do, I think I just want the project file to save edits and file organization. I've backed up all of the media as apple pro res "proxy" to edit and reconnect later, all of the trancoded media files are backed up on the Seagate along what I've organized and edited thus far (at least I think and hope it is) I'm still a little confused because I just want to make sure that when the external hard drive I'm using goes down, I can put the backed up files onto another external drive to use for editing, and continue where I left off. I hope that is a little clearer for you, sorry for the confusion. This is the second 'major' project I have edited but I did not backup properly on the previous project and got in trouble when one of the drives quit on me, so I'm taking all of the precautions this time.

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Answer 5

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Mar 24, 2015 4:25 AM in response to tokun1

Carbon Copy Cloner can be set to copy only the files that have changed since your last backup. This means, if all you've changed since the previous backup is the main FCP file, that's all that is backed up. The other files on the backup drive remain in place. Read the CCC documentation regarding the type of clone you want. An exact clone will delete any files that are not on the source. An incremental backup will create copies of new files without deleting older versions. Both have advantages and disadvantages.

If you don't want to leave both drives spinning, at the end of the day start your backup drive and manually setup and run CCC to update the files on the backup. Once this is done, and it should not take much time, shut down the computer and all the hard drives.

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