File Error: The Specified file is open and in use by this or another app...

Question

File Error: The Specified file is open and in use by this or another app...

I have imported a string of pictures and dragged them into the FCP timeline. I render them and it renders a certain percentage then it stops and says "File Error: The Specified file is open and in use by this or another application."

After reading this, I quit out of FCP, restarted my computer, opened FCP, nothing other program, tried to render again and same thing happened. It renders part of it then the error message pops up, then I can render again and it will do another percent then it will pop again and so on.

Suggestions, or does anyone know why this happened? Thank you very much for your time.
A

MacPro, Mac OS X (10.4.8), 8 gb ram

Posted on Dec 8, 2006 10:49 PM

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Answer 1

Robbosaur

Level 5

5,445 points

Dec 8, 2006 11:37 PM in response to Andrew Napier1

okay - don't know where you've got your scratch disc set but hopefully it's to another drive other than your boot.
The same drive where your render files should be located, ie some drive other than your boot drive.

Can you copy the jpegs over to that drive into a folder.
Delete them from your tl, delete them from your proj. Save your project. Close fcp.
If they're on your boot drive - delete them.
Reopen fcp and Reimport them from the new location.

Sorry for all the steps - but we have no idea how you have configured fcp or your level of experience. Trying to cover all the bases ...

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Answer 2

Dec 8, 2006 11:47 PM in response to Robbosaur

Woa,I totally forgot to change the capture scratch, auto save, etc. drive in the system settings. I think that fixed it. Thank your so much for your time. I am using 4 different hard drives and I keep forgetting to switch all of the settings. Its a pain. Once again thank you!
Andrew

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Answer 3

andynick

Level 5

4,961 points

Dec 9, 2006 3:29 AM in response to Andrew Napier1

For others with similar problems:
Running Anti-Virus software such as Norton can cause this on occasions - if it does, you just need to disable Auto Protect and Scan on Mount

Andy

Quad 8GB. 250+500 HDs. G-Raid 1TB. NORTON. FCP 5.1.2. QT 7.1.3. Panasonic HVX200 Mac OS X (10.4.7)
"I've taught you all I know, and still you know nothing".

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Answer 4

Dec 9, 2006 4:28 PM in response to Robbosaur

Hey,
I thought it was fixed but it is still having the same problem. Do I really have to delete all of the pictures and re-import them, even though the capture scratch drive is set to exactly where they are? Thanks.
A

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Answer 5

Dec 9, 2006 5:07 PM in response to Andrew Napier1

Also, why shouldn't the capture scratch drive be set to the boot drive?

<

I think the manual has a good explanation but it's all about disk access time. Video/audio are almost full time jobs for a drive. If your media is on your boot drive, the OS gets cranky when it can't go get files it thinks it wants. Other reasons, too.

bogiesan

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Answer 6

Robbosaur

Level 5

5,445 points

Dec 10, 2006 1:27 PM in response to Andrew Napier1

Hi Andrew - sorry it hasn't resolved itself.

There must be something else running ... hmm, as Andy suggested AntiVirus used to be a common one for this.
But you've checked that ... or don't have an, right ?

Web cams used to interfere with the capture process resulting in this kind of error message - but that has nothing to do with your problem.
What could it be ?
Some backup/cataloging app running ... some weirdo widget ....

Try disconnecting the scanner - what software are you using ?

Might also want to go to Apps>Utilities>Activity Monitor>select All processes and see what the hey is running. Something there is getting in the way of normal operations.

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Answer 7

Robbosaur

Level 5

5,445 points

Dec 10, 2006 1:43 PM in response to Brian Conner

Brian's answer may be the ticket if you haven't done that yet. Shut down completely and have a wander around for 20 minutes.

If you've only tried restarting up until now quite often not all processes quit and restart again.
It may be flakey Scanner software - like if you did all your scanning, left the scanning app open then imported into fcp - the scanner soft is effectively running.

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Answer 8

Dec 10, 2006 1:46 PM in response to Robbosaur

What do you think?

246 Activity Monitor Andrew 1.40 2 21.28 MB 615.42 MB Intel
242 AppleSpell Andrew 0.00 1 2.20 MB 37.76 MB Intel
77 ATSServer Andrew 0.00 2 3.23 MB 79.58 MB Intel
93 Dock Andrew 0.00 2 3.38 MB 594.96 MB Intel
244 Final Cut Pro Andrew 0.20 11 260.50 MB 1.16 GB Intel
96 Finder Andrew 0.00 3 16.96 MB 632.38 MB Intel
98 Google Notifier Andrew 0.10 7 8.22 MB 622.85 MB Intel
99 iTunes Helper Andrew 0.00 1 1.77 MB 593.36 MB Intel
78 loginwindow Andrew 0.00 3 5.06 MB 614.30 MB Intel
243 mdimport Andrew 0.00 3 3.70 MB 73.31 MB Intel
100 Microsoft AU Daemon Andrew 0.00 2 7.92 MB 672.99 MB PowerPC
103 Palm Desktop Background Andrew 0.30 2 11.97 MB 686.12 MB PowerPC
87 pbs Andrew 0.00 2 2.04 MB 54.25 MB Intel
239 Safari Andrew 1.90 9 101.48 MB 711.14 MB Intel
94 SystemUIServer Andrew 0.00 2 5.89 MB 616.48 MB Intel
104 Transport Monitor Andrew 0.00 3 12.20 MB 706.14 MB PowerPC
105 UniversalAccessApp Andrew 0.10 1 3.35 MB 603.84 MB Intel

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Answer 9

Robbosaur

Level 5

5,445 points

Dec 10, 2006 2:12 PM in response to Andrew Napier1

There's a few there that I don't recognise - and I also think that you may only have My processes showing from the drop down up top.

However, I'd start killing them from the Activity Monitor until you find what is causing the problem.
Don't think there's an easier way at this stage.
It's not very often we have to do this sort of thing round here.

Start with the largest looking culprits - then try again with fcp.
iTunes would be top of my hit list.
Palm Desktop next.
Google Notifier next.
Highlight the process in Activity Monitor and press Cmnd-opt-Q.

This can get insanely messy - but can't see any other way round it. Something is accessing those pics and stopping fcp.

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Answer 10

Dec 10, 2006 2:16 PM in response to Robbosaur

Forgive me, but what happens when I do that (kill them). Why is it messy. Will the stay on my computer? And you were right, here are all of them:
Thanks

246 Activity Monitor Andrew 2.30 2 24.54 MB 628.39 MB Intel
217 AppleFileServer root 0.00 2 3.35 MB 33.57 MB Intel
242 AppleSpell Andrew 0.00 1 2.24 MB 37.76 MB Intel
77 ATSServer Andrew 0.00 2 3.30 MB 78.16 MB Intel
153 automount root 0.00 3 1.12 MB 29.02 MB Intel
157 automount root 0.00 3 1.09 MB 28.73 MB Intel
73 blued root 0.00 1 1.91 MB 36.93 MB Intel
35 configd root 0.00 3 2.33 MB 29.25 MB Intel
37 coreaudiod root 0.00 1 2.18 MB 32.91 MB Intel
74 coreservicesd root 0.00 3 12.07 MB 40.86 MB Intel
187 crashreporterd root 0.00 1 232.00 KB 26.61 MB Intel
43 DirectoryService root 0.00 3 2.55 MB 29.76 MB Intel
38 diskarbitrationd root 0.00 1 1.12 MB 27.12 MB Intel
47 distnoted root 0.00 1 856.00 KB 27.02 MB Intel
93 Dock Andrew 0.00 2 3.37 MB 594.96 MB Intel
21 dynamic_pager root 0.00 1 192.00 KB 26.63 MB Intel
244 Final Cut Pro Andrew 0.30 11 260.44 MB 1.16 GB Intel
96 Finder Andrew 0.00 3 16.86 MB 632.38 MB Intel
98 Google Notifier Andrew 0.10 7 8.32 MB 622.85 MB Intel
220 httpd root 0.00 1 1.43 MB 28.16 MB Intel
221 httpd www 0.00 1 440.00 KB 27.74 MB Intel
99 iTunes Helper Andrew 0.00 1 1.78 MB 593.36 MB Intel
0 kernel_task root 0.60 58 82.00 MB 2.06 GB Intel
30 KernelEventAgent root 0.00 2 640.00 KB 27.19 MB Intel
25 kextd root 0.00 2 1.07 MB 27.63 MB Intel
1 launchd root 0.00 3 544.00 KB 27.69 MB Intel
78 loginwindow Andrew 0.00 3 5.04 MB 614.30 MB Intel
113 lookupd root 0.00 2 1.45 MB 28.52 MB Intel
243 mdimport Andrew 0.00 3 3.61 MB 73.31 MB Intel
31 mDNSResponder root 0.00 3 1.15 MB 27.91 MB Intel
214 mds root 0.00 8 3.77 MB 43.92 MB Intel
39 memberd root 0.00 3 644.00 KB 27.66 MB Intel
100 Microsoft AU Daemon Andrew 0.00 2 7.98 MB 672.99 MB PowerPC
32 netinfod root 0.00 1 580.00 KB 26.93 MB Intel
141 nfsiod root 0.00 5 208.00 KB 28.62 MB Intel
251 nmbd root 0.00 1 1.42 MB 27.73 MB Intel
41 notifyd root 0.00 2 480.00 KB 27.21 MB Intel
127 ntpd root 0.00 1 432.00 KB 27.09 MB Intel
103 Palm Desktop Background Andrew 0.20 2 12.02 MB 686.12 MB PowerPC
87 pbs Andrew 0.00 2 2.02 MB 54.25 MB Intel
247 pmTool root 0.50 1 9.05 MB 36.47 MB Intel
207 qmasterd root 0.00 1 2.53 MB 30.49 MB Intel
219 qmasterd root 0.00 2 1.45 MB 29.64 MB Intel
150 rpc.lockd root 0.00 1 216.00 KB 26.67 MB Intel
239 Safari Andrew 0.00 10 164.38 MB 828.47 MB Intel
40 securityd root 0.00 1 1.88 MB 28.54 MB Intel
225 slpd root 0.00 6 1,008.00 KB 30.18 MB Intel
33 syslogd root 0.00 1 432.00 KB 26.64 MB Intel
94 SystemUIServer Andrew 0.00 2 5.90 MB 616.48 MB Intel
102 translated root 0.00 1 280.00 KB 34.64 MB Intel
104 Transport Monitor Andrew 0.00 3 12.27 MB 706.14 MB PowerPC
105 UniversalAccessApp Andrew 0.20 1 3.35 MB 603.84 MB Intel
48 update root 0.00 1 248.00 KB 26.61 MB Intel
72 WindowServer windowserver 1.00 5 85.75 MB 679.56 MB Intel

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Answer 11

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Dec 10, 2006 2:17 PM in response to Robbosaur

If you have the Finder running in Column view, Preview is employed to display the selected file images. Other programs can report the Finder displayed image as "in use" if you try to use it someplace else.

x

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Answer 12

Dec 10, 2006 2:35 PM in response to Andrew Napier1

Try these things:

1) Close all sequences in Final Cut by closing the Canvas. Then close the Viewer. Now open the sequence and try importing the files again

if that doesn't resolved it, then,

2) Select and copy a clip that is NOT any of the pix that you have imported. Just copying the clip will put something new in the Clipboard. I'm not certain FCP's clipboard invokes pbs (Pasteboard Server) or not, but maybe pbs is confused.) Try importing the files again.

3) Divide and conquer. Choose half of the pix and see if all of them import. If not, half that group. If so, half the other group. Keep halfing. The idea is to find the offending file. Report back.

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Answer 13

Studio X

Level 7

27,229 points

Dec 10, 2006 2:34 PM in response to Andrew Napier1

Only if file preview is displaying an image.

It sounds like the 'in use' flag on a file was set and somehow did not get released.

You may want to try to open up each file in something like photoshop then close it. Perhaps you can identify which one is causing you problems.

If you know which one is the offending one and it will not open in PS, you may need to delete it and rescan.

good luck.
x

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Answer 14

Robbosaur

Level 5

5,445 points

Dec 10, 2006 2:35 PM in response to Brian Conner

I think that what Brian and X have posted are prolly better things to try than my suggestion at this stage. Do them first.

As far as "killing" processes" it's a last resort sort of thing - messy only in so far as it's bloody hard to identify where the problem lies.
You can't do any damage - you're only quitting things that are running. Some will cause your computer to shut down however, so it's the odd looking apps that you try to identify first.

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Answer 15

Dec 10, 2006 2:35 PM in response to Robbosaur

I transfered the pictures what I am working on right now, which is a new Mac Pro, to my older Powermac G4. It works over there so I should be ok with this project, but I would like to fix this for future projects. I tried what Brian suggested and I had one other question for x. Thanks,
A

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