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Copy library to new drive -- all clips no longer linked?

I made a backup drive of a large project. Everything identical. I closed the original drive. I gave the new drive the exact same name as the old drive. I opened the library. It asked me to reset the Storage Locations et al. I did this -- setting everything to match the original drive.


All the clips in the library appear offline. And it's half a day or more's work to relink everything.


If the whole setup is identical on both drives, meaning all the folder structures identical, why might FCPX be having trouble relinking the clips to the original media?


Do I also need to do a 'consolidate' after-the-fact? I don't want to do something wrong and make a mess of the new drive.


Is there something I should be doing differently in this process? We're talking 5 TB's of data. That's about 12 hours of data transfer. So if there is a fix to the current situation WITHOUT having to recopy the drive over, that would be terrific.


All ears,


Ben

MacBook Pro (15-inch Glossy), Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Oct 21, 2018 1:49 PM

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Posted on Oct 22, 2018 9:34 AM

Think you'd have to hack the OS directory to do that. Relinking might be your only solution.


Or if you want to go back to scratch, consolidate to bring everything into the library, then copy the library, then consolidate to take everything out of the library.

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7 replies

Oct 22, 2018 9:38 AM in response to Ben Low

So, if I understand correctly, you have external media, copied everything to another drive, the exact same folder structure, renamed the new drive exactly the same, right?


Did you rename the second drive while the first drive was still connected?


Try quitting FCP X, ejecting both drives, and then connecting only the new one.


I don't have available drives to test this, but I can see how an issue may arise.

I just tested by creating and mounting two identical disk images, and my suspicions seem to be confirmed.


A drive named DRIVE will be mounted as /Volumes/DRIVE

What will the system do if there are two drives with that name? (I'm guessing) it will append something to disambiguate, like /Volumes/DRIVE 1


Your library will have symlinks to /Volumes/DRIVE, and it will fail to find the media, because at the moment it will be in /Volumes/DRIVE 1


So eject both drives, attach only the one you want and all will be fine.

Oct 22, 2018 8:05 AM in response to Luis Sequeira1

Hi Luis,


I did not rename the new drive while the original drive was connected. So there was never two drives with the same name on the desktop.


I did try to connect with the new drive, twice, with a reboot of the OS in between. Same results, disconnected clips.


"Disambiguate" ... great word.


I'll fire everything up again this morning. See if a night's sleep disambiguated the system.


The only thought I had was that this was a straight copy of data from one drive to another ... no involvement of FCPX ... so I'm wondering if I did a 'consolidate' after-the-fact? I'm still trying to research a functioning level in moving media around, always been a weak spot (among other weak spots).


Thank you Luis, will report back shortly ...


Ben

Oct 22, 2018 9:31 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Both drives are formatted the same.


'USB External Physical Volume • Mac OS Extended (Journaled)'


I'll try it on a different computer. Which, even if it makes a difference, won't actually be a solution ... coz I have to use this particular computer.


'Different designations to the OS' ... I wonder if this is something that can be messed with?, or 'harmonized' might be a better word.


Ben

Oct 22, 2018 9:42 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

I clicked your suggestion as a solution ... coz I think you're probably right. I should have done it that way to begin with. And might just re-do the whole transfer that way. Better the computer does the work while I'm sleeping or sky-diving like Tom Cruise, than me sitting there like an idiot re-linking the shots one by one by one.


I try to avoid big fat libraries ... they seem to run slower when I'm actually editing: is that an illusion? They certainly seem to take forever to load when I start them up, compared to having a streamlined library with all media held externally. If I'm wrong, please disabuse me of my error.


Thank you Tom ... and Luis ...


Ben

Copy library to new drive -- all clips no longer linked?

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