FCP library suddenly won't open. And ALL back up libraries from 6 months back also won't open!

Question

Level 1

9 points

FCP library suddenly won't open. And ALL back up libraries from 6 months back also won't open!

Any superhro out there - help would be GREATLY appreciated.

FCP11.1.1 was working perfectly until today. I have a big library (900gigs) on an external drive, and suddenly it stopped opening from the get-go. Activity monitor says FCP not responsive within a few seconds. And FCP says "validating audio units" or "Validatig Name of project" and CPU fan goes in extra drive heating up the mac.

Bafflingly all my auto back up libraries going back to April don't open either and have the same issue. To add a twist to this: My other much smaller different libraries open fine!

I have:

-Deleted preferences multiple times.

-Restarted computer.

-Removed the audio plugins from Library/Audio/Plugins both user and system wide, also renamed the components folder.

-Motion template: empty

-Opened a new library, copy and pasted from the one that doesnt work to new.

-Moved currentversion.flexo to trash.

-Created a new mac user account and tried to re open.

-Cleared audiounit cache.

There are no audio plugins I remember installing. There is only one lut I have used for picture.

Bafflingly - this suddenly happened - nothing new was imported or added in the last few weeks to the project. And even more baffling is why all the backups don't work suddenly.

I really really do not want to manually start eliminating every project within the FCP library. Was very much hoping someone may have a solution.

Sequoia 15.6.1 FCP 11.1.1

(Red footage from Comodo - but i'm certain its not RED related)

There is plenty of space on macbook (over 50 gigs space) and on external drive (over 2TB space)

Thank you!

Posted on Aug 21, 2025 10:22 PM

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Answer 1

Aug 22, 2025 04:13 AM in response to New1234567

Hi (bonjour),

May be it’s related to your external drive? What is it’s format? How many free space left?

Try to unplug your external drive, restart your Mac and relaunch Final Cut with option key pressed. Create a new library on your internal hard drive for test purpose.

Michel B.

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Answer 2

Aug 22, 2025 06:06 AM in response to New1234567

What is the external drive format? ( select the drive icon and use Command-i to get this info or use disk utility).

Did you try to test a new FCP project in internal drive, with external drive unplugged?

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Answer 3

New1234567 Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 22, 2025 06:39 AM in response to Michel Boissonneault

Drive format is "MacOS Extend (journaled).

There is 2.2 TB of space left.

Other FCP files on the same drive work perfectly. All the other files on the drive work perfectly.

So I do not think it is a drive issue.

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Answer 4

terryb

Level 4

3,112 points

Aug 22, 2025 11:08 AM in response to New1234567

Post the output of an https://etrecheck.com report. Use the "Additional text" button at the bottom of your reply to paste the report. Give etrecheck Full Disk Access in System Settings. This anonymized report can help to spot system issues.

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Answer 5

New1234567 Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 23, 2025 09:03 AM in response to terryb

Terry hi, Thank you. The external drive is 100% not the issue because 1) Every singly other file (there are about 200) including FCP library files - all work perfect on that drive. 2) There is over 2Tb (over 20%) of free space on that drive. 3) The auto-backups of the fcp lirbary which won't open are on a completely different external drive - and also don't open.

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Answer 6

New1234567 Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 23, 2025 06:27 PM in response to BenB

Ben, very kindly it is 100,000% not an external drive issue - for the specific reasons that I have provided above.

Ps my FCP Back ups go on a different external drive (External Drive 2). This FCP library is on External Drive 1. Every single item - there are hundreds including FCP libraries - work perfectly on both drives, and work perfectly on my macbook. Only and only this one library does not open on Drive 1. And on Drive 2 every single item opens fine except the back ups of that fcp library in question.

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Answer 7

terryb

Level 4

3,112 points

Aug 24, 2025 09:22 AM in response to New1234567

New123456, If you'd like assistance from others here, you'll need to answer questions about your system. As requested here and in your other thread, please post a report from https://etrecheck.com Also tell us how the external drives are formatted. The only formats approved by Apple for Motion and FCP are HFS+ and APFS. ExFAT may work for a period of time but can eventually cause corruption.

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Answer 8

New1234567 Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 21, 2025 10:24 PM in response to New1234567

Also - manually (right click to open the librar) I deleted the render files, analysy, shared files - the library is now 180gigs. But exactly same problem persists.

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Answer 9

New1234567 Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 22, 2025 05:19 AM in response to Michel Boissonneault

Thank you Michael. There is 2TB pf space left. All the other files on the drive work fine. The back ups which are on a different drive dont work so I dont think it the external drive.

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Answer 10

New1234567 Author

Level 1

9 points

Aug 22, 2025 06:48 AM in response to New1234567

I also just ran First Aid on the drive and there are no errors.

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Answer 11

BenB

Level 6

13,040 points

Aug 23, 2025 02:27 PM in response to New1234567

Backups are on an external drive? How is it formatted?

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