Moving project to new Hard Drive

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Level 1

42 points

Moving project to new Hard Drive

I did a movie project with the clips - used, unused and modified - on an external hard drive (External Drive 1). I would now like to move just the completed project and the associated clips used to complete it to another storage external hard drive (External Drive 2) where I have moved all my prior projects made on my iMac's hard drive (Internal Drive 3). I usually did this by dragging the four little square library icons from my iMac's hard drive (Internal Drive 3) to the storage external hard drive (External Drive 2). Then, if I needed to activate any of my prior projects, I just doubled clicked on the four little square icons and the library opened on my iMac. However, I do not see the four little square icons on the external hard drive (External Hard Drive 1) where I made my project. Instead, the four little square icons with the library name of my project appear on my iMac's Hard drive (Internal Drive 3) and will not show the project unless the external hard drive (External Hard Drive 1) is attached. Please tell me how to consolidate the library with the clips used to complete the project and move the library with the associated clips to my storage external hard drive (External Drive 2). If it makes things easier, I can initially consolidate the project with associated clips used to complete the project on my iMac's internal Drive (internal Drive 3). Thanks you in advance for your assistance.

iMac 21.5" 4K, macOS 10.14

Posted on Nov 25, 2019 7:31 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,015 points

Nov 27, 2019 1:41 PM in response to sburech

Most people leave rendering off.

You might need them if you want to reedit the project.

Rendering can be activated from the menus in the application. If you need to optimize or use proxies you can select the clips, right-click, and use transcode.

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Answer 2

sburech Author

Level 1

42 points

Nov 27, 2019 11:25 AM in response to Tom Wolsky

Thanks Tom for all your help. I did a quick summary of what I think I learned. Please tell me if I have correctly understood everything, and also, if there is any way to save some disk space when I transfer and store these libraries onto my media storage disk? Thanks again ever so much.

With disks connected, copy the Library Icon to the Disk that you desire to hold it
Open the library on the disk you desire to keep the library
In the top menu select (click) "File" and in its dropdown select (click) "Library properties"
On the right side under Media, Motion content and Caches make certain they are all “In Library” and the Backup is in the Final Cut Backups
Then press the buttons to “Consolidate.”

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Answer 3

sburech Author

Level 1

42 points

Nov 25, 2019 6:47 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

I tried to follow your instructions but something is still amiss even though I have struggle with this all day. I thought maybe if I sent you photos of my screens you might be able to correct my mistake(s).

In Photo 1 below I show the the FCP icon is on my Internal HD (Drive 3).

Photo 2 shows where the original media (External HD 1 aka "Porsche") was located and where I dragged the FCP icon from my internal hard drive (Internal HD 3)

Photo 3 shows where I dragged the FCP icon to the Media Storage disk (External HD 2) where I store all my completed FCP projects.

Photo 4 shows the opening of the Library Properties on my media storage disk (External Disk 2)

Photo 5 shows setting the media storage location inside the library (not sure this was done correctly, though)

Photo 6 shows the opening the library on the Media Storage Hard Drive (External Hard Drive 2) which was plugged into my computer as well as the working hard drive where the media was originally stored(External HD 1) plugged in to my computer and the project come up without a problem

Photo 7 shows the opening the library on the Media Storage Hard Drive (External Hard Drive 2) plugged into my computer but the working hard drive where the media was originally stored(External HD 1) NOT plugged in to my computer and there was only a sea of red.

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Answer 4

sburech Author

Level 1

42 points

Nov 26, 2019 6:47 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

I consolidated and the following window "some library locations are unavailable" appeared when I disconnected all except the media storage hard drive (External Drive 2). Nothing seems to happen when I click on the "check again" button and everything else seems frozen.

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Answer 5

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,015 points

Nov 25, 2019 7:40 AM in response to sburech

“did a movie project with the clips - used, unused and modified - on an external hard drive (External Drive 1)”

Does this means a library? Your movie project was a library or just the media?

If the library is in the internal and the media’s in external 1, with both external drives connected, copy the library from the internal to external 2. Open the library on external 2 and in library properties set the media storage location to inside the library. Click the consolidate button to copy the media into the library from external 1.

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Answer 6

Tom Wolsky

Level 10

152,015 points

Nov 27, 2019 11:28 AM in response to sburech

After consolidating select the library and use Delete Generate Files to remove optimized, proxies, and render files. They can all be rebuilt if needed later. Maker sure background rendering is switched off in preferences.

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Answer 7

sburech Author

Level 1

42 points

Nov 27, 2019 1:06 PM in response to Tom Wolsky

A few questions:

Do you switch off the background rendering switch and should you then immediately turn it back on after you are done with streamlining the library or should you just leave it witched off?

When if ever will remove optimized, proxies, and render files be “needed?”

How are optimized, proxies, and render files “rebuilt” if these files are ever needed?

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