Converting Render files back to 'Events' - is that possible????

// my request from yesterday got wiped :blink: ... //

on a German board, the question raised:

some poor soul erased Events and is now asking, if it's possible to 'reconvert' the existing Render files of his Project into a 'source'.

Had a look in my Projects, tons of large render files, but have no tool which could convert such files into 'video'.-

Is that anyhow possible? If so, how?

(and yes, I told him about backups )

That's an interesting question. I've looked into this out of curiosity about how the render files are handled. Compressor, MPEGStreamClip, etc, nothing recognizes them. Basically if you've trashed your Events, and had no backup of your original media, you're out of luck.

Also, the render files may not cover everything in an Event. Many Timelines only have sections that require rendering. Sections not requiring rendering will not be in the render folders.

I tell all my students, especially if you are being paid for the work, back up everything. You can actually be sued by a client if you loose the media with no backup.

BenB wrote: … out of curiosity about how the render files are handled. Compressor, MPEGStreamClip, etc, nothing recognizes them. Basically if you've trashed your Events, and had no backup of your original media, you're out of luck. …

I backup like mad - incl. putting a drive into some bullet-proof box outside my house ....

The really interesting part is, as far as Google tells me, these render-file seam to have some very unique format. ok, not meant for usage outside FCPX by concept, but - imhu - should basically be some sort of 'video'-file (plus FCPX-specific meta datas).

And even tools like VLC which is able to playback Word.docs as video can not handle it .....

but thanks anyhow for your profound reply!

Apple is simply making render files as efficient as possible, which allows for some proprietary manipulation. They have never meant to be "backup" files, as very often the whole timeline may not get rendered, if any of it is rendered at all. Most of my timelines are never rendered. That does not lend itself to a realistic backup system.

I feel for that guy, but if you trash your media, well...

BenB wrote: … I feel for that guy, but if you trash your media, well...

Exactly.
Meanwhile, prices for HDD are again in free-fall, 1TB for <80€, so I don't understand the need either. With a lil' grey-matter 1.0, it is easy to have a lean set-up, plus some 'morgue' on cheap ext. drives.-

And people tend to import everything, instead of (roughly) deselecting on import.-

I guess, the important message is:
render-data are no backup.

case closed ....