Without "importing" media?

Hello, new to final cut any version and this forum and Mac!

Am trying to make a documentary with my sister and we have probably 500GBs of 1080p footage from a Canon 60D on an external harddrive in H.264.

Is there a way to work in final cut pro x without importing the files to the MacBook pro hard drive ie; somehow showing the files in the project but keeping them on the external hard drive?

We chose import files and had the checkbox ticked in import preferences to create optimized media - does this mean our H.264 files are converted to Apple Prores 422?
We have already used up 200GB of a 500GB hard drive and we still have another 300GB of footage to import. Even if all the footage fits, her MacBook pro will start to slow and she won't have room for anything

Is there a way to work with the native H.264 .mov files directly off the external hard drive? Are there and quality issues editing (colour grading etc) these files?

Please assist!

Since you're on a laptop, which is not the most powerful graphics card, and on FW800 drive, which is not the fastest for HD, you'll want to "Optimize" the footage, which does transcode it to ProRes 422 in the background, you can edit while it's transcoding.

Create your Event and Projects on the external drive, not on the internal drive. You never want media for a sizable project on the system drive. In the Action menu (gear icon) below the Events Library/Browser, set to "Group Events By Disk". In Group Events By Date, set that to NOT group by dates. Turn off Date Ranges and Recent settings. Below that Group Clips By "none", Arrange Clips By "name" and "ascending". It'll all make much more sense then.

Again, create your Events and Projects on the external drive.

"Optimizing" will transcode to ProRes 422, copy puts a copy of the original format into the Event folder, you don't need to do that at all. But ProRes will edit much easier for you. H.264 natively edits very well, but it's not as efficient with your CPU and GPU. Use which ever you feel is best. Just giving my advice.

If you have 500GB of footage, your 500GB of hard drive space will not be enough to hold it all. Remember ALL hard drives an ANY computer always need at least 15% of each drive's total capacity to be free space, or you'll have major problems.

Also remember that FCP X is going to be creating thumbnails, render files, building a database, so there's going to be more drive space you need. And FCP X renders in ProRes, so you won't need to worry about H.264's tendency to fall apart with effects and color grading and transcoding.

So, I hope I just explained that yes, you can your Events and Projects on the external drive, yes you can use the original media without "Optimizing" or "Copying" it. And if you have 500GB of media, you'll be running out of space very soon on a 500GB hard drive. You need to leave at least 75GB of that drive as free space.

Thank you so much for taking the time to write a detailed answer, it is much appreciated and has cleared up some major issues.

You are a star!

No sir, I'm not a star, I'm a trainer.

If you're brand new to FCP X, I'd highly recommend either the Ripple Training video series, or the book "Apple Pro Training: Final Cut Pro X". Both teach hands-on, and will give you a solid foundation in FCP X. It's way different than anything else on the market.