Disappearing event files !

HELP ! i did a stupid thing, i tried to drag event file icons from one event to another. since then i have lost those files, they transferred to the other event, but now are missing files, i cannot find them any where and i have no back up.
the files where on an event on an external disk.. where could they be, could final cut just trash files ?

What version are you using? What exactly did you do in the Finder and/or in the application?

10.0.8 so i selected and dragged some Video images from a library/event into another library, i just selected a load of the preview images and dragged them to the icon of another library, nothing happened no transfer or any thing, just the files come up in the new library (the one i dragged them to) as missing and they are not still in the old library.. and they are not in either of the original media files on the hard drive, or can i locate them any where on with my computer or my ex hard drive.. where could they have gone ?

I have no idea what you're doing in 10.0.8. This doesn't make any sense to me. Maybe someone else understands what's going on.

mattb wrote: 10.0.8 so i selected and dragged some Video images from a library/event into another library...

Uhhh, no you didn't. 10.0.8 doesn't have Libraries. Did you perhaps move an event to another drive? Did you look inside the Final Cut Events folder at the the top level of all attached drives plus your Movies folder?

yes i dragged the event video files from the thumb nail browser window, from one event located on an external hard drive to another event also located on the same external hard drive, now something told me this was a bad idea as i did it, basically it is not the way you transfer event files to another event (although knowing mac you should be able to) so yes re external drive no re finding the files any where.. i mean 1 min they are there and i am looking at them, and the next they have vanished, and all come up as missing. i am presuming that a basic search for the file names would produce a result but nothing and looking into trash and all event folders, nothing. dissolved in space. and a days filming gone !

Why don't you just re-import the files from your backup?

- Ronny

Mmm what backup, imported into final cut from camera then deleted off the camera

It's always best to keep a safety backup of you media in case something goes wrong. But we can try to solve this differently.

To find out what's going on we really need to know exactly what version of FCP X you are running. Then we can tell you how to check where your media is and probably restore the project. So let's start with this.

- Ronny

10.0.8

Thank you. You got us confused when you mentioned "Library" because 10.0.8 does not have any Libraries.

Open a Finder window and got to your Final Cut Events folder.
Inside that folder you will find the folder containing the media for the Events you have been working on. Open the folder of the Event from which you have dragged the clips to another Event, and inside that folder open the Original Media folder. Are the missing clips in there? If so: confirm.

If not:

Open the folder of the Event to which you have dragged the clips. Inside that folder open the Original Media folder. Do you see the missing clips inside that folder?

- Ronny

looked a hundred times.. i have searched and even done a data recovery ( gave up on that was going to take days with a 2 terra bite disk.) ok here is what i get, in the original media folder of the event i dragged them into, i don't get any of the files, in the event i get all the files showing as missing ! in the original event that i dragged them from there is no sign they were ever there, in either the original media folder or the event.

If you don't find any media in the Original Media folder, that's bad. Besides the fact that you have no backup of your media, do you at least have backups of your Final Cut Events folder? Do you have any backup solution at all?

- Ronny

yes well normally i would have the original files, my mistake this time was to only import through final cut as the cam was canon and only by importing from the cam could I use the files. so no other back up.. now what do you think would happen to a load of gigs of perfectly good files. where did they go do you think, can final cut vanish files away like that.. if i knew then i could look at some sort of data recovery but where am i looking ?

I honestly have no clue. 10.0.8 is such a long time ago, I cannot recall ever having heard of such a problem. I did hear once of a bunch of media that went lost during a move media operation where the connection with the drive was interrupted. But thats got solved in the end. The only thing I can advise you is to not shut down your computer and call Apple support. I do hope you have a legal copy of FCP X.

- Ronny

Is there any way you could recover your files from your camera?

Yes well this is probably the best option although i did transfer the files to the camera SD card to transfer them and when i put the SD card on a data recovery app it didnt find them which was strange may be you cant do data recovery on a SD card.. now to try and get the the data recovered from the main Cam hard drive, i would have to work out how to connect to it.. the thing i can get my head around is where did the files go. can files just simply get lost in the cracks and vanish, never had that happen before.

Have you tried using Spotlight to see if you can find any/all actions you did today (assuming today is when the files went missing)? From my own experience I know it's easy to accidentally drag and drop things to an unintended location. Just grasping at straws here but it might be worth a look.