"Final Cut Pro cannot save changes..." Issue - Urgent

Hello,

firstly sorry if this post is a little blunt, I wrote it previously but lost the post when my connection dropped out and I submitted the topic and lost it.
Anyway.

Recently had this issue;
"Final Cut Pro cannot save changes to projects or Events. The disk where your projects or Events are located maybe full or unavailable, projects or Events may have moved or permissions may have changed. To avoid losing your work, quit FCP."

I have looked at other articles on the web about this issue as well as another already written on this site ( www.fcp.co/forum/4-final-cut-pro-x-fcpx/...ts-events-not-saving ), but I feel that my issue is different to these - the error question is also very vague.

Here are my specs/FCP X info which may help:


So, a long time ago I moved my projects from my computer to my WD passport HD (HD as mentioned above). Just recently - about a month or two ago - I transferred my projects (I'm fairly sure it was an accurate transfer) to my LaCie as it is a lot more efficient to work with.

A few days ago I opened up FCP to edit and found this error.

BEFORE this issue, at one point I opened FCP X again and I had many missing files over a variety of projects and events. I left this for another time when I could relink them. As I have not worked with this project for a very long time - or in FCP in general - thus I cannot remember the exact issue or action that may have contributed to this event.

The project I am working on is incredibly important to me, and has been stalled for a long time. I now have a chance to do it, thus I would be very grateful for any help - thank you in advance!

You are using a completely outdated version of FCP X. If your project opens correctly and you have no missing media the first thing you need to do is to update your OS and FCP X to the latest versions.

- Ronny

John,
So many things do not add up here. You say you have a MacPro, but then list an i5 core processor and a 5670 GPU, don't think so unless you have a hackintosh??? Do You??
In earlier thread you state that you added a USB3/eSATA card. While I like US3, the implementation for Macs is finicky. Chipset, firmware, UASP enabled all affect how well it will work. Most USB3 cards have Mac issues.
You also stated that the external drive was formatted Fat32, did you erase and re-format to GUID journaled??
Are you now using an internal drive? How full is it?
Did you just move files off an old internal 3TB drive and then move FAT32 files onto it without erasing drive?
The error you are getting leads to believing it is too full, not formatted correctly or is corrupted.
Sounds like you may have both hardware and software issues. You may not like my advice, but to get the cleanest most trouble free system, here goes.
Get 2 clean drives, one for your OS boot drive (ssd for fastest system) and a large hdd for media. Secure erase both drives, and format to GUID journaled via Disk Utility.
Install the latest OS that your system will support. Install all apps and data manually without using Migration Assistant.
Move your media files to the second drive.
Start your editing trouble free.
Yep, lots of work, need to set aside all day and night to get up and running.
Just think you have far too many interconnected issues to resolve without doing it right.
Tough spot to be in with time pressure.
Hope this helps, Greg

VidGreg wrote: John,
So many things do not add up here. You say you have a MacPro, but then list an i5 core processor and a 5670 GPU, don't think so unless you have a hackintosh??? Do You??
In earlier thread you state that you added a USB3/eSATA card. While I like US3, the implementation for Macs is finicky. Chipset, firmware, UASP enabled all affect how well it will work. Most USB3 cards have Mac issues.
You also stated that the external drive was formatted Fat32, did you erase and re-format to GUID journaled??
Are you now using an internal drive? How full is it?
Did you just move files off an old internal 3TB drive and then move FAT32 files onto it without erasing drive?
The error you are getting leads to believing it is too full, not formatted correctly or is corrupted.
Sounds like you may have both hardware and software issues. You may not like my advice, but to get the cleanest most trouble free system, here goes.
Get 2 clean drives, one for your OS boot drive (ssd for fastest system) and a large hdd for media. Secure erase both drives, and format to GUID journaled via Disk Utility.
Install the latest OS that your system will support. Install all apps and data manually without using Migration Assistant.
Move your media files to the second drive.
Start your editing trouble free.
Yep, lots of work, need to set aside all day and night to get up and running.
Just think you have far too many interconnected issues to resolve without doing it right.
Tough spot to be in with time pressure.
Hope this helps, Greg

Firstly, why did you refer to me as John? Just a little confused.
No, I do not have a hackintosh. Sorry for the misunderstanding, I think I mentioned that when I plugged my External HDD into my laptop (SEPARATE device - have a desktop Mac & a MacBook Pro) to see if it would work there, I had the same issue.
I don't remember referring to adding a new card....
I also do not know exactly if I re-formatted the drive - I remember that I may have done so a year ago but there have been no issues since then. Is there a way I can check how it is formatted?
The Internal drive - or my desktop - is a 1tb, but yes I moved it from my internal drive to my external HDD
My desktop computer's internal drive is not being used for editing this particular project, however it is fairly full. I have about 200GB left of 1TB.
Do you still think your solution applies? I don't know if I can afford to purchase another two drives but if that is what it takes I may have too. The LaCie 4TB drive I mentioned is also being used for back ups, perhaps and issue has stemmed from there.
Thank you for your help!

Sorry Cyrup,
Looks like my comment somehow ended here. John is the person who wrote on the link you posted. My comments are directed to him.
Apologies, not sure how that happened.

As to your problems.
First I hope that you have current back-ups for everything, if not do so quickly!
Could very well be a permissions issue. Apple changed some underlying permissions adding a new ACL structure between Tiger and Lion or Leopard, I forget just when. This caused lots of issues. It really requires some serious terminal work to correct ACLs and extended attributes.
If you started this project and then upgraded OS's you could be experiencing those problems. You say this is an old project, started long ago.
Changing around drives, especially if you changed User ID, passwords etc… can affect your ability to use a program, files or hard drive.
Use get info (command+I, or right click) on the various drives and check your Sharing & permissions, are you listed with Read & Write use permitted? If you are an Administrator you can change these.
If you are not an administrator, and your User ID changed or you need to change permissions, log into an Administrator account and do the changes.
While you are at it, check permissions for the files you are using in FCPX. Do you have Read Write privileges?

You might want to also look into using Onyx for Mac by Titanium Software and run the scripts. Fix permissions etc…

While I agree with Ronnie about updating your OS and FCPX version to the latest available to you, please make sure to have current back-ups and maybe even a clone drive, or start fresh with a new drive.

I am a believer in doing clean installs, not just updating, and I do not use Migration Assistant to update/upgrade. I always manually move files and fresh install apps. Saves lots of headaches, learned from experience. YMMV

You can check the formatting of all connected drives using Disk Utility, comes with your computer and should be in your Utilities.

Hope this helps, Greg

Haha no problem!

Yes I do, but they're only on the drive that these issues are coming from.... so back up that drive (which I am storing my FXP project on somewhere else)?
I did start this project I long time ago, perhaps a year and a bit ago for this actual editing file which I need to use.

I posted on the Apple Forums for help as well, and a user there seems to have come up with a similar solution to yours (getting a new drive).
Here are the pictures I uploaded to that thread if they are of any help.... so yes, as you can see below, I do have read & write for both partitions, I made sure of that and tested that awhile ago.



I checked my files in finder that were located on my External HD, and I appear to have permissions on all the folders (FCP including Events, projects, and the actual project folder itself). however, in original media I read/write, however the other users (accounts I don't use) on my computer do not. Not sure if this would affect anything, I doubt it.

I am definitely considering a clean drive and a new version, but I'd like to rule out all other solutions as not viable first.

Had a look through Disk Utility and the format on the 'mac' partition is Mac OS Extended (Journaled), as is the entire drive.


Thank you!

Yes, I've gotten this exact error, but it only happened on older versions of FCPX. It was not related to the formatting of the drive (I was working off a standard Mac OS journaled drive). It only started to happen to the project with I had many complicated compound clips which I was using as "timelines" from before they added libraries.

I don't think you can avoid updating that project and your machine to the latest, 10.1.3. Older versions of FCPX were very bad at handling projects with many versions and long, complicated timelines. It actually still gets somewhat sluggish when the timelines get really long, but it's way better than it used to be.

Hi Cyrup,
Just now taking a look at this again. Thanks for posting the additional info.
As Luis says on the Apple forums, you copied your older 500GB(PC) drive (or maybe not) over to your Mac using Time Machine.
Apparently you then erased the PC drive as it has lots of space on it so I suspect no media files in it. Let's check there first.
Connect your drive and double click on its icon to open. Do you see any of your files? If by chance you do, then you could get your project going using that drive.

Not clear where your FCP files were, so you may have only back-upped your computer, not your "PC" drive. Did you check the files you copied?

Here is the problem. As Luis pointed out but maybe didn't make clear, Time Machine is really for doing incremental back-ups of your system drive but does not work as a working media drive. Time Machine is design to back up your computer hdd, not external drives, so not sure the outcome here.

support.apple.com/en-us/HT201250

Assuming your original media files and FCP events were on your computers hard drive we may be able to restore them.
You need to "rescue/restore" the files you need from Time Machine stored on your "Mac" drive and move them to a fully functioning drive. (Not the TM "Mac" drive.) You can use your "PC" drive since it has the space.

As Ronnie says, you have older versions of OS and FCPX. You would need to update the OS and then FCPX to be able to use the latest version. I am hesitant to recommend this action until you have adequate back-ups. Also FCPX now stores media/libraries/events/projects in a totally new way than the version you are using.

I need to point out a few things here.

First you do not have any "back-ups" of your data. If the TM (Mac) is the only place where these files are, then you only have a single copy. Not good especially when you need to move files, maybe update OS and program (FCPX) to newer versions. I consider a minimum of 2 copies (three better) on separate drives to be the absolute minimum to be safe. At least one of these "back-ups" should be done with a different program like Carbon Copy Cloner.

Time Machine if it is still on, (clock icon in menu bar with circle arrow around it) will be making hourly back-ups for your entire computer all the time, if you TM drive is connected, till it runs out of room, then it will start erasing oldest material.

Are you sure your media files got copied to the TM ("Mac") drive?

So let's start there.
Connect your TN "Mac" drive.
Right click on the Time Machine icon and click on enter Time Machine.
You should be able to navigate to the location where your FCP events/projects media is stored. See if they exist. What size are they?

Report back and we will see if we can get your files back working.

Hope this helps, Greg

haysoos123 wrote: Yes, I've gotten this exact error, but it only happened on older versions of FCPX. It was not related to the formatting of the drive (I was working off a standard Mac OS journaled drive). It only started to happen to the project with I had many complicated compound clips which I was using as "timelines" from before they added libraries.

I don't think you can avoid updating that project and your machine to the latest, 10.1.3. Older versions of FCPX were very bad at handling projects with many versions and long, complicated timelines. It actually still gets somewhat sluggish when the timelines get really long, but it's way better than it used to be.

This may actually be my problem, my timeline IS very long and very complicated. Although it is only about 25minutes, I am using a very large amount of files.... very complicated timeline. Thank you for the insight.

=====

Greg, I think there is a little misunderstanding, so I will just clear things up before I continue otherwise it might get a bit more confusing.

My LaCIe drive currently has the project stored in it (and a few others) which I need to edit.
I have access to them and can find them in my LaCie drive as they are SEPARATE to my back ups (or the back up folder in that sense), so I'm essentially just working straight from that folder.
This drive has two partitions - Mac, and PC - 'pc' being for the PC partition of my computer; which I have created for use of bootcamp to use windows on my computer.

I've never used the PC partition for anything as I rarely use Windows on my mac. There's nothing in the 'pc' partition. However, I'm not sure if it's useable as it was partitioned for specific use in Disk Utility - cannot remember if it actually works or not exactly.

On my computer itself the projects are working fine ( as they are stored on this computer, and I don't have this issue then), however again the project I need is on my LaCie drive, which I can't use because this issue only appears when I attempt to work on this project from FCP as the issue seems to be stemming from this drive.

I ALSO have my small 500gb WD thingo. I only ever mentioned it because it may have contributed to the problem as a whole - in the past i was editing from that drive, but no longer, and perhaps permissions and things just generally got confused.

So I haven't touched the PC PARTITION.
Once I moved these events to my LaCie drive, I then erased them from my COMPUTER.

In any case, on my TM/"mac" partition - which is a partition of the LaCie 4TB drive - the events/project folder combined which include the project i need access to are about 410GB approx.




The PC partition has about 340GB FREE. Seeing as it is a separate partition and does not appear to be marked as a TM type section of the drive by the computer, perhaps I could actually transfer my projects to there and see if that solves the problem?


I'm really sorry if I have confused you in any way. Hope that clears things up. I really appreciate your ongoing help and support, thank you!

1st, partitioning a drive slows it down.
2nd, FCPX won't write to a FAT formatted (PC) drive.

Personally, I'd make backups of everything on the Mac partition of that drive. Re-format it as a Mac drive (Journaled). Turn off TimeMachine, unless you have an entirely different drive to use it with. Copy everything back over, and use the drive as a whole. Then update my OS and FCPX versions.

Is there any issue that would prevent you from updating OSX and FCPX?

Hi Cyrup,
Starting to understand the issues.
First I have narrowed down what I think you have is an iMac circa mid 2010 either 20 or 27" screen.
Is this correct? You also have a MBP?
If I am correct about the iMac and this is what you want to edit off of, then you are limited to using either the Firewire 800 port or the ethernet port. I cannot recommend using the USB2 port.
What interface (port) does your LaCie drive have? The WD500 drive?
Do all the files still exist on your WD500GB drive?
I want to make sure you have extra back-ups of the files.

As to your LaCie drive.
Both partitions are Mac GUID Journaled so you can use the PC side if you want. You would need to increase the size using Disk Utility. You have about 2.5TB available, but leave room on the MacTM partition side for regular back-ups.
Then you can copy over the files you need, relink within FCP and you should be good to go.
I would still like to see you using 2 drives dedicated to Back-Ups and a separate drive for working media.

Time Machine(Mac) is for BACK-UPS not for using and changing the files you find there. Don't do it, it defeats the purpose.

This is most likely where you are getting into trouble with FCPX, using a TM volume.

If you do not have any back-ups, (the only copy(S) of your files are on the LaCie drive, then --WHEN-- the drive itself goes dead, you lose your work. Having 2 copies on the same physical drive DOES NOT equal a solid back up plan.
Back up ALL files to 2 or more separate physical drives and/or store one copy in the cloud. Really just do it, you will never regret having extra back-ups, you may regret not having any, or only one!

Once you have properly backed up ALL your files, then and only then, you should consider updating your OS and all your programs including FCP.

Personally, I would Clone my Computer hdd (using Carbon Copy Cloner or SuperDuper), then do a clean install of the new OS. Re-download and do a clean install of the apps I wanted. Then I would manually copy over only the files I needed from the clone drive to my computer, and in the future when I need files, just grab them from the external drive.
I do not like to do automatic updates (Especially going from Snow Leopard to Yosemite), nor do I use Migration Assistant. Upgrading is a great time to do some housecleaning and helps eliminate problems. Going the automatic way is easier, but it brings all the garbage with it. YMMV

Hope this helps, Greg
Did I mention to Back UP :lol:

@VidGreg

It is a mid 2010 to be precise, 21.5".
Yes, I also have a MacBook Pro - not used for editing although I did attempt to do so with this. It's a mid 2012. Educational purposes.
I have been using USB2, but I have those ports available (although ethernet is needed for Internet).
I'm not sure what type of port it has..... here is a picture of the back. The connector I have is whatever the blue port is to USB, I may another type that came with the purchase.
( media.t3.com/img/resized/la/xl_lacie%20porsche%20web.jpg )
WD is kind of like a long micro b to USB, if that is what you mean.
There is an older copy of these files on my WD, I am backing up the new files there now.
Also, my "mac tm" is also being used to back up my MacBook Pro.... lol


Okay... I will definitely consider doing all that very soon.

As Ben suggested, would updating FCP X be a good move too? And does reinstalling all apps basically come/become a consequence with updating the OS? (have not updated... in.... forever).

So basically, once everything is safe and backed up.... (can I repartition my LaCie?)
> reinstall/update OS
> move all the editing files to PC partition, delete from TM version
> Update FCP X
> Copy files back over/reinstall apps wanted

What would you recommend updating too? is Mavericks free? Does CC count as an automatic back up/migration assistant?

@ben
There is no issues really, aside from cost - which can be overlooked.

Edit: just another issue that occured. I attempted remove the older version of the backups of this project, but my 500gb external drive doesn't seem to be recognising that there is free space. The files are only in the trash now, which may be why, but I do not want to empty it for fear of losing the one other copy that exists.....

Unfortunately I was incredibly untidy in the creation of this project and this many of the files are intrinsically linked with other random projects; so I cannot be sure exactly what I need/don't need.

USB 2.0 will be super slow and give you fits for video editing, that's what you have. USB 3.0 is great, but your Mac doesn't have USB 3.0 ports.

Moving items to the trash only moves them, not deletes them, thus, no space on the hard drive is freed up. Only after emptying the trash, i.e. physically deleting the files, will you see space free up.

I'd avoid partitioning drives, it slows them down.

Hi Cyrup,
Sorry for not responding quickly but busy times.
Would be helpful if you provided lots of info instead of me attempting to pull hen's teeth.
Your MBP may be a better editing machine than your iMac given your current set-up.
You do not provide the model number and tech specs for either your computers or the external drives.
Looks like the LaCie drive is USB3 (note the blue on the port) LaCie makes lots of products with different I/O ports.

When you use it on your iMac it will only be USB2. When you use it on your MBP it should be USB3. You can verify this by System Profile under the "Apple" icon "About This Mac" >More info>(and for your iMac I think) USB. You don't say what OS you have on your MBP. USB 2 will be listed as 480Mb/s and when plugged into the MBP you should see SuperSpeed USB 5Gbs. Make sure to use a USB3 cable not a USB2 cable. Note one is Mega and one is Giga.
USB2 will only provide ~ 35MB/s and with USB3 you should see about ~150MB/s transfer speed.

Download Blackmagic Speed Test from the App Store and hook your LaCie drive up to both computers (one at a time) and run the test on the PC volume. Use the fastest computer you have to edit on. You can also run the test on the Mac volume if you want, should be same.

Here is a post by Larry Jordan talking about configuring your system and throughput speeds…
www.larryjordan.biz/app_bin/wordpress/archives/2559
Note here that you need to consider all components as a system and you need to configure that system to the type of video work you do. Every component can be a bottleneck or not.

You can remove the PC partition if you want, but you should not run FCPX from Time Machine (volume/partition) back-ups. You really need another drive or two. The PC volume is not properly formatted for Windows anyway.

Yes I would update the OS and FCPX, on both computers via the clean install method. After making back-ups including a clone(s), I would erase the internal drive(s) and install first new OS and then FCPX and all other programs and then I would update the FCP projects and other data I needed.

I would suggest you consider a "dock" that has FW800 port and a USB3 (with USAP) port and then buying a couple of hdds for data/back-ups/media drive. Having both a FW800 and USB3 will give you the fastest performance for both computers. Some docks like the OWC Voyager have also have Ethernet ports. I use a dual bay Star Tech with USAP/USB3 connection and a Voyager Q.

Be very careful about emptying the Trash if you do not have back-ups. Very hard to recover your data once you empty trash.

Hope this helps, Greg

Hi Greg,

Apologies for not responding at all for a month - have been busy with the holiday season. Thank you for your reply!

What other info do you need...? Just the tech specs that you mentioned?
Here is a document with all the information about my iMac, (I currently do not have access to it). I uploaded it to mediafire, safe download.
www.mediafire.com/?3cyispav1npn6qb
For my LaCie, here is the model on their site, info under "specifications"
www.lacie.com/us/products/product.htm?id=10587

If I was to do a clean install of everything, would my MBP still be more useful than my desktop computer? The issue seemed to occur on there as well when I tried FCP.

I'm sorry, but I'm quite confused.... there is a lot of information in your post - which is all very useful - but I'm lost as to exactly what you're recommending I do now? A clean install/update + purchase new external HD?

What OS would you recommend updating too? I have heard there are many issues with FXP X & Yosemite...

Thank you,
Cy