Organization issues

During a backup of my projects I got in a lot of trouble with multiple events, and multiple clips in my events. I've been trying to get things back to normal for days. (too many days to mention without embarrassment)

I've got a lot of clips with zero time and duration. Can I throw those away?

How do I determine which events are being used by witch projects? When I click on the project I'm seeing four or five referenced events for each project, but when I "Organize" and "Optimize" the projects and events, I get a message saying that there's nothing to do and everything is in place, but I've still got missing media in my movies.

I know this is a mess... any hints at what to do would be most appreciated.

Thanks!!! Eddie

How exactly were you trying to back things up?

The clips that are zero I'm size are duplicates I'm assuming. If so use the Move To Trash option.

Be sure you're upgraded to version 10.0.2.

Thanks BenB for your reply to my post.

I'm backing up with "Synk Pro". I made a mistake and used "Synchronize" instead of "Mirror". So... things went awry.

I did upgrade to 10.0.2 which works better.

I've moved all the duplicates with zero duration to the trash as you suggested.

Would it be a good idea to merge my events then trash all the duplicates that show up in the new merged event?

BTW, I've got your MacProVideo tutorial, "Managing Media" which has been a life saver. Thanks very much for putting that together.

Thanks for your help!! Eddie

I'm not familiar with that backup app, I use and highly recommend Carbon Copy Cloner. I'm trying to figure out how you ended up in this situation to start with. What caused it. Without being able to look it over first hand, I'm not really sure. But I would switch to Cabon Copy Cloner for doing backups. And don't do incremental backups until we all understand the FCP X database a bit more in depth.

Be sure you verify in the Finder that those duplicated clips are in fact empty by trying to open them with QTPlayer.

Anyway, once you've move the empty duplicate clips to the trash, I'm not sure what consolidating all of your Events will do to help. It may cause more harm if you're having problems. Where does your system stand now? What is not working?

And thanks for the compliment, it means a lot to know folks are benefiting from it. Hope you put that in the mPV review page for the course.

Hi Ben,

I put a well deserved positive review for your Media Management Tutorial on the MacProVideo site. Thanks again for a great tutorial.

I will look into Carbon Copy Cloner, though the Sync Pro is doing well since I put it on Mirror instead of Synchronize.

My problem is that I've now got three drives with parts of my eight one minute projects on them. I've pretty much got one drive that now seems to have most of the projects in tact. A couple still have those pesky red icons, but I think I can fix everything.

But, through a process of trial and error (mostly error) I've got twenty events full of clips. I've been trying to figure out which ones I can send to the trash without corrupting my movies. That's why I thought consolidating them into eight events would be helpful.

I know I'll eventually work this all out, but it's been a little frustrating, and I'd hate to loose anything at this point.

Please tell me this, if you don't mind. If I trash an event, the clips are still on my drive, right? It's only when I trash a clip from the browser inside of FCPX that the clip is lost. If that's correct I can always rebuild the movies inside of a new event. Yes?

Thanks so much for your help. I'm sorry that this is so hard for me to explain.

Eddie

Well, consolidating Events, um, tell me what the exact goal is. Do they need to be consolidated? What would be the advantage?

Your data management process of FCPX needs to be thought out at this point.

When you move a whole Event to the Trash, EVERYTHING in that Event folder goes to the trash. If your originals are inside that Event folder, the originals go, too. The only safe time to do this is when the originals were NOT copied into the Event folder upon import, in which case only LINKS were created inside the Event folder.

Thanks for the review. Very appreciated.

Wow... I'm glad you told me about the event folder scenario.

I've got (for some reason...) three or four event folders for each project.

I learned about "Consolidate Project Media" and "Organize Project Files" from your tutorial. As I understand it, that will put all the files in a new folder called, "Clips for..." I've done that so, now can I through the other event folders away?

I want to work within FCPX as you suggested, but it's hard to know what's where.

Thanks for your patience as I bungle my way through this process. Life was bliss before I filled up the first media drive, and started a new one, and a new back up drive.

It was a pleasure to write the review of your tutorial. I know it doesn't sound like it from my story, but I really did learn a lot, and going forward life will be better.

Let's say you have a Production, answer should. An Event is when several elements or variables comic together to form a result. Thus, think out how you should plan your Events (a unique collection of media assets) before you do anything.

So, as an exercise, tell me the purpose in combining multiple Events into one? What specifically do those individual assets have in common, why should they be in the same collection (Event)?

And remember you can move individual assets from one Event to another.

Hi Ben,

I really think that after studying your tutorial, life will be better, and I won't get into these situations in the future.

But now I've got a lot of redundant clips in a lot of different events. I thought if I got all the assets in one place I could sort them out by a process of elimination.

Thanks again, Eddie

Sounds good, you'll get there. Let me know if I can assist in any way.

Thanks so much.

I think I'm good now.

Happy Holidays!!!

Eddie

Wado

Sorry... but I have to ask.

What does "Waho" mean?

Eddie

I think wado is Cherokee for, thank you.