Preparing to update to FCP mid project... any tips?

Looking for any advice or tips.
I am breaking one of my own rules and prepping to update (from 10.5.4 to 10.6.1) in the middle of 3 projects. I would normally never do it, but a plugin I am needing to use to finish one project is showing red screen with my current version (Pixel Film Studios - Brush Glow effect) 

I am on an M1 Mac mini, 16gb, still on Big Sur 11.5.2 - hoping to stay on that OS for a little longer.

I have:
Done a time machine back up.
Copied the FCP app to a seperate external drive and renamed it to include the version number.
Copied the library back ups folder to another external drive
I have multiple copies of the 3 current project files I am working on as well as XML's, all on external hard drives.

Is there anything else I should be doing as best practice? 
I have never needed to roll back to a previous version, If I have mega issues, is it as simple as deleting the new version and dragging the previous version from my external drive to the apps folder and double click?

Thanks so much in advance for any help. 

Will the client stop payment on the check or the theater empty if they notice you didn't use the Brush Glow effect?

The thing is you're the only one determined to use it at the possible expense of boomeranging back to a backup or an earlier version. Not that doing so wouldn't be successful but that it inevitably causes me grief and more time and effort than I thought it would reverting or rebuilding an edit when I knew darn well I ignored the solid principle I learned doing triathlons... 'Don't try out anything new on race day.'

Don't change the stroke. Don't change the stride. Don't change the goggles, or the shoes, or the cadence, or the diet, or the seat height or the handlebar angle. Nothing. There's plenty of time to experiment when everything's not on the line.

I've only had to revert to a backup maybe twice when an edit (for me it's one Library = Project/Edit) bricked on me and even then it was an aggravating grind to getting back into the rhythm of things. I won't risk botching ONE edit with a mid project update (be it a software or OS version) let alone THREE. Good luck.

Thanks for the response.

Well, I sorta pitched the idea of the brush glow effect to the client before I purchased the plug in. Silly me. But they are keen on the idea and it sort of is the piece de resistance of the project. It's only a one minute promo, so worst case scenario, I can re edit from the master... I will lose a day there. One of the other projects is locked off, I just need to grade. Same client. Then I have a 1.5 hr multicam project that is awaiting final revisions. That's the one I'm more concerned about.

I have one piece of software that will not run on my current version of the Mac OS. To resolve the issue I created a second Mac OS system on a separate hard drive with Big Sur on it and then loaded the software on that. When I need to use the software I boot off of the Big Sur drive. You could do something like this so that the two projects that do not use the brush glow could still be edited using FCP 10.5.4 while the third project using the brush glow could be run on 10.6.1.

bjrE wrote:

That's the one I'm more concerned about.

I've found exporting an XML from the current project then importing from the new & improved software/OS is all it took for me to judge just what I'd be up against without having to duplicate libraries and backups and copy assets to external drives and whether I could stomach the update now or wrestle with it later.

Yes, updating isn't for the squeamish.

VTC wrote:

I've found exporting an XML from the current project then importing from the new & improved software/OS is all it took for me to judge just what I'd be up against

I'm not quote sure I follow. Are you importing that on a seperate machine that already has the update before deciding to update on another machine?

That sounds like a good option. Im hoping simply updating to the latest FCP will solve the issue without having to update the OS. Is it as simple as this?


How to boot your clone on another Mac

1. Turn off your Mac.
2. Connect your external drive into the appropriate port on your Mac.
3. Turn on your Mac.
4. Hold down the Option key as soon as you hear the startup chime.
5. Select the external drive with the clone backup on it from the list of systems to start up your computer.

I have several client projects that have been running for years, and will continue to do so. I never have a moment when all my projects are finished in order to update. I've been updating mid-project for years, never had any issues. Just be sure your system is clean and not having issues and you should be fine. Always have a backup of your work and your system drive. But if your system isn't having any issues, you have plenty of free drive space, you have backups, go for it.

bjrE wrote:

That sounds like a good option. Im hoping simply updating to the latest FCP will solve the issue without having to update the OS. Is it as simple as this?


How to boot your clone on another Mac

1. Turn off your Mac.
2. Connect your external drive into the appropriate port on your Mac.
3. Turn on your Mac.
4. Hold down the Option key as soon as you hear the startup chime.
5. Select the external drive with the clone backup on it from the list of systems to start up your computer.

Yes it is. If you want to stay on Big Sur and not upgrade the OS you can clone your normal startup drive using Carbon Copy or similar software and then upgrade FCP.