Power outage has damaged the library - help please !

I was working on fcp when there was a power outage. When I re-booted the iMac and opened FCP it said that the library I was working from is damaged and gave option to open backup. The backup is also missing all my video files and edits. When tried to open other events in the library they are all missing the video files, only the sound effects are there. The library is stored on an external hard rive. When I open the external hard rive all the files are still on it and it appears to be functioning normally. This is a bit of a disaster I've lost weeks of work can anyone offer any advice or help ?

The backup is just the database; it doesn't contain the media. It should reconnect if the media was managed internally by library. If it wasn't the media has to be relinked.

Hi Tom , thank you for that, I do apologise but Im not familiar with this, can you explain how I would go about relinking it ?

Select the library with the missing media and use the File>Relink>Original Media. Click all. The window will show all the clips. Use Locate and point the application to the folder or even the drive where the media is. It will search for matched media and you can relink it.  

I said it already on the other forum but I'll say It again Tom thank you so much, I thought I has lost weeks of work on an event and 2 years worth of other projects, I really do appreciate you taking the time to help me

You’re welcome.

Two bits of advice (since you asked)...

You should really consider getting a UPS with battery backup. This will help prevent something similar from happening in the future and protect your gear from permanent damage due to power outages and surges.

Implement a good backup strategy for your media. Sooner or later one of your drives will fail and you won't be able to recover the data without a backup, especially if it's an SSD. An HDD may be recoverable but at many times the cost of the drive itself, if at all. Cloud backup/storage may be a good solution, too.

Hi Dave , thanks for the tips, defo food for thought ! Just to clarify what you're saying for myself, the UPS will keep the computer running if there is a power cut is it ?
On the cloud storage front I looked into that before just in the event of what you suggest happening but It was my understanding you cannot store event projects in the cloud, or do I have that wrong? IT would be mega handy if you could and would certainly solve the problem.. Is there other storage solutions outside of the external hd ?

Sugref wrote:

Hi Dave , thanks for the tips, defo food for thought ! Just to clarify what you're saying for myself, the UPS will keep the computer running if there is a power cut is it ?
On the cloud storage front I looked into that before just in the event of what you suggest happening but It was my understanding you cannot store event projects in the cloud, or do I have that wrong? IT would be mega handy if you could and would certainly solve the problem.. Is there other storage solutions outside of the external hd ?

Yes, the UPS would keep the computer running during a power outage. How long things keep running depends on your setup and the battery capacity in the particular UPS unit. Many units have a USB connection you can make with your computer, so it would know to shut down the computer before the battery on the UPS runs out of power. In the worst case scenario, the back-up power provided by the UPS would allow you to manually, or automatically, shut down your system properly (rather than the power just cutting out). The idea being to keep your HW from getting damaged or losing data due to the power cut. A UPS with a larger battery capacity might be able to allow continued use during short power outages.

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Ideally, you might have a local, external drive separate from Time Machine, to store a backup of your primary media drives (or the internal SSD). Additionally, you could have other drives that you rotate with the local backup (keeping other backups off-site). Cloud backups would also work.

Applications, such as ChronoSync, can be scheduled to do daily (at night, or whenever) automated backups, so everything happens when you're not using your system. You'd likely just be backing up any changes mades during the work day.

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I just provided some basic info. You'll have to do more research or get a consultant to help with the details, depending on your personal comfort and expertise (or ability to learn about this kind of stuff)...

Everything here is on a UPS, not to keep things running if there's a power outage but to keep things from cold killing when the mains has a hiccup.

There are blips and dips on the grid here that go unnoticed until I hear the UPS momentarily kick in or, if the failure lasts, the squealing from the UPS signaling it's running on battery and best to shut all open projects off. Computer, display, and external drives all connected to the BATTERY BACKUP outlets with anything else important plugged into SURGE outlets. 1500w UPS gives maybe 15 minutes battery time to turn things off before the batts themselves deplete.