How would one Backup FCPX Events and FCPX Projects while editing

I have been trying to wrap my head around this, and am still stumped.

Whenever I am doing and edit, I like to have an identical backup (media, edits etc.) of the project that I am working on for security reasons.

How does one go about this in FCPX.

I don't want to move a FCPX Event or FCPX project to my backup drive, as this is just a backup, and not meant to be worked on.

At the same time, when I drag the FCPX Event to another (backup) drive while in FCPX it asks to duplicate the FCPX Event, which is fine. BTW, just for reference, ALL of my media is in the Original Media folder (not reference media), as I though it best to keep all of the media with the FCP Events and Projects respectively. As for me it's much cleaner than having references all over the place.

However, FCPX seems to take ALL of the media and label the differently like video_0001.mov.fcpduplicate. of something like that, I am not in front of my system right now. Either way it's changing the actual clip name, which I don't want to do.

Even if the duplicate method worked, then once the Event or Project is duplicated, how would I continuously backup the Events or Projects. As I don't have need to have FCPX create ALL new media in the Original Media folder again, as it's already there.

Is it as simple as once the Event and Projects are created on the Backup Drive, I only need to copy the Updated Events and Projects to the backup drive and I'm good.

Many have said not to simply take you FCPX Events and Projects and copy them to make a backup, but to let FCPX handle all of this in the program.

Since FCPX works with XML database files, how can I do constant backups of my project, if I can't copy them?

Please, does anyone have any easy logical ideas?

I use the sparse disc image method, from Steve Martin, it is quite simply superb.
Create the sparse image in Disc utility, mount it, do your work in it. Quite FCPX, eject the mounted partition when your done. copy the image to wherever you want.

For more detailed info go to
www.kenstone.net/fcp_homepage/fcp_x_mana...sk_image_martin.html

Thans for the info and link.
Makes sense, except for one thing.

For backup, would I have to copy the entire DI to the BU drive after each night of editing.
I only ask because I am working with ProResLT files for my original media. As a result my media might be 400GB in size. This takes my system about 3 hours to transfer each time.

Would I be able to simply open up the DI on my system and the DI on my backup drive, and copy ALL of the content from the Events and Projects folder, except for the media?

Or does FCPX recognize timecode from when the media was accessed for the edit.
I'm probably overthinking this now as I can reconnect media in FCPX with the latest update.

But just wondering if the media hasn't changed, if it's ok to simply copy the All other content except for original Media.

you need a drobo or some sort of serious raid/XSAN for archiving up to 400gb per project, the DI is mostly for short project work (say 20-30GB of data).
your talking production house file management solutions really.

thinking about it further, I only ever reference files on import. so the only thing that changes on the Disc Image would be the edit. At the completion of the work I would archive only the used media if required by the client and they pay for the service.

Thanks Lee, I am using DROBO with 15TB of storage. So for the time being space isn't an issue.
Plus after the project is completed, I generally would either archive the used media and final edit, or just the final media project in high res and online content.

thinking about it further, I only ever reference files on import. so the only thing that changes on the Disc Image would be the edit.

So since I have all MEDIA (As is, and not referenced) on both Main and Backup systems, if all I need to do is change the edit (Event and Projects), then this is great and simple.
I was just wondering if there was something in the meta data or XML that would cause a conflict in FCPX's database.

If all I need is to copy over the edits and/or renders (although I don't plan to do any renders until completion), then this method should work just fine.

you're totally sorted:) wish I had a Drobo:(

Lee Patterson wrote: you're totally sorted:) wish I had a Drobo:(

The DROBO is great for archival purposes. But that's about the best you're going to get form it, as they're not good for actual edit work.

But it is pretty darn valuable for me.

Here's what I do:

Create the event in FCP X and import the media.
When the media is imported use something like Chronosync or Carbon copy cloner to make a copy of the drive.
Run this whenever you add a file or at the end of the day - as it will only sync the changed files.

For projects.

I have one of the very low profile 16GB lexar USB stick permanently in my computer.
On a regular basis (every couple of hours) I simply drag the project file in the project list from the external drive it lives on to the USB stick (there's a folder called backups on there) and FCP X copies the project.

It will bring up a dialogue box and I untick include renders so the project file is very small.

At the end of the day I make copies of the file then zip that folder on the USB drive and stick it on dropbox.

Sorry if I'm misunderstanding but why not copy your media to a drive, then when you import to FCP X use the "Copy Media function" then you'll have two copies of everything. One being the original media the other the copied media.

I agree with Seanus. If you want a backup of your Events and Projects, you have to back the whole thing up!

As for your Events and Projects, the "CurrentVersion.fcpevent" and "Currentversion.fcpproject", that's now done automatically in 10.0.3. Notice the "Backup" folder in your individual Event and Project folders. This backs up that database every 15 minutes when it detects you've made a change. If you launch FCP X and it detects a corruption of the database, it will automatically restore from this backup. Don't know if that helps.

No idea what you mean by "DI". Your media files are your media files. It all, with the database, needs to be backed up.

BenB wrote: I agree with Seanus. If you want a backup of your Events and Projects, you have to back the whole thing up!

As for your Events and Projects, the "CurrentVersion.fcpevent" and "Currentversion.fcpproject", that's now done automatically in 10.0.3. Notice the "Backup" folder in your individual Event and Project folders. This backs up that database every 15 minutes when it detects you've made a change. If you launch FCP X and it detects a corruption of the database, it will automatically restore from this backup. Don't know if that helps.

No idea what you mean by "DI". Your media files are your media files. It all, with the database, needs to be backed up.

Actually I am talking about backing the whole Event and Projects up.
My question was what is the best method to do so. So I can have the working Event/Project on the main drive and an identical backup of it on another drive. This would have to be backed up every-time I work on the Event/Project.

My main question was once the entire FCPX Event/Project is created (All actual Media in "Original Media"), how can I do a quick backup of the Event and Projects for that job.

Do I have to let FCPX create an exact backup of that project again each time (Media and all)?
Or ,once the media is on the backup drive, can I simply copy over the all information from the FCPX Event and Project folder for that job, except for the media which is already on the other drive.

The easiest and most concise way seems to be the Disk Image (DI) way.
Or, is it still ok to have FCPX create a backup of your Events and Projects and then simply drag and overwrite the older Event and Project files on the backup drive?

Is this correct.

Use Carbon Copy Cloner and create a schedule to do backups of your top level Event and Project folders.

BenB wrote: Use Carbon Copy Cloner and create a schedule to do backups of your top level Event and Project folders.

When I use Carbon Copy Cloner to backup data, will it clone everything over to the backup drive, or only copy over what is needed.

I ask because my "Media" could be in upwards of 400 GB and takes a loooong time to transfer over.

This was why the Disk Image appealed to me, as it seemed to be very streamlined in it's workflow. And all I needed to do would be to copy the FCPX Event and Project Data to the Disk Image drive on the Backup Drive, and not need to transfer the Media back.

Disk Image is the same amount of data, just in an easier to manage wrapper. So the time it takes to copy data is the same. Data is data, copying it is copying it.

Event and Project folders only need to be on the root level of a drive, that's all.

BenB wrote: Disk Image is the same amount of data, just in an easier to manage wrapper. So the time it takes to copy data is the same. Data is data, copying it is copying it.

Event and Project folders only need to be on the root level of a drive, that's all.

Ok, one last question, and I'll try to make it simple.
When I'm making a backup of my Events and Projects I have all data as it appears on my main system Events, Projects, and Media.

I am not concerned about the time it takes to make the original backup, as I know that this takes time.
I'm more concerned about the time it will take to re-backup my work as I continue to work on it.

So, once everything is on the backup drive, including "Original Media"...

When I am done editing for the night and want to backup my data from the main drive...
Do I also have to copy ALL of the Media that's in the "Original Media" folder in the Event.

Or do I ONLY need to have copies of the main files for the FCPX Events and FCPX Projects.

In other words, I don't have to copy the Media back over, because that information has not changed. Except for the fact that it was accessed to be used while editing.

I'm concerned about this because recently I had a drive fail and wasn't able to retrieve all of my data, mainly the ProRes files. So I want to make sure that I have a simple and fast way to have an exact backup of my works in progress.

When using FCP7, I used to have an exact duplicate of my files on 2-3 different drives (1 internal, 1-2 external). Then all I had to do was start off with an exact copy on the backup drive and simply update the data files on them by copy and pasting them from the main drive to the backup drive.

With the XML Meta data structure that FCXP is built upon, it seems to throw a monkey wrench in that scenario.

I use Super Duper which makes a clone of your drive (like others have mentioned in the post) once the initial backup has been done the 'smart backup' feature on Superduper just copies any files that have been changed or updated.

No need to clone a drive, just back up the Events and Projects folders at the root level, or the individual ones you need.

All backup software does about the same thing. I use CCC because of it's solid legacy and user support.

With FCP X projects, you'll need to do a backup of the "Backups" folder, there's nothing really to append. Unless you add media, then those folders can do an appended backup.

BenB wrote: No need to clone a drive, just back up the Events and Projects folders at the root level, or the individual ones you need.

All backup software does about the same thing. I use CCC because of it's solid legacy and user support.

With FCP X projects, you'll need to do a backup of the "Backups" folder, there's nothing really to append. Unless you add media, then those folders can do an appended backup.

So in other words, I would simply be able to copy the needed files as I did before, and nothing else.
FCPX Event, FCPX Event "Backup folder", FCPX Projects "FCPX "Backup folder" etc.

And this can be done by simply copying the files from the main drive to the backup drive, via the computer.
Thus NO FCPX needed for this process.

Or do I have to use a cloning software CCC, Super Duper etc, which does an exact copy of the folders and files.

No, you don't "need" backup software, and there's no need to "clone" anything at all. You can do it all manually.

Backup software simply allows you to set an automated schedule to backup exactly what you want, nothing more.

If you want to drag-and-drop at the end of the day, it's the same thing the software would do for you.