Final Cut Pro X - Managing Event Library Location

flynz4 · Mar 17, 2013

I just bought FCPX and have what I suspect is a simple question. I have not used the application yet... and I am a total FXPX novice. I have done a few projects in iMovie.

I cannot figure out how to "move" or "set" the location of my event Library. I have the default one (~/movies/Final Cut Events)... but I do not want to keep my events there... as I have better uses for my 768GB SSD in this new iMac.

I have the following named drives in this iMac:

Macintosh HD: 768GB SSD
Pegasus R4: 8TB Thunderbolt array, configured as 4TB RAID 10
Seagate 3TB: 3TB single spindle Thunderbolt HDD, used only as a cloned media location (for work continuity in the event of failure of Pegasus R4).

I would like to keep my FCPX Event Library in: "Pegasus R4/Media/Movies/Final Cut Events". However, I cannot seem to accomplish that. When I use FCPX to move my events to "Pegasus R4"... I simply get a "Pegasus R4/Final Cut Events" at the root of the Pegasus drive. I don't want it at the root.

Another problem is that I do a CCC clone from "Pegasus R4" to "Seagate 3TB" drive every night... just as a local media backup of my Pictures, Music and Videos. The problem is that "Seagate 3TB" displays in FCPX as event library location... and when I launch FCPX, I often get an error that my R4 events cannot be opened because they exist the the same name on the backup Seagate drive. I guess it depends on which FCPX sees first... because I only get my events on one of the two external drives.

What I want: "Pegasus R4/Media/Movies/Final Cut Events" display as the only location for my Event Library. Maybe I just took some stupid pills this weekend... but I cannot figure it out.

Thanks in advance.

/Jim

floh · Mar 18, 2013

Now, this might have changed by now since there were many upgrades since I last checked, but this was not possible in the earlier versions of FCPX. The Events and Projects folders on "external" disks are always created in the root directory and there is no way to change that.

It was no big deal for me since I have dedicated editing drives anyways and they might as well have FCPX use the root directory, but I can see that this can be a pain. So here's a simple workaround:

You could create symbolic links in your ~/Movies/ folder to wherever you like your folders to be. This is a very simple command line in the terminal:

Code:

ln -s "/Volumes/Pegasus R4/Media/Movies/Final Cut Events" "~/Movies/"
ln -s "/Volumes/Pegasus R4/Media/Movies/Final Cut Projects" "~/Movies/"

And maybe a hint for Mac OS developers: This could be programmed in a few hours as a neat little App, where you can also change the working folders "On the fly", and probably people would buy it for a dollar in the Mac App Store. I don't have a developer ID and am not planning on getting one, otherwise I might do it...

EDIT: For those command lines to work, there has to be no folder "~/Movies/Final Cut Events" yet. So move or rename it beforehand.

flynz4 · Mar 18, 2013

floh said:
Now, this might have changed by now since there were many upgrades since I last checked, but this was not possible in the earlier versions of FCPX. The Events and Projects folders on "external" disks are always created in the root directory and there is no way to change that.

It was no big deal for me since I have dedicated editing drives anyways and they might as well have FCPX use the root directory, but I can see that this can be a pain. So here's a simple workaround:

You could create symbolic links in your ~/Movies/ folder to wherever you like your folders to be. This is a very simple command line in the terminal:

Code:

ln -s "/Volumes/Pegasus R4/Media/Movies/Final Cut Events" "~/Movies/" ln -s "/Volumes/Pegasus R4/Media/Movies/Final Cut Projects" "~/Movies/"

And maybe a hint for Mac OS developers: This could be programmed in a few hours as a neat little App, where you can also change the working folders "On the fly", and probably people would buy it for a dollar in the Mac App Store. I don't have a developer ID and am not planning on getting one, otherwise I might do it...

EDIT: For those command lines to work, there has to be no folder "~/Movies/Final Cut Events" yet. So move or rename it beforehand.

Thanks. Before I start plunking around in terminal... do I need to elevate permissions or anything?

One more question... wouldn't the two symbolic links above have a conflict since they both point to the same directory "movies"?

I've never done a symbolic link before in terminal (in case you haven't figured that out)

Thanks in advance.

/Jim

floh · Mar 18, 2013

flynz4 said:
Thanks. Before I start plunking around in terminal... do I need to elevate permissions or anything?

One more question... wouldn't the two symbolic links above have a conflict since they both point to the same directory "movies"?

You don't need elevated permissions or anything for this. To create a symbolic link, you only need write permissions in the directory you are creating it in (which hopefully you already have for ~/Movies).

The ln-command for the symbolic link creates a link in the destination. If the destination is a directory (like in this case "Movies"), it will create a link with the same name as the file or folder it is linking to. So there will be two ne (linked) folders in ~/Movies by the names "Final Cut Events" and "Final Cut Projects".

But, if you don't feel comfortable mocking around in the Terminal (I come from a Linux background, so it's my first goto idea...), you can use the "Alias" function of Finder. It's almost the same as a symbolic link and should work, too.

Just drag your desired Events folder ("Pegasus R4/Media/Movies/Final Cut Events") into your "~/Movies" folder and hold down Cmd+Option before releasing. A small symbolic link symbol will show up at your cursor, and when you release the mouse, an Alias will have been created. You can rename this to whatever you like, in this case "Final Cut Events".

Aliases (present since Mac OS 9) have one main difference compared to symbolic links: When you move the folder they are pointing to, the Alias will keep track of that and the link will still work. Symbolic links don't do that because they don't point to a "file" but to a place in the Unix file structure.

Doesn't matter, it should both work in my opinion.

flynz4 · Mar 18, 2013

Dragging from the R4 to ~/Movies did not work. The shortcuts were placed in movies... but FCPX didn't seem to recognize them.

When using terminal, I received the following error messages. Any idea what I did wrong?

Last login: Mon Mar 18 08:57:28 on ttys000
Jims-iMac:~ jim$ ln -s "/Volumes/Pegasus R4/Media/Movies/Final Cut Events" "~/Movies/"
ln: ~/Movies/: No such file or directory
Jims-iMac:~ jim$ ln -s "/Volumes/Pegasus R4/Media/Movies/Final Cut Projects" "~/Movies/"
ln: ~/Movies/: No such file or directory
Jims-iMac:~ jim$

I've attached screen shots of the source and destination.

Thanks in advance again.

/Jim

floh · Mar 18, 2013

flynz4 said:
Dragging from the R4 to ~/Movies did not work. The shortcuts were placed in movies... but FCPX didn't seem to recognize them.

Ooooh, sorry. That's the difference between Linux and Unix systems. I was at work and had no means to check if this would work. Now I'm at home, and it doesn't work. FCPX does not want symlinks as folders and will complain.

I will try to think of something that will do the trick, but this simple solution sadly does not...

Sorry for the inconvenience, I was kind of sure FCPX could be tricked like that.

floh · Mar 18, 2013

It seems to be really hard to trick FCPX here, it just doesn't like symbolic links, and hard links won't span over different hard drives.

Well, the only thing that I got working would be an even dirtier workaround:

In your desired Movie folder on the external hard drive, you create a new image with the "Disk Utility" application. Be sure to make it a growing image (I don't know the English menu entry, but it should be the last option, something like "Image format"). Then this will just show up as a seperate drive in FCPX on which you can save your Events and Projects.

This is certainly not very elegant, and it might even slow the transfer rates down a little, but for now it really is the only option I can think of.

Good luck!

mjsanders5uk · Mar 18, 2013

When you open up FCP X, in the events pane there will be a list of your hard drives. Select the one you want and then create new event.

FCP X will then create a directory at the root of that drive called "Final Cut Pro Events", similarly if you create a project on that drive it will create a directory for projects.

In some way's its great, in some ways its a pain but that is the way apple have decreed it so that is how it must be.

You can, when you import media into an event choose to leave the media where you imported it to and FCP X will create links to the that location.

A lot of people have had success using sparse disc images to store events and projects folders for different projects.

----------

As to the CCC clone option. Do what I do - backup to folder on your backup drive, that way FCP X doesn't see the dupes! Oh now wait. I use Chronosync not CCC but I think CCC will do it to a folder as well.

floh · Mar 18, 2013

And might I add that it is a great idea to use the program Event Manager X if you plan to make more than a few projects. Everything gets really messy and confusing with many projects and events that always show up. This tool just moves them between the "Final Cut Events" and a newly created "Final Cut Events Hidden" folder so the unwanted projects don't show up anymore...

MIDI_EVIL · Mar 19, 2013

mjsanders5uk said:
When you open up FCP X, in the events pane there will be a list of your hard drives. Select the one you want and then create new event.

----------

As to the CCC clone option. Do what I do - backup to folder on your backup drive, that way FCP X doesn't see the dupes! Oh now wait. I use Chronosync not CCC but I think CCC will do it to a folder as well.

It's worth mentioning that a simple 'right click' of your chosen drive, will bring up a menu. From here you can select the option 'create new event.

The same goes for the Project panel. Right click the chosen drive, select 'create new project'. You can also select an even for the media to be transferred/transcoded, or use the currently selected event.

+1 for backing up to a folder within the root. I've been stung before, where FCPX doesn't know which project to open, and has opened the backup project, which may not necessarily have been the latest version.

There were so many frustrations at first, but now i'm used to it, it all makes sense. It's a very powerful application, and it's only going to get better.

ProfessorJerry · Mar 19, 2013

+1 to MIDI_EVIL.

In addition, in the project library at the bottom you will see a "+" and a folder icon. The "+" creates a new project, but the folder creates a new folder on the drive that you can start projects in.

In the event Library, you can duplicate an event and put it on any drive the computer sees; which is a good way to do a backup.

flynz4 · Mar 20, 2013

floh said:
And might I add that it is a great idea to use the program Event Manager X if you plan to make more than a few projects. Everything gets really messy and confusing with many projects and events that always show up. This tool just moves them between the "Final Cut Events" and a newly created "Final Cut Events Hidden" folder so the unwanted projects don't show up anymore...

Thanks... it looks like this will help stay organized. I assume the "Final Cut Events Hidden" is also at the root? In an case... I am learning to live with the limitation of my work living at the "root" of my Pegasus R4. It's not that big of a problem... once I realized that is "the way it is".

MIDI_EVIL said:
There were so many frustrations at first, but now i'm used to it, it all makes sense. It's a very powerful application, and it's only going to get better.

Thanks for the confidence building statement. I bought FCPX because of statements like yours. I like having good tools!

Great comments from everyone. You'll be hearing more from me as I try to learn the application.

/Jim

bagelche · Mar 21, 2013

flynz4 said:
Thanks... it looks like this will help stay organized. I assume the "Final Cut Events Hidden" is also at the root? In an case... I am learning to live with the limitation of my work living at the "root" of my Pegasus R4. It's not that big of a problem... once I realized that is "the way it is".

Yup, Event Manager X also puts the "Hidden" folders at the root. It goes against my ingrained insistence on meticulous sub-sub-sub folders, but it turns out to be 4 folders at the root level (2 original and 2 "hidden"). I've pretty much gotten used to that and it's much better than trying to mess with symbolic links for me.

With Event Manager X's recent updates, it has some nice features for automating projects (in the old-school sense, not the FCPX) and creating groups of Events and Projects. It's pretty simple to use and I'm increasingly opening it to open FCPX and not going to FCPX directly.

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