Scratch disks & paths

Even with the "Open last project on application launch" box unchecked in FCP User Preferences, I get the massage "To preserve the integrity of the data used by FCP, it is necessary to ensure the existence of the following path(s):... " and cannot open the application without having certain external drives connected.

This has presented Big Problems when that drive is not available.

Although I have trashed preferences as an emergency fix, could you please advise:

1) Is there a setting fix that will prevent me from being locked out of the program?
2) How should scratch discs be set initially so I can open the program without having needing all drives connected? Best Protocall for setting scratch discs?
3) Have tried to set separate scratch discs to separate project folders on the same drive but sometimes get message that drive already has scratch disc.

I'm really in need of some good background info on scratch discs, paths to data and project management -- any suggestions on how to get and stay out of trouble willl be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Sammy

Even with the "Open last project on application launch" box unchecked in FCP > User Preferences, I get the massage "To preserve the integrity of the data
> used by FCP, it is necessary to ensure the existence of the following
> path(s):... " and cannot open the application without having certain external
> drives connected.

Whenever that happens, just set a new Scratch Disk. The dialogue box gives you that option.

FCP remember the last scratch disk "State"
if you open FCP and that "State" is different, it has a minor panic attack, and you have to re-set the scratch disks before it can go on.

but it's only a very minor panic attack,
it's really shouldn't be a "big problem"

if you work on lots of projects at the same time,
and those projects live on different drives,
re-setting your scratch disks is just a way of life

to make life simple, only have one scratch disk set at a time.

after a pref trash, your prefs will most likely go back to the default (unless you used FCP rescue and have reverted to a previously saved scratch-disk "State"
the default scratch disk path is:
Your User Folder/Documents/Final Cut Pro Documents.

my media management practice goes something like this:

on all my media drives i create a new folder called Final Cut Pro Documents.
actually it's called FCP Docs, as it's quicker to write
when i set a drive as a scratch disk, i choose the FCP Docs folder.
all captures, renders, etc, go into that folder.

SOMETIMES i work with what i call project meta-folders
so on a particular drive i might have a particular folder dedicated to a particular project.
INSIDE that folder i will keep that project's project file, and all it's media.
so INSDIE the project meta-folder i have a FCP Docs folder.

***this requires constant wrangling as you move between one project and another.***

even then you will make mistakes,
and renders from one project will wind up in the other projects folder.
worse would be captures, so ALWAYS check your scratch disks before you capture.
(i believe it's a design fault in FCP that you cant check & change your scratch disks from the batch capture window)

i suppose what i'm saying though is that there is always a certain amount of wrangling, but using meta-folder INCREASES that amount


hope that helps,
nick

Thanks for trying to help Derek, and, true enough, resetting scratch disks would seem a simple option, but the problem is:
1) FCP is insisting I reset my scratch disc from the scratch disk I want (the top of an internal drive) AND requesting a clear pathway to a disc which should be irrelevant (an external drive which might or might not be available but which has, seemingly, nothing to do with the files I want to use.)
2) FCP is rejecting my attempt to set to another scratch disc on the same drive (the internal one), saying the disc already has a scratch disc.

Still in hot water.

Great Nick, your workflow practices sound very helpful -- will try to adopt immediately.
Also, part of the mystery is solved: I finally noticed that the scratch disc pathway FCP was constantly requestingat lounch was an impossible one -- it had a correct external drive name but with an impossible amount of space (too much) on it. So I cleared the disc name & it opened right up with no resetting.

May I ask though by way of follow-up:
1) Just to be clear, by "state" do you mean, in this case, the most previously specified scratch disc? I'm guessing so but....
2) When I go to set another scratch disc on the same drive FCP tells me that the disc already has a scratch disc so it can't follow my request to reset... Any thoughts? I've had this problem on 2 separate systems

Again, thanks for your help!

1) Just to be clear, by "state" do you mean, in this case, the most previously specified scratch disc?

yes, or set of disks, with whatever config you had specified
(like you wanted renders send to a different drive)

2) When I go to set another scratch disc on the same drive FCP tells me that the disc already has a scratch disc so it can't follow my request to reset

yeah, and i get that here.
i cant establish a new location on a drive that;s already set as a scratch disk.
nevertried that before.
it's not a big deal.
i think it's just as easy (or even easier) to work with the one scratch disk and re-set it, than tick and un-tick all the little boxes.


cheers,
nick

> 2) When I go to set another scratch disc on the same drive FCP tells me that
> the disc already has a scratch disc so it can't follow my request to reset...
> Any thoughts? I've had this problem on 2 separate systems

That's not a bug. That's the way FCP is designed, and ever since the first version of FCP the application has forbidden you to set two Scratch Disk designations as two folders on the same drive. That's because the function of the Scratch Disk "hierarchy" is to prevent one disk from filling up (related to the "Maximum allowable free space" option). When the first Scratch Disk fills up, FCP automatically moves on to the next location specified. If you're trying to put two folders from the same drive on the list, then the function is useless as the drive will still be full.

Like Nick, I would recommend only having one Scratch Disk set at a time. That gives you the best control and knowledge of where your media is going at any given time, and prevents you from filling up a drive to breaking point.

"When the first Scratch Disk fills up, FCP automatically moves on to the next "

that's what you would think,
and that's probably how it should be,
that's how it is in avid, for sure
but last time i looked that's not how it was.

maybe this has changed, but last time i looked, what happened was that FCP *alternates* the captures from one drive to the next.
so your media is spread across all your drives.

yuk.

haven't tried it for a while, though. maybe it's changed?


nick

According to the manual, FCP does not follow the order that the scratch disks are set in. If multiple scratch disks are set, FCP uses the scratch disk with the most available space first until it hits the "minimum allowable free space" and then it will capture/render to the next disk with the most free sapce.

I guess thinking about it, if you've got two scratch disks set and disk A has 200GB available and disk B has 190GB available then when you capture a 20GB file it will get saved to disk A. When you go to the next capture, disk B now has the most space on it (190GB vs 180GB) so the file gets save to disk B. This would explain why captures could get alternated and I'm not convinced this is a good thing. Seems to me that having a reorderable list would be the way to go with FCP respecting the order.

Martin Baker
www.digital-heaven.co.uk
Unique plug-ins and tools for Apple Pro Apps

Ah, thanks for the clarification, Martin. I agree, a hierarchical system would be far better. I'd always thought that's what it was, but then again, the only times I ever set more than one Scratch Disk (and that was years ago) was to capture to a FireWire drive and render to an internal disk, back when FireWire drives couldn't handle render files properly. Somewhere around FCP4, that problem seemed to alleviate -- not sure whether it was due to improved drives, improved software, or improved CPU.

ah, i see.

thanks, martin.
very informative.
yes, that must be what happened.
and no, i don't really think it;s such a great idea, either.
i guess it's part of FCP's "prosumer" heritage?

nick