Help - Have issue with the media manager - need to backup project in 48 hours

Aloha

I am in dire straights. I have a film that I have been working on for about a year now. Every so often I make a backup using the media manager. A few days ago I tried a backup using media manager - it said it would take 17 hours to copy all the assets, etc. After about 12 hours it locked up. I figured that the system went to sleep and never woke up. I then tried it again last night - i turned off the screen saver, etc. it copied all the files from what I can tell, but never wrote the project.fcp. I then tried to open the original project and get an error. I had to reboot the system and remove the battery for fcp to work again. Sooo my question is how can I get the system to make a backup?

I have a flight in 48 hours and need a copy just in case the unthinkable happens. The only thing i can think of is export the entire 1 1/2 hour project as a prores just in case - but that is a last resort.


Thanks
Sean

> I then tried to open the original project and get an error. I had to reboot the
> system and remove the battery for fcp to work again

You probably just had a media or project corruption during the backup process.

For the record, you do not need to be using Media Manager that often. Media Manager is most useful for when you want to trim a project. If you're just backing up the project for safety before your editing work is through, you only need to backup the media once in its complete form. (Backup once, but to two separate locations if you want to be truly safe)

After that, for safety, all you need to do is backup the project file, with a date/time stamp, onto an external drive location (I use USB flash drives; other alternatives are CD-ROMs and also online/FTP storage sites). Overuse of Media Manager, like what you did, actually endangers your project more, because Media Manager's access of your media is a complicated one. A much more surefire backup of your media is just to copy them in Mac OS, because the media isn't being used as the copy is going on.

As for your current issue, you should first copy the project file to your internal drive, disconnect the media from your computer, and then try to open the project file alone, separate from your media. If the project opens, half your problems are gone. You can then work on reconnecting your media.

If the project file doesn't open no matter what, then you need to either use a manual backup of it (you should be doing at least one manual backup of your project file, onto an external storage location, per session), or go to the Autosave Vault.

> The only thing i can think of is export the entire 1 1/2 hour project as a prores
> just in case - but that is a last resort.

That's not a backup. That is a movie file. It won't preserve the work you've done except provide you with a visual reference. Useful, but if you can't get your project file back and you never backed it up, then you'll still need to recut the whole project ("conforming" to the movie file).


www.derekmok.com

How big is your project file, and what is your external drive formatted to? Fat32? Or Mac OS extended? What kind of media are you using? Do you have any duplicate file names?



www.strypesinpost.com

Hello

Yes the external is formatted to MAC OS Extended Journaled. The project with all the media / renders is almost 800 GB. I am using both 35 MB XD-CAM and prores files. The prores files are big 1-7 gb - due to being almost 6k in size timelapse sequences. So Derek - what you are saying is to copy all the media and just save the project.fcp file and then use the reconnect to media option? - I have close to 900 files. I guess that I will need to re-render the sequence. - I just want to make sure I am safe for the journey back to the edit cave

Thanks
Sean

> I guess that I will need to re-render the sequence

You'd have to do that anyway with Media Manager. Render files are unstable -- backing them up is a fool's errand.

> to copy all the media and just save the project.fcp file and then use the
> reconnect to media option?

Yes. Too many backups can be almost as perilous as not enough. Potentially you'll be replacing old, stable backups with newer files that may have acquired problems in the process of being worked with.

You're moving 800GB of files around for no reason. Back them up only if they've changed -- for example, adding new footage freshly captured/imported.

You need to understand how FCP deals with the project-media relationship. When you change your edit, all you're changing is the project file. That is what you backup, and the project file is usually under 100MB.


www.derekmok.com

You can copy render files with media manager, but I find media manager's copy function to be a little slow as it's a single threaded process, and it is more particular with file naming and error prone on file names at times. MM is useful when you have bad media organization and have media scattered in strange unknown places.

>it copied all the files from what I can tell, but never wrote the project.fcp.

You didn't check "make new project". You can also duplicate the FCP project file, make everything offline and link up to the duplicated media.



www.strypesinpost.com

Hey guys

Thanks for the help. As a side note my 4 day old brand new backup drive failed 24 hours before I left. I had to rush to Frys and get another drive and back up essential data. The good news is that I made it back to base with all the data. Thanks for all the help.

Sean