P2 Problem

Yesterday I transferred 2, 16 gigs files from my HVX to my desktop. I transfered the media into FCP and Log and Transfered. I looked at all the media yesterday and everything looked great. Today I got up to edit, and one of my P2 Card media has just vanished. I have the original XMF File, but nothing is in it anymore. The even stranger thing is, the big media file where I have everything from my project still says it is "42 gigs" (in Get Info) even though now there is only about 24 gigs in it. I don't know what happened to that media, and now FCP does not recognize any of my files when I try to log and transfer transfer. Is this at all common or has anyone heard of this before? The even stranger thing is, when I go to my autosave vault, everything from yesterday is just skipped over. Nothing is there anymore, stuff from previous days is, but not yesterdays. How could this have happened?

Thanks,

Mike

So the footage you imported is gone....the card you copied over to your desktop, those folders are empty...and your autosave vault is empty of yesterdays saves?

No, I have never heard of this before. Either something is really screwed up or this was intentionally deleted.

Anything in the TRASH?


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Nope, nothing in the trash.

However, I checked one of the files dragged off the P2 and onto my camera. One of those files has information, 11.12 gigs. However, the log and transfer will not recognize the footage. I did notice that the "Last Clip" txt. file is absent from the batch. I honest to get could not have even deleted these because they are locked and a message would have come up if I tried to.

Any ideas to atleast salvage this .XMF footage? When I click to open it nothing even comes up.

-Mike

ok, this all sounds very weird. there has to have been a mistake made, as files like this dont typically just go partially haywire...

youre also leaving out some info. when you say "When I click to open it nothing even comes up." - what are you clicking to open. p2 content cant be simply clicked and viewed like a quicktime movie...

so, you drag and dropped the p2 media onto your DESKTOP right? did you drag each card into a separate folder? or just loose onto your desktop? if you just copied to your desktop you probably over wrote some stuff.

what you want to do when you transfer a p2 card to a computer is create a folder for that card on the computer first. then open the p2 card and select all, being sure to get the contents folder and lastclip.txt. and drag that to the folder you created

do that for each card you transfer. i name my folders with a date and card number. for example "04_04_09_card_01"

I did not create folders, but I see now how that would be a good idea. It honestly, deleted my AutoSave vault because I can't find it anywhere. I am pretty good about being organized, and have searched my computer but can't find it.

The weird thing is, the one P2 card that I have the .mov's for, in the .xmf file off the camera, all the information is gone. This doesn't matter so much because I have the .mov's now. However, in the .xmf file that doesn't have the .mov's, all the original content is there. I got the log and transfer to work when I changed the title of this folder to Content, it was originally "Content 2".

I still really don't get what happened, but I have all the footage now.

Thanks,

Mike

Let me know if you have any hypotheses, since I felt like I was taking crazy pills.

Quote
I did not create folders, but I see now how that would be a good idea

its not just a good idea. its HIGHLY ADVISABLE. its the only way i know to keep all the redundant CONTENTS and lasclip.txt files organized.

ok, did you maybe move one card. log and transfer it. then move the other? that might explain things...

and yeah, you cant go changing things like folder names in the p2 workflow. if you do, the whole process gets broken.

Wayne is right...you MUST keep the entire P2 card structure intact. Do not name the CONTENTS folder anything...leave it alone. What you need to do is make new folders that you then drag the CONTENTS and LASTCLIP file into...That is the folder you can name.

Please watch my P2 import tutorial:

[library.creativecow.net]


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
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Just to emphasize this part.

>That is the folder you can name.

Name that folder, THEN import into FCP. This is important as that folder name becomes the reel name in FCP, which FCP will use to reconnect to later.

Also, it is "MXF", not "XMF". "XML" is one of the files in the bunch of subfolders that programs like FCP use to connect the audio to the video.

> It honestly, deleted my AutoSave vault because I can't find it anywhere.

Autosave could be off, or your project wasn't open long enough for autosave to kick in.

> However, in the .xmf file that doesn't have the .mov's, all the original content is there.

Sounds extremely messy. You didn't happen to mix your mxf files with mov files, did ya?



www.strypesinpost.com

Few things to check before you jump:

- Has your machine created a NEW Final Cut Pro Documents folder to a new location (system disk/documents)? Check your scratch disk settings!

- Did you "Save As" at some point and accidentally continued to work with your old project file. This could explain why the vault is empty.

I'm digging Shane's tutorial on P2-- firsy one to make import crystal clear, thank you Shane.

- Loren
Today's FCP keytip:

Fit Timeline Selection to Window with Shift-Option-Z !

Final Cut Studio 2 KeyGuide? Power Pack.
Now available at KeyGuide Central.
www.neotrondesign.com

Welcome.


www.shanerosseditor.com

Listen to THE EDIT BAY Podcast on iTunes
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