HEEEEELP! FCP7

Happy to find you guys. I have FCP 7 still and i still love it...the program lives on my desktop. How can i create a copy of the program as a back up? Is it a DMG? a Virtual disk? And how do i do it? Thanks!!

the program SHOULD live in your applications folder. just saying...

as for "a copy of the program as a back up"
you kind of can't - there's enough bits n pieces of it in various places to make that pretty hard.
i mean you could TRY just copying the app/s across to another system and see what happens.

there's a few other things to copy that might make it work

from your main system drive > Library > Application Support there are three Final Cut folders, and also the ProApps folder,
and possibly the Soundtrack Pro folder
they'd have to go in the same spot on the other system.

likewise Homefolder > Library > Application Support > Final Cut Studio (this is just for the other apps)
also in Homefolder >Library > Preferences are lots of bits n pieces, but I'm pretty sure that they will get created when you launch the app.



best thing to do as some sort of safety back-up is to make a clone of your entire system.
i use Carbon Copy Cloner for that. friends use SuperDuper
maybe before you do that, create a new user.
then if possible, clone just that user, not all your own mail, and pictures etc etc.
if you can't selectively clone a user, clone all and secure erase your user folder when it's done
then you'd have a pretty clean backup system.
check to see if it works of course !


hope that helps,
nick

I second Nick's CCC as your best solution, because it will copy the registration/license info. supporting frameworks and all the other bits and pieces which make FCP 7 go.
If you select to clone the whole drive, it should also archive FCP's Quicktime buddy-- QT Player 7, or Pro 7, and the other FCP studio elements Compressor, Soundtrack, DVD Studio Pro.

I had the pleasure of returning to FCP 7 aboard my now- 11-year old 8-core tower yesterday, running OSX 10.6 [El Capitab] for effortless class Capture Now of VHS family movies routed from the player to the classic Sony Media Converter A-toD box.Firewire 400 (adapted up form 4-pin out of the Sony to 400 to800 Firewire on the tower).

Everything just worked. Ah, the good old days. MacWorld SF Supermeets. The beginnings.

Excuse me, I have to continue shopping for a new SDXC card camera and LED lights.

BTW, El Capitan is the end of the road for FCP7. You won't be loading that aboard High Sierra or anything newer. The old media foundations aren't there for it, and it's a 32-bit app. You'll either migrate to FCP 8- eh, that is, Premiere Pro CC using an FCP7 keyset and stripping the interface down to lean and mean and middle grey bezels--- or AVID, or FCPX.

The future, Mr. Gittes.

Best, as always,
Loren