external dive

Bought a 400GB external drive to run an entire project off of. One question: When I hook it up, will FCP create the necessary folders ob the external such as render files, project files, ect. Or, should I create them myself?

The idea is to run a whole project off this drive, which means it will probably have motion files on there as well.

I'm not sure how to organize it all.

Any suggestions are welcome.



"A man that does not reply to his own thread after receiving help truly sucketh."

Yes, it will automatically create Capture Scratch, Render Files and Audio Render Files folders, with a folder under each named for your project. Not when you "hook it up", but when you have something to put there: captured media, renders, etc. But you have to make sure you have set that drive as the target in your Preferences under "Scratch Disks". You can add folders for other media, like music, sound effects, stills, etc. to keep it organized. There are lots of ideas on this forum about project organization, but the short answer is that you don't have to create the basic folders yourself, FCP will do it.

Scott

there has been a LOT of talk about this in the forum. do a search for "file management" and you'll have educational reading for DAYS!

when i start a new project, i create a folder named for the client or project name. then set the scratch disk in fcp to that drive and in that folder. then fcp auto creates the folders it needs inside that folder. then i manualy add others as they become needed. here is the cascading folder setup i use for each project.

*WORK
---- CLIENT
-------- PROJECT_NAME
------------ AE (for after effects)
------------ AI (for illustrator)
------------ AUD (for general audio)
---------------- NAR (for narration or voice over VO)
-------------------- AIFF
---------------- MUS (for music)
-------------------- AIF
-------------------- MP3
---------------- SFX (for sound effects)
-------------------- AIF
-------------------- WAV
------------ DVD
---------------- M2
---------------- BURN
------------ FCP (for final cut pro)
---------------- Audio Render FIles
---------------- Capture Scratch
---------------- Render FIles
------------ FLA (for flash)
---------------- FLV
---------------- SWF
------------ JPG
---------------- OPTIMIZED (for optimized jpgs for web use)
------------ MOV (for rendered movies from AE)
------------ PSD (for photoshop layered files)
------------ TIF

with this structure in place i havent lost a file in years. and if you need to move a project to another dive ist justa simple drag and drop.

Thanks for the reply, that solves it.

Wayne, sorry, I did a bit of searching but then just posted. Next time I'll search a bit harder, wrong key words or something.



"A man that does not reply to his own thread after receiving help truly sucketh."

oh, no problem, no need for apology!

i hope you didnt think that i was implying that you should have searched the forum instead of just asking. i was just pointing out more sources of info.

hope we answered your question.

good luck to you!

oh, and on the "english teacher spirit" of a few posts on the forum today
- in your signature, you spell DOES, doSE

Wayne, how did you miss this in his sig: "recieving". We all know "i before e except after c".

;-)

Scott

hahahaha - touche my friend! and good call!

been a pretty exciting day in the cafe'LA huh?

Hi.

Wayne, congratulations.
That's an excellent file management.

Rui

well thank'ya.

as a side note, i add the asterisk(*) to the name of the WORK folder so it comes up first in any open/save dialog.

it saves having to scroll up and down all the time

> "i before e except after c".

Heh, not quite:

leitmotif
forfeit
Fahrenheit

Fun with Scrabble.

> been a pretty exciting day in the Cafe LA huh?

I think all of us are just a tiny bit touchy, and Michael's been wisely executing restrained editorial powers on posts.

I'm a terrible speller, I know.

Just because I know you'll be back here after a while, you are going to put this drive on its own FireWire card right, and not try to share the computer's FireWire services with a deck or CamCorder?

With a drive that big, you're really going to be upset when it crashes with seven months of work on it and no backups.

Koz
Resident Wet Blanket

we're just winding you up - ha ha
so did we get your question answered?

<<I'm a terrible speller, I know.>>

Oh wait! Your original post concerned an "external dive"! We've all been responding as if you meant "external drive"! Sorry! Never mind!

Spinnnnnnnnnnn!

;-)

Been a good outlet for the energy today, thanks for the opportunity, Mr. M.

Scott

Greg, yeah, it'll be on it's own fw card.

Glad to help you guys release any building tension.

I think my bad spelling is a combination of, well just being a bad speller, and trying to type really fast.



&quot;A man that does not reply to his own thread after receiving help truly sucketh.&quot;

There, fixed my sig



&quot;A man that does not reply to his own thread after receiving help truly sucketh.&quot;