URGENT: Scary Message Re. Saving Project

Hi:

Getting this message:
FCP cannot save changes to projects or Events.
The disk where your projects or Events are located maybe full or unavailable, projects or Events may have moved or permissions may have changed.
To avoid losing your work, quit FCP

I've cleared out a bunch of files off the drive I'm working on (not my current project files). What's weird is the drive is not reflecting the dumps.

Permissions are fine.

Need help asap. Trying to finish this project!

Nicolle

If you've done any Consolidating from within FCPX, theres a very good chance you've run into one of the weird things that it does to make it's media management work. They're called hard links and they work at the OS level. Feel free to geek out here or here.

For instance in the project I am working on right now, if I were to add up all the folders on the top level of the 12TB RAID I am working on, those folders plus the available space listed in the bottom of the finder window would add up to 18TB.
Without getting into all the technical details it's using something called Hard Links to make some of the magic work but it comes at the cost of not being able to tell what size media folders actually are.
I've only just got my head around how it's working and found some terminal tools to see what the true size of the media folders are.

One thing I do know is that the space that the finder tells you in the bottom of any window is accurate for the drive you're looking at. The hard links only confuses the Folder size totals in the finder window.

So if the space left on the drive is below 100MB it's very likely that's where your problem starts.

If you are deleting media from within FCP and it's not showing any difference in the file size, it could also be because some other library or media folder contains links to that media. In the world of hard links, the actual data won't be deleted until the last reference to the data is deleted. And that's something that happens at the system level, not within FCPX.

Without knowing how your media is organized (keep in place, move into library etc) it's hard to advise how to go forward.
If you have a lot of libraries on that one drive, you might have to go through each library and see how much data is stored on each drive. If you can, copy or consolidate old libraries off to other drives and then delete them from the pertinent drive. Delete renders from within FCPX, especially in old projects and for new projects if you haven't spent days making them.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

thanks for responding andrew.

i'm not sure what you mean by consolidating within FCPX.

what's i've done is attempt to clear up some space on the external harddrive i'm using for this particular project. i've done that by deleting project files within FCP and by moving other project files off of that harddrive.

i'm using one drive for working on this project. it's a 2 TB G-Tech G-Drive.

the way my media is organized is how i've been doing it all along: the external drive has my source media and my final cut pro event and project files for the projects i'm using with that drive.

i've gone through the event file folders and it all looks to be what it's supposed to. not sure what to make of your thoughts around "hard links." all the media and project files are on that external harddrive.

when i import media i do always check the "create proxy media" option. i've been doing this since i upgraded to X. so, there's source media, "original media"--under my FCP files, proxy media, render files, etc.

i applied some updates the other day to my computer. in doing some research on this issue, it looks like sometimes it is a question of different versions of your operating system being compatible with X. Getting "locked out" of "older" versions of your FCP project. could this be the problem? i've never had something like this happen before in the 4 years i've been using X.

i'm working with Mountain Lion 10.8.5 and FCPX 10.0.9

In any case, here's what's happening with my situation right now:

* the external drive is not reflecting any of my media dumps. I've dumped well over 100 GB and it's not showing this. in fact, it's saying i have zero space left. how can that be...????

* i'm just getting "the wheel of death" when i attempt to open FCP with that particular drive. all the work screens are up (timeline, etc.), but it's just the wheel of death...i can't do anything in the program.

what to do??? getting really worried...

also, using this drive, i can only get out of X by force quitting. which seems bad.

and it only seems to be with this drive that this problem is happening.

X opens just fine without it and works well with other external drives.

???

So, now i can get X to open with the drive in question, but there is still no memory to work with on the drive (despite the dumps).

i don't know what to do about the "hard links" issue. as i said, the file chain on the drive appears to be fine.

I'm wondering if I should move the project onto another disk? And do this as move project and referenced event files?

And then "clean" or re-format the other disk...? How do you do that anyway?

Understanding more what you mean about "libraries," andrew. i'm not using these yet. still working with 10.0.9

If you haven't done any consolidating, you probably don't have any hard links.
I would suggest copying all important projects off of that drive as there may be an issue with the health of the drive.
By the way, in FCP X consolidating means to gather all the media for one library into the folders that are chosen in the Library settings. It's a useful tool if you've had to bring in lots of media from different sources that is spread out all over a drive or drives.. After Effects calls it "collecting", AVID calls it consolidating, FCP classic called it Media Management.

To sum up, if it's just that drive that's causing problems in FCPX, get everythingn off the drive.
If you need to rescue the drive, start with Disk Warrior or another directory fixer, but get what you can off of it first.

There is also the possibility that some FCPX element on that drive is corrupted. There are ways to narrow it down but that will require a search when the time comes.

ak
Sleeplings, AWAKE!

Thanks again, Andrew.

Yeah, again, I have an older version of X. No libraries or consolidating yet. Wondering if I should upgrade to Yosemite and 10.2 with FCP X? Do you recommend this?

I will be moving the project off of the drive. Should I also move all the source media, too, even though I will be copying it when I move the project?

As far as fixing the old drive, how do I obtain disk warrior?

I guess I'll find out once I move the project, if it is some corrupted FCP X element within the project....

Ok...so...i moved the project with used clips to another drive and am still getting this message:

"The disk where your projects or Events are located may be full or unavailable, projects or Events may have moved, or permissions may have changed.

To avoid losing your work, quit Final Cut Pro."

So...it appears to be something corrupted within the project.

I'm wondering if i should have unchecked include render files when i made the move?

What to do now? I don't want this project to screw up the new disk i moved it to.

The project is still moving/copying to the new drive. I guess I can see what it does when it's over there. But as of now, opening the project in the new drive is still getting me that message.

If it's still giving me that message, would you recommend deleting it from that new drive and trying the move again, only this time unchecking the include render file option?