Media Management is Biggest Change in Final Cut Pro X 10.1

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Larry

Since I wrote this article, I’ve written more articles detailing media management in Final Cut Pro X. They include:

Manage Libraries
Manage Projects
Collaboration
Back-up and Restore
Apple Updates Media Management in FCP X v.10.1.2
A collection of all my FCP X Media Management articles, including when to use original, optimized or proxy media.

And here is a video webinar that illustrates these, and more, media management techniques for Final Cut Pro X.

Media Management drives editors nuts. Since the beginning of computer-based video editing, trying to remember where your media is stored is a never-ending battle between “getting it done,” and “doing it right.”

Somewhere toward the end of a project, along about the third or fourth sleepless night, file management and organization give way to “Please, just let this end…”

In Final Cut Pro 7, all media was stored in a single scratch disk. This scratch disk included your media, plus render files and a host of other work files that Final Cut needed. The biggest complaint from editors was that we wanted to set scratch disks by project to give us more control over media storage.

NOTE: We could also “link” media, by reference, into a project except that if we moved or renamed the media or the folders containing it, everything broke.

In Final Cut Pro X, Apple switched to Events and Projects. Events held media and projects described how that media was assembled; the “edit.” Events could be stored anywhere and projects could use media from any event. The biggest complaint from editors was that we needed to quit Final Cut in order to change events or projects.

NOTE: We could still “link” media, by reference, into a project except that if we moved or renamed the media or the folders containing, everything broke.

So, with this release, Apple replaced Events and Projects with Libraries. Libraries hold everything. Events are now folders within libraries, and projects are now stored in events. Media is stored in the library, which acts like a single, big container file. This makes backups, clones, or simple moves from one hard disk to another a lot easier.

NOTE: Even with this system, we can still “link” media, by reference, into a project but if we move or rename the media or the folders containing, everything breaks. Some things never change.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

With Final Cut, you now have the ability to copy media into any selected library, or simply point (“link”) to where that media is stored on your hard disk. If you are very organized, linking is faster. If you don’t want to worry about where your media is stored, copy the media into the Library and be done with it.

Media can be copied without optimizing, if you want to edit using the camera native video format.

Libraries make working with media MUCH easier. But they work best when you copy the media into the library. Linking media, as with past versions of Final Cut, requires that you not move, or rename, any of the media files or the folders that contain it.

HOW IT WORKS

Here’s the new Library pane in Final Cut Pro X 10.1. (The Library pane is on the left, the Browser is on the right.) There are two open libraries: “Dr. Vint Cerf” and “Glass Blowing.” You can have as many libraries open as you want.

Inside the Dr. Cerf library are four events: Audio, B-roll, Interview, and Projects. Events act as folders within a library and can be named anything. There is no limit to the number of events stored inside a library. I store all my projects in a separate event, just to make them easier to find. You can store projects in any event. Media from any event can be used in any project.

NOTE: In earlier versions of Final Cut Pro X, there was an internal limit of around 2,000 clips per event. That limit was essentially removed in this update.

The library file is stored on your hard disk. Because most of my libraries are small, I store them on a RAID in a folder called “Final Cut Libraries.” You can store libraries anywhere and call them anything. Libraries do not need to be stored in folders. However, I always recommend storing all libraries and media files on a second drive (not the boot drive) for performance reasons.

The library file is actually a bundle, similar to the way Keynote stores its files.

If you right-click on the Library name in the Finder, and select Show Package Contents…

Inside is a folder for each event, which stores the actual media, as well as projects and other Final Cut work files. My STRONG recommendation is to stay out of this folder and don’t move the elements inside it. However, I wanted to let you know how this storage system works in case you ever need to rescue a clip from a library or an event.

NOTE: When copying or moving libraries, ALWAYS!!! move the entire library folder. Never mess with the database files or other individual work files in this folder.

UPDATING EVENTS AND PROJECTS

The new version of Final Cut requires updating all events and projects before they can be used. If you are someone that prefers to learn by watching a video, watch this eight-minute tutorial covering what you need to know to update existing events and projects.

Otherwise, read on.

When you first start Final Cut, this warning will appear. Click Update Later. This allows you to open the program and take a look around without altering any of your existing events or projects.

Here’s what you need to know about updating:

Media files are NOT affected by this process. Media files are moved into the new library, but not altered or renamed in any way.
During the update, Final Cut moves media from the older events into the new libraries. This means that no additional hard disk space is needed during the update because files are not being copied.
When you update events and projects for this version, Final Cut creates a new library for each connected hard disk or RAID that contains either a Final Cut Events or Final Cut Projects folder. This new library is named after that hard disk, and all the media, events and projects from that hard disk are moved into it.
All compound and multicam clips that are stored on other volumes, but linked to these events or projects, are copied into this new library.
If you use project folders, any existing project folders are applied as keywords to the new, converted projects.
Media that is linked to an existing project or event is moved into an External Media folder.

If you have media stored across multiple hard disks, do the update first, then use File > Consolidate Events/Projects to combine all the media into one location. Consolidation is NOT required, but if it helps you to stay organized then go ahead.

To automatically update, select Update All.

“Update All” combines all events and projects on a single hard disk into one library per hard disk. Events and projects are still stored separately within that library, but, all those files will open at the same time in the library. If you don’t want everything combined, you will need to manually update.

To manually update:

Only events stored in the Final Cut Events folder, and projects stored in the Final Cut Projects folder, are updated. However, the entire contents of both these folders are updated at once.
If you only want to update a few events or projects, move only the events you want to update into the Final Cut Events folder. Move only the projects you want to update into the Final Cut Projects folder.
To prevent an event or project from updating, simply move it to any other location except the Final Cut Events or Final Cut Projects folder. NEVER separate the contents of an event or project folder.

Next, start FCP X and choose File > Update Events and Projects.

Next, click Update All. Only those events and projects you moved into the Events and Projects folders will be updated.

My hard disk is named “2nd Drive RAID.” The library that was created by the update is named “2nd Drive RAID’s projects and events.” You can rename this library to something more meaningful once the updating is complete.

When the update finishes, you have the option to save events and projects or trash them. My recommendation is to save them until you know that the update process was successful. At which point, they can be deleted.

NOTE: If you select “Move to Trash” and realize you made a mistake, all is not lost. Simply open the Trash and drag the folders back out.

Notice that a new folder was created on 2nd Drive RAID and named “2nd Drive RAID…Projects and Events.”

The events and projects folders and their contents are not changed in any way. The information they contain was simply copied and converted into Final Cut’s new Library media management system.

GET MORE INFORMATION

Apple has provided additional resources in two white papers:

FAQ about updating and working with libraries: support.apple.com/kb/HT5958
Media Management White Paper: images.apple.com/final-cut-pro/docs/Media_Management.pdf

I’ve also written more articles to help you figure this out:

Also, the folks at Intelligent Assistance have released a free version of Event Manager X, along with a white paper, which can simplify the process of moving and updating older events and projects.
Website: www.intelligentassistance.com.

I just completed all-new training on Final Cut Pro X 10.1. To see the first 15 movies – which will give you a Quick Start into the application – visit my YouTube channel.

To download your own copy of my Final Cut Pro X training, please visit our store.

SUMMARY

Updating isn’t difficult, but you need to understand how the process works. To be safe, if you have the hard disk space, I recommend creating a backup of all events and projects before updating… just in case.

Then, update one event and one project and watch what happens. This is what I did as I was learning the system. Once you understand how this works, updating is simple. And, as I mentioned above, media is moved but not altered by this process.

The key is to decide how you want events and projects organized before you start the update process. And remember that you are not updating specific events or projects, but all the events or projects stored in the Final Cut Events and Final Cut Projects folders on a single hard disk.

The good news is that once the updating is complete, you never have to do it again. And libraries are a LOT easier to work with than the old Events and Projects!

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125 Responses to Media Management is Biggest Change in Final Cut Pro X 10.1

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Mark Ward says:

December 21, 2013 at 1:24 pm

I, too, failed to read larryjordan.biz before upgrading to 10.1, and I, too, have lived to rue that day.

I had a project in which there were two WAV files with the same name—STE-000.wav. When I upgraded, one of them disappeared. There is a shortcut to it in my Final Cut Events folder (called “STE-000 (fcp1).wav”), but the shortcut is broken.

I recovered multiple WAV files from the formatted SD card on which it was originally recorded (with a Zoom H2), but that one file was not successfully recovered. I searched all the WAV files on my iMac—nothing.

Does that file still exist? Why would a Final Cut delete it and not just rename it?

Here’s a screenshot of the folder as it stands now: http://cl.ly/image/1z3N3c2f152J

mlwj

Reply
- Larry Jordan says:
  
  December 21, 2013 at 3:02 pm
  
  Mark:
  
  All may not be lost. At the end of the update process, FCP asks if you want to save or trash the files.
  
  If you clicked save, you’ll find all your source files, I hope, in a folder named after the hard disk that they were stored on.
  
  If you clicked Trash, you’ll find them all sitting in the trash – provided you didn’t empty the trash.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
George says:

December 22, 2013 at 4:32 am

Hey Larry,

All the information is really helpful, thank you – unfortunately I only read it after I updated everything and then open Final Cut and had a mild moment of panic wondering where everything had disappeared to! No I have found it, but am having some issues.

I NEED YOUR HELP!! PLEASE!

I have a few external hard drives I work with and sometimes (due to space) use ‘events’ footage from one hard drive on a ‘project’ on a different hard drive. As I said I have found the new ‘Libraries’ created by Final Cut for each hard drive and now loaded/opened them all in FCX… but, any ‘projects’ that used to used ‘events’ from other hard drives have the rather distressing message of the red screen with a warning “!” and the words ‘missing file’…

The media is still there as far as I can tell on that other hard drive, but how please do I get it back into the ‘project(s)’ without having to copy it all over into the new ‘library’ and use up space I don’t have the luxury of…

What do I do!?

Hope that makes sense…

G

Reply
- Larry Jordan says:
  
  December 23, 2013 at 10:55 am
  
  George:
  
  For one-time-only, you’ll need to relink media AFTER you’ve updated your files to the new format.
  
  here’s an article that explains how: http://www.larryjordan.biz/fcpx-relinking/
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
Damian says:

December 22, 2013 at 10:00 am

Hi Larry,
Thank you for the information! I have a question, Can I copy a project (without any media) and email it ?
I work with another editor long distance and we have the same media files and add to each others work emailing back and forth the project file.
Thank you and Happy Holidays!

Reply
- Larry Jordan says:
  
  December 23, 2013 at 10:54 am
  
  Damian:
  
  I haven’t tested this, but you should be able to copy and email the project folder – but maybe not the project database. It’s worth a test.
  
  Here’s an article on where they are stored: http://www.larryjordan.biz/fcp-x-10-1-manage-libraries/
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
Mike says:

December 22, 2013 at 12:37 pm

I’m having the hardest time trying to figure out how to Close a project once I’ve opened it in 10.1. I realize the (to me) useful Project view of 10.0.9 is forever gone, but FCPX annoyingly “remembers” the last project I’ve opened each time I launch the app (and consequently the last Library opened). Ideally, I’d rather it open with an empty timeline rather than the last project I worked on.

Even if I close a Library and reopen it, there’s that darned open project again. In the past, at least I could “close” a project by clicking to go back to the project library.

Is there any way to close a project within an library once opened, or will I forever have to deal with the “messiness” of FCPX leaving my projects open?

(I suspect I know the answer, but thought I’d ask the question of those far smarter than I)

Appreciate any insight!

Mike

Reply
- Larry Jordan says:
  
  December 22, 2013 at 1:24 pm
  
  Mike:
  
  Media management questions are the number one issue at the moment. So, I’m spending today writing an article on libraries and projects for tomorrow’s newsletter. I’ll have more answers for you then.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
  - Mike says:
    
    December 22, 2013 at 2:00 pm
    
    Many thanks, looking forward to it!
    
    Reply
- Dan Thomas says:
  
  December 22, 2013 at 1:55 pm
  
  This isn’t the best solution, but it works. Create an empty library (mine is called “Untitled”), and leave it open. Close your “real” library and shut down FCPX. When you open FCPX again, it will open Untitled, which has nothing in it, so the timeline is empty.
  
  I hope that makes sense.
  
  Dan
  
  Reply
  - Mike says:
    
    December 22, 2013 at 2:14 pm
    
    Hi Dan,
    
    Yep, sure does! I was playing with something similar since posting, but boy-o-boy seems a lot of extra steps.
    
    I tried simply switching to the other library (mine’s also Untitled), but FCPX seems to want to remember that open project from the other Library, so it would appear closing the Library is the best solution for the moment.
    
    Thanks!
    
    Mike
    
    Reply
- Larry Jordan says:
  
  December 23, 2013 at 10:52 am
  
  Mike:
  
  No, you can’t “close” a project the way you close a library. An easy way around this is to create a new project and leave it empty. Then, when you want to empty the Timeline, simply open the empty, new project.
  
  Here is a new article I just wrote on managing projects: http://www.larryjordan.biz/fcp-x-10-1-manage-projects/
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
  - Mike says:
    
    December 23, 2013 at 6:23 pm
    
    Hi Larry,
    
    Thanks for verifying that for me!
    
    I’m realizing (quickly) there’s quite a semantic shift with FCP 10.1 in how we think of the projects we work on. By shifting to Libraries, Apple is forcing a more document-centric way of working on us not unlike, for example, the way Pages works.
    
    You want to work on “Project A”? Great, just double-click the Library for that project and everything needed opens–but ONLY the stuff for that particular project.
    
    When you’re done, close that Library.
    
    SO my habit of keeping a single Event of reusable clips for many different projects will have to change for sure!
    
    (I also take issue with Apple referring to Projects as “events” — I’d prefer a separate Projects section of a Library — but that’s just another thing for me to get used to.)
    
    Thanks again!
    
    Mike
    
    Reply
    - Dan Thomas says:
      
      December 23, 2013 at 6:56 pm
      
      With respect to having a separate section of the Library for Projects – that’s easy! Just create a new “Event” and call it “Projects”. Even though it’s technically still an event, I don’t really care – I just call it my Projects folder.
      
      I have that issue with the single event/library with “stock” clips also. Now, if I use even a small portion of a clip from my stock library, it copies the entire source clip into my project’s library. I’m quickly learning to export from my stock library the portion of the clip I want to use. That way I don’t end up with the entire stock clip in my project’s library. I just wish it would do that for me – copy only the portion I’m using. No big deal, I guess.
      
      Dan
      
      Reply
      - Larry Jordan says:
        
        December 23, 2013 at 7:14 pm
        
        Gang:
        
        Think of Events as a folder, into which can be stored projects OR media. That is much closer to how FCP X operates.
        
        And, I have a separate library of recurring elements that I keep handy. Keep in mind that if the recurring media is linked into the original library, it will be linked into any other library that uses it … I think.
        
        Larry
John says:

December 23, 2013 at 4:54 am

The update process worked on my local events/projects folders but not for the ones on my Drobo. I guess I’ll try splitting them up in the way you described (thank you!) but I wondered if anyone had had similar problems.

Basically, there were quite a lot of projects in two subfolders. They would import and show up in the new library but FCP would get stuck as it opened the first project into the timeline. Left for long enough, it would quit.

Reply
Rick says:

December 23, 2013 at 11:36 am

So I made the same mistake of updating first; however, before I updated, I had everything in neat files; With this new update, I can’t seem to find the projects that I was working. How can I find them? please help!!

Reply
- Larry Jordan says:
  
  December 23, 2013 at 11:50 am
  
  Rick:
  
  Media will be stored in the new library.
  
  Events and projects will be either in the Trash (if you clicked the Trash option during the update) or in a folder named after the hard disk they were stored on, on that specific hard disk.
  
  This video may help: http://www.larryjordan.biz/fcpx-101-updating-events/
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
Coruway says:

December 23, 2013 at 12:29 pm

Thanks, as usual, Larry. I was having big problems running the new version. Enough that I went back to 10.0.9 and decided to wait. But your recent post got me to try again and I think the issue is with my Matrox MXO2. So now it’s running and I’ll check with Matrox about when they will be able to support. Till then I’ll deal with the lack of full screen editing playback (which I’ve grown used to) when putting 10.1 through the paces.

Reply
- Larry Jordan says:
  
  December 23, 2013 at 12:33 pm
  
  Coruway:
  
  You are correct – there are major bugs between Matrox and FCP X 10.1. Uninstalling the Matrox is your best option until they come up with an update.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
  - Johnny Friay says:
    
    December 23, 2013 at 1:13 pm
    
    Coruway:
    Matrox has caused big problems with not only FCPx, but also compressor 4.1 — i also had to remove Matrox software; delete Compressor and Qmaster and then; restart; dump trash and then re-install compressor—works great AND seems my system is faster now. At any rate, Matrox has work to do.
    
    Reply
William Hohauser says:

December 23, 2013 at 7:49 pm

OK, here is a related question regarding media but not in the libraries. I noticed to my chagrin that the music and sound tab in the Themes browser no longer contains the SoundtrackPro or Garageband audio files. I use the sound effects often enough from within FCPX that the disappearance is alarming. There seems to be no apparent way to change this situation. Any thoughts on this?

Reply
- Larry Jordan says:
  
  December 23, 2013 at 8:21 pm
  
  William:
  
  Here’s the fix – from the Apple support forums:
  
  * Close FCP 10.1
  * Open Garage Band then close it
  * Open FCP and voila, they are back.
  
  Weird, but true.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply
  - William Hohauser says:
    
    December 23, 2013 at 9:03 pm
    
    Thanks for the tip, however I tried a different method following a suggestion in the new 10.1 manual right after I posted here. I found the loops folder in the libraries folder and dragged it into the Music and Sounds browser in FCPX. Doing that seemed to do nothing until I quit and reopened FCPX and suddenly all the loops folders were back in the Music and Sounds browser. Strange.
    
    Reply
oisela says:

December 24, 2013 at 7:51 am

Only one question:
How can i open a old (upgraded) project?

help me please

Reply
- Larry Jordan says:
  
  December 24, 2013 at 9:48 am
  
  Olsela:
  
  Once the event and project are both upgraded to the new library system, all projects are stored in the Browser. You open a project by displaying it in the Browser and double-clicking it. However, BOTH the event and project need to be updated.
  
  larry
  
  Reply
MFerreri says:

December 26, 2013 at 8:54 am

Hi larry,

very strange thing happened to me after upgrading. Before (FCX 10.09) when insert a SD card the video show immediately to me and and importing them. Now (FCX 10.1) when insert the same SD card and try to import there is a file AVCHD greyed out and it is impossible to import nothing. What happened?

Thanks for help and merry Christmas 🙂

Reply
- Larry Jordan says:
  
  December 26, 2013 at 10:08 am
  
  MFerreri:
  
  Hmmm… strange. I don’t know the answer. Time to contact Apple.
  
  Larry
  
  Reply