Data files....

[spinner]

Hi, guys!

I have a question about saving your finished FCP product.

I am presently working on my second big project and I am running out of hard drive space on my external. I talked about this in another thread where I was looking to figure out why my laptop seemed to not have any space. This is a different question, however.

A producer I was speaking with was talking about saving his projects as data files. It has been a while since I had this conversation but my understanding -- and I could be wrong -- I got the impression that there was a way to save my FCP project as a data file and put that on a disc. Then when I wanted to change something or make additions, all I would have to do would be to take the project off the disc.

As always, I come here to ask you all if anyone has done this. Can I do this? Does the data file save all of my clips and video footage? Because of my 320gig of external I only have about 99gig left. Paranoid as I am about my projects, I would rather not purge my external unless I know that all of my footage is on a CD or something. I am not in the position to just store my external when it is full, at least not yet.

I really need a Terabyte... but until I can afford one, can I make a data file of my projects and still be able to take them out of 'storage' with all my footage and clips intact. And how do you do this?

I am about to go through my manual even as we speak. I still have 3 more shoots to go on for this next project and I know it will take up the remainder of my space....

what would you suggest I do? All responses will be appreciated, even Spatula's

-- spinner

 

[knightly]

I'd say he's unfamiliar with final cut.

 

[Beeblebrox]

I usually keep my projects on smallish hard drives dedicated to that project. Unless it's a short project in which it just wouldn't take up enough space. I keep those files on one external drive of all my short films.

First step, purge your drive of render files. You don't need them for back up purposes and they can take up gigs of space.

You also want to make sure your capture and scratch discs are all set up in the same place to make archiving and organization easier.

You CAN back up your data files, including the FCP file itself, video clips, audio files, etc. After you've purged your drive of render files and made sure your captured files are all in the same place, you just back it up the way you would any other data. Check the file size and copy it to optical disc. Or get yourself a smaller drive and back it up onto that drive and stick it on a shelf somewhere safe.

If you're really desperate for space, you can use Media Manager to export your project with the edit file and ONLY the video clips and media you've actually used while getting rid of everything else. This can save substantial amounts of storage.