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If you ever get into a situation where you are trying to store your media outside of Final Cut Pro X’s event folder structure, and Final Cut keeps copying the original media into the Final Cut Events > Original Media folder (which happened to me after using FCPX’s Merge Events commend), here’s a workaround. What you CAN’T do is simply put an alias to the original media into your Final Cut Events folder – Final Cut is too savvy for that, and it won’t connect to the media.
The simple solution: create a new event (which you’ll delete momentarily), import the media you want with ALL options unchecked in the import dialog, and then immediately quit FCPX after the files appear in the event browser. You’ll see an alert warning you that all background tasks will be aborted if you quit. Quit anyway – you don’t need the render files it’s churning away on.
Then, in the Finder, open the Original Media folder of your new event, and drag all of the FCPX-created aliases into the Original Media folder for the event you’re trying to reconnect. Make sure FCPX is quit while doing this. Now delete the new event, and start FCPX.
Boom, all your original files are reconnected.
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Thanks Dan,
The fact that this has to be done at all makes me want to throw my computer out the window though…
It’s fascinating to me how much the responses to change have been like yours – visceral. I think I’m one of those people who loves change. I get bored when things stay the same for too long. I enjoy the challenge.
Unfortunately it’s not working for me. Any other ideas?
Also, I’m not opposed to change at all, I welcome it. But when something as necessary as this is tossed out the window with no solution, its very upsetting. I’ve spent three hours now trying to reconnect footage and I’ll probably have to start the whole project over from scratch. This is not savvy, its ignorant.
Shawn, can you tell me specifically what you mean by not working? If you’ve followed all the steps, I guarantee it will work – I am in the middle of transferring a terrabyte of events that just arrived from my assistant editor this morning using this approach, and it works flawlessly, if awkwardly.
I agree it sure would be nice to have a more elegant way to reconnect media. But clearly what Apple is trying to do here is make the whole process of media management simpler than it’s ever been by imposing this structure. After a month of working inside of FCPX’s new file management paradigm, I have to say it’s pretty slick. For the first time in my editing life, I know where all my files are without having to think about it or look it up.
I have a work around. Just drop all the footage into the (original media)f older in the project folder. Quit FCPx and reopen..
That will work if you don’t mind moving all of the original footage into the Original Media folder. That’s what I’ll be doing for all future FCPX projects. But for this first one, I’ve already stored my media elsewhere, and don’t want to change where it’s stored. Hence, the workaround.
ramon and dan : thx for your comments. very informative.
here’s my problem, and your solution might work for me, but i imagine with modification.
i have all my file on an outboard drive. in the events folder are aliases to other folders on that same drive that hold my media (i had imported from 5D using FCP7). so far so good.
but, i have some alias’es in my events folder that point to other actual media file which are located on a my imac drive. my deisre is to take my ouboard drive and plug into my laptop. all good, except for the media that is on my imac drive.
so, i need to redirect those aliases…i think. what steps need i take then to make the aliases see the actual events (that i am happy to move anywhere onto my outboard drive).
i’m trying to be clear. and thx ahead of time for your help, as i think you guys are about to tell me how to do it
I would simply move all the files that are on your iMac over onto your external drive, and then you’ll be set to go. If you’re not sure which files they are, you can quickly discover them by breaking the links – just temporarily rename the folder containing the iMac files, then restart FCPX. You’ll immediately see which files are broken. Note which files. Quit FCPX. Move those files over to the Original Media folder for that event on your external hard drive, and restart FCPX. All files will now be where they are supposed to be.
I loved better ways of doing things… I really do…
In my opinion there shouldnt even be cause for this thread of conversation…. If things just worked intuitively, then they just work right.
Its simple, this unfortunately is simple if you let X move your files where it wants them.
I just opened final cut X after creating a project last night. I did not change location of files and yet, Final Cut X still lost the connections. I tried your trick and for some reason it only restored connections to the AVI files in the project, not the MOVs, go figure.
I’ve been using FCPX as my primary NLE since shortly after it was released in June, and I gotta say, it’s really grown on me, even the file management stuff. I don’t have any broken files anymore, because I simply let FCPX put them where it wants to. I also purchased a Promise Pegasus R4 raid that connects with Thunderbolt, and that’s done more than anything else to make FCPX run well. It demands a very fast connection to its data to work well, and if you give it that, wow, it’s incredible.
Dan,
I have lost link with my original media due to Modified Files. (white paper alert icon with yellow triangle) One blog suggested FCPX uses meta-data also to link with media.
Back story… I converted some .MTS files using Skysoft Video Converter and successfully edited them in FCPX 10.0.0 After upgrading to 10.0.1, FCPX crashed when trying to update the event containing those Skysoft converted files. Crash report noted some kind of audio format problem.
**Thinking I could re-connect, I re-converted the originals using compressor this time and replaced the original media in the event with the same file names. I also tried your tips suggested above. No luck, FCPX still shows the modified file alert icon.
When I ask unconnected clip in the event list to “reveal in finder” it correctly sends me to the right file. I open that file and it plays fine in QT player.
Any thoughts?
Thanks,
Brilliant Dan – worked perfectly – I’d been banging my head against a wall for hours beforehand – thanks for the tip.
Glad that worked for you Tim.
If you followed the steps I recommended (to delete the offending files from the event library, then quit FCPX, move the files back into the Original Media folder, then open FCPX again), I don’t know what to tell you. It shouldn’t make any difference what tool you use to modify the file.
Really appreciate this thread, Dan.
I have rough cut a significant project (240+ clips) using FCPX. The fluidity of viewing and trimming lots of footage makes roughing in almost pleasurable.
However, many of the clips need cleaning. My fave denoise tool is Neat Video for After Effects.
By now you’ve guessed my question…
I don’t know how to efficiently take just the trimmed portion of the clips that need trimming out to AE and back. FCPX loses the reference. If I replace by dragging the cleaned footage in from the finder, I have to retrim.
Do you have a suggested workflow?
Is it possible to perform the After Effects work as the final step? That way you wouldn’t have to worry about getting it back into FCPX. I’ve read about a commercial script, FoolCut, that might be useful to you. See http://foolcolor.net/foolcut. But I can speak to it’s effectiveness as I don’t use AE in my current workflow.
Neat Video requires a noise profile to be created per-clip in order to be effective, so… no.
its perturbing to me tht FCPX
compulsively forces workarounds (or forces user to conform to its file model)
where a less advertised software (for windows) like sony vegas
does this shit super easy, allowing user to remain in control:
reimport entire folders from within interface context menu
my feeling is clear:
apple wants to control data
not because it makes better interfaces
but because it makes better business
in vegas assigning sets of clips tht have moved is 3 clicks away per folder
the workarounds proposed here involve
Glad to hear you’re happy with Vegas. If it’s perfect for your needs, stay with it. I find Final Cut Pro X, even with its media management limitations, to be almost perfect for my needs and style.
recently have to begin using fcp for work
it seems potent in some respects
limited in others:
notably, it will not even recognize externals unless they are formatted hfs+
so i need to find a way to reconcile my windows laptop with my mbp
it seems there are some platform issues
Issues, or features. Depends on your perspective.
[...] all your original files are reconnected. McComb, Dan. (2011, July 14). Tips for Reconnecting Offline Media in Final Cut Pro X. Retrieved May 20, 2012 from: [...]
Changes are changes, good or bad that’s what they are. Bugs are bugs. Not to be confused with changes.
Easy.
Step 1) Go to your project library and single click your project
Step 2) Go to your Properties dialog (upper right panel) and click the Modify Event References
Yes it’s much easier now that Apple has updated the app!
Dan,
FInal cut seems to not be able to reconnect to an event which i had originally created within the final cut event file. I have move nothing , nor changed any naming. It just can never find an event that seems to be right where it should be.
thanks
Hi Nico,
Have you try the reconnect media feature in FCPX? You need to make sure you are using the current version, which is 10.0.5. Then follow these steps: http://fcp.co/final-cut-pro/tutorials/767-relinking-media-in-final-cut-pro-1003-with-steve-martin-and-mark-spencer
Dan what are the best practices for purging a drive? I’m working on a trailer and my portable drive was filling up fast. I moved old events and old projects to a stay-home drive. How do I stop FCP X from referencing the files I moved?
Also my new project suddenly has offline files. Why would moving unrelated files affect my new project?
Hi Don,
To ensure smooth moves of your data, it’s best to initiate the move from within FCPX. The reason is because if you just make another copy, it will have the same invisible ID number as the previous version, so FCPX can get confused. So the proper way to move an event or project from the external drive to your internal drive is to open fcpx, select it, go to the File menu, and choose “Move Event” or project.
To reconnect to offline media, choose File > Relink Event Files (or Relink Project Files) and you can browse to the new location where the files are stored. Then, make sure you check locate “all” and “locate all.” That way, you just have to click on the first file and it will automatically relink to all the rest without having to click on each one.