As with any FCP project, the raw footage is in a PRIVATE file imported from the camera or SD card which ideally should be on the computer/laptop.

However, let's say I want a couple of stock clips from a massive project I did in the past which is backed up on an external HD. In some cases I would log and transfer, note the clip number, then convert said clip in a file converter such as Wondershare Video Converter, however - by converting a clip to a Quicktime file is the quality going to be as good as if from raw?

If not, how can I get just the raw clip without importing the entire stock file?

In my experience, raw files don't work outside of the PRIVATE file.

I just did a clip conversion to MOV at 1280.720 Codec H.264 Frame rate 30, bit rate High Quality and it doesn't look crisp enough, when there's movement on the subject thousands of lines are visible almost like a tv set. Is this an issue with interlacing?

Use MPEGStreamclip or ClipWrap to convert to ProRes if you are going to edit with the clips. What camera are you coming from?

The QuickTime Animation CODEC is another popular and high quality format for stock footage.

My camera is a Panasonic AV HMC 152.

I downloaded an MTS file converter and it has got rid of the linear stuff, but I updated Wondershare Video Converter and that seemed to do the trick also. It still doesn't seem as crisp and clear as it should but then again, most of the footage I am shooting with was shot on a camera twice the price of mine, so perhaps that's why!

I use MPEG Streamclip a lot (to convert GoPro Hero footage to ProRes 422) but it doesn't like MTS files.