Safest way to reinstall FCS2

[Dana Salsbury]

Somehow FCS2 is the industry standard, which makes me think that I've installed (and reinstalled) it incorrectly. I've never worked with a more bug-ridden program. Most of the glitches happen even after a fresh install with all prior evidence of FCS2 removed. Do I need to install it in some sort of safe mode? Prior to installing do I need to defrag or something?

My quad has plenty of space and 6gb memory. I bought Diskwarrior but it doesn't help. I do all updates. Glitches occur in multiclip, quick keys, capture, render, etc. I also get General Errors and with no warning it closes to the desktop 2-5 times per week. It's killing my business and my love for editing.

[Tom Vandas]

Hi Dana,

When I installed FCS2 I put in a second system drive, installed the OS, updated all the way to the most recent version of the OS (using the downloadable updates, never use the online software updates), and then finally installed FCS2. I can now boot into one of two system drives. I did this because Apple has always recommended a clean install when building an editing system or installing a major update (FCS1 to FCS2 can be considered a major update).

I didn't want to change an already stable editing system but needed to transition to FCS2. This gave me the best of both worlds; I can change the Startup Disk in the System Preferences when I need to switch back to my original system drive. I basically have two computers/systems: the newer one I now use as my primary editing system (with FCS2), and the old one which I only use when I have to update old projects.

I have not had a single problem with FCS2 since I installed it 8 months ago.

[Martin Mayer]

Originally Posted by Dana Salsbury

....Prior to installing do I need to defrag or something?....

Yes: "something" = Repair Permissions (Use Disk Utility) on your system drive before and after any major installations or upgrades.

Also: you do keep your media off your system drive, don't you?

[David Tamés]

Let me summarize the collective wisdom for doing a clean Final Cut Studio installation in a checklist:

1. Run Disk Utility choose repair disk, to make sure directory is in good shape, and then run repair permissions.
2. Make sure you are running the latest System Software (run Software Update)
3. Install Final Cut Studio on your System Drive
4. Reboot the system (not absolutely required, but a good measure)
5. Run Software Update again (there will be several updates to FCS2 since the install disk was made)
6. Run Disk Utility, choose repair permissions again just for good measure.

And as Martin Mayer suggested, make sure you keep media on one drive, system on another. Go to System Settings and choose a second drive that is not your system drive for the media to go on. A system crash during media capture can render a disk unstable, you don't want to do that to your system disk.

On a regular basis, you should:

1. Run Disk Utility, Repair disk, once a week on all active drives
2. If Disk utility can't repair a problem, run Disk Warrior
3. If Disk Warrior can't repair a disk problem, time to reformat the drive (and of course, you'll have back-ups of your media and project, so that's no big deal, right?).

[Jase Tanner]

Originally Posted by Tom Vandas

Hi Dana,

When I installed FCS2, I updated all the way to the most recent version of the OS (using the downloadable updates, never use the online software updates), .

Thats a new one on me. What difference would using the downloadable updates vs software update make? I always thought they were the same thing but that the latter was an automatic notification that an update was available, which of course you can refuse.

[Robert Lane]

Dana,

The only way FCS or any other app is buggy is because you have an OS environment that has become unstable for whatever reason.

Based on your previous posts and troubles I'd highly suggest that you get someone to consult with you in-person. There's too much information gathering required that can't be done on the 'net to really find out what the source of all your troubles are.

FCS2 is the most stable version of FC ever released; if you're having multiple issues with the app then you have a serious underlying problem with the system itself, not the app.

[Dana Salsbury]

Thank you everyone. It's encouraging to think that I might soon enjoy editing again.

[David Tamés]

Originally Posted by Robert Lane

[...] Based on your previous posts and troubles I'd highly suggest that you get someone to consult with you in-person. [...] if you're having multiple issues with the app then you have a serious underlying problem with the system itself, not the app [...]

Bringing in an expert is always good, but if you can't do that for one reason or another, start with running the Apple Hardware Test diagnostic on the system (came on a disk w/ the computer) this might point out a memory problem, for example (run the extended test).

If that checks out then a clean install of the latest OS followed by a clean install FCS2 might just be the ticket. I've had to do this myself a couple of times to clear up instability problems.

The key to troubleshooting system instability is to make sure you have a clean, stable baseline upon which to troubleshoot. That way you don't waste time on problems that could have been eliminated easily through a hardware test and a clean install.

[Dana Salsbury]

I couldn't find the diagnostic.

I've cleaned off and erased a free 270gb internal. I had been using another 270gb partitioned to 200gb. I did realize my iTunes were on the drive, which may have caused this whole thing. I also didn't realize that everything on my desktop (some rogue QT files) is stored on that bay as well.

It seems overkill to use 270gb, but stability is all I care about. I will add some other apps if it doesn't hurt anything, but I won't keep them open. BTW, can I keep and run apps on either drive?

[Mike Barber]

Originally Posted by Dana Salsbury

Most of the glitches happen even after a fresh install with all prior evidence of FCS2 removed. Do I need to install it in some sort of safe mode? Prior to installing do I need to defrag or something?

Are you absolutely 100% certain you have removed all evidence of a previous install? Did you use FCS Remover?

Originally Posted by Dana Salsbury

I do all updates.

Well, that leads me to one of the most basic questions when stability issues arise: what version of FCS, OS X and QT are you running? Randomly updating software is not going to fix anything, especially when it comes to QuickTime. From Shane Ross' informative blog:

One HUGE thing that you need to get right to ensure a really good working Final Cut Pro system is the perfect balance of Final Cut Pro and Quicktime. Quicktime is the engine in FCP, everything that FCP captures it captures as Quicktime. So having the right version for the version of FCP you are using is critical. If you use a version that is too new, you will have issues. Too old...issues. But for there was never a real comprehensive list of what version of QT works best with your version of FCP. Us editors just had to know.

This issue comes up all the time over that the Apple FCP Discussions board. I went through pages and pages of posts before I built my new system (which is humming along very nicely, with out a single FCP-related issue thus far). I have my system locked at OS X 10.5.2 + QT 7.4.5 + FCP 6.0.2 and it has been working great.

[Dana Salsbury]

Oh boy...I tried installing OS X after erasing, DiskWarrioring, repair-permissioning and waiting. It said 'There were errors installing the software. Please try installing again.' I tried it again with the same result.

>Are you absolutely 100% certain you have removed all evidence of a previous install?

Yes, only media files have been on this drive.

[Mike Barber]

Dana, what version of FCS, OS X and QT are (were) you running?

[Dana Salsbury]

Fcp 6.0.4, Qt 7.5, Os X 10.4.7

[Meryem Ersoz]

as mike suggested, did you try using FCS Remover? I did all the tricks to fix Compressor when it went wacky on me, implemented every suggestion that I could find to fix it and nothing. What finally worked was a clean install after using FCS remover. FCS remover is the way to go....takes hours to clean install but worth it, smooth sailing ever since....

[Dana Salsbury]

The thing is that I've never had FCP on the drive I'm switching to.

I did a permission repair on the fresh OS X install, and got a much of things. Is this normal?
___________________________
Repairing permissions for “Bay 2”
Determining correct file permissions.
Permissions differ on ./Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Frameworks/InternetUtilities.bundle/Contents/MacOS/InternetUtilities, should be -rw-rw-r-- , they are -rwxrwxr-x Owner and group corrected on ./Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Frameworks/InternetUtilities.bundle/Contents/MacOS/InternetUtilities
Permissions corrected on ./Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/Frameworks/InternetUtilities.bundle/Contents/MacOS/InternetUtilities
Permissions differ on ./Library/Application Support/Macromedia/Shockwave 10/Shockwave 10 Preferences, should be -rwxrwxr-x , they are -rw-rw-r-- Owner and group corrected on ./Library/Application Support/Macromedia/Shockwave 10/Shockwave 10 Preferences Permissions corrected on ./Library/Application Support/Macromedia/Shockwave 10/Shockwave 10 Preferences Permissions differ on ./usr/bin/emacs, should be -r-sr-xr-x , they are -r-xr-xr-x Owner and group corrected on ./usr/bin/emacs Permissions corrected on ./usr/bin/emacs

Permissions repair complete
Permissions differ on ./usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi, should be -r--r--r-- , they are -r-xr-xr-x Owner and group corrected on ./usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi Permissions corrected on ./usr/standalone/i386/boot.efi The privileges have been verified or repaired on the selected volume