FCP is telling my I am missing a file

[Reed Gidez]

I started getting a popup message that I am missing a file and FCP is asking me if I want to reconnect. The 'file' it says is missing is my SYSTEM DRIVE! All of the media is on a non-system drive so I don't know what this is about, nor have I been able to clear it.

Has anyone come across something like this before?

Thanks

Reed

[Christopher Drews]

Yes. Do you need this file? If not, don't worry about the message and click continue. If it is really bugging you run media manager and duplicate the project and the associated media - 90% of the time this fixes all reconnect errors (please don't ask how media manager works - search this forum instead).

Hope this helps,
-C

[Mitchell Lewis]

It you say OKAY and agree to let FCP help you go and find it, it will then tell you the name of the file. Then you can decide whether you need it or not.

It's really easy to accidentally have your Scratch Disk (Command-Q) set to the wrong location. Maybe that's what you did?

Or maybe you deleted the Final Cut Pro Document file that normally resides on your internal hard drive. It save stuff like Waveform Cache, and other weird stuff like that.

Chris, is right. You probably don't need this file, so just "Skip" it.

BTW, I get this error from time to time and I find the Relocate process really nicely done in FCP. I normally get the error when I've renamed a file or relocated it somewhere by accident. It's no big deal to just us FCP to relocate it and then you'll be editing again in no time.

[Reed Gidez]

I've had occasion to use the 'Reconnect Files' routine in the past, usually because I failed to move a music clip from CD to my HD. The file name is listed, and I can reconnect the medial. In this case, it simply reads, OFFLINE FILES: " 'Macintosh HD: " Macintosh HD is my system drive. There is no file noted, just the drive.

I have tried ignoring it but when I go to export through compressor, it comes back again. If I ignore it again, compressor eventually returns a an error and stops the batch.

I successfully exported my project to Quicktime and then brought that file into compressor and it rendered OK.

Now that the project is on its way to my client, I can dig around a little bit to see where the culprit might be. No media in any of my bins shows up missing so there's a bit of a mystery here.

[Chris Hocking]

What version of Final Cut are you running? Can you post a screenshot of the reconnection screen?

[Reed Gidez]

I am running FCP 6.0.5 on a 2x2.8 GHz Quad-core Intel Xeon Mac Pro w/16 GB ram.

Here is a link to a screen grab of the message.

MobileMe Gallery

Thanks for taking a look.

Reed

[Mitchell Lewis]

Did you re-name your Macintosh HD? The one that contains the operating system? That's a big no-no. I've had it create some weird problems for me in the past. Adobe tech support were the ones who told me this could be my problem, and they were right.

[Reed Gidez]

I installed a new drive with new OS and reinstalled everything. Since I was transferring old data from the previous drive, I didn't want to have any confusion between the old and new system drives. BTW, I have been running without trouble since May. I'm guessing there is a problem with one of the clips I am using. There are over 400 photos in this project and I suspect one file is at fault.

Reed

[Chris Hocking]

When you click "Locate" does it give you any more detail on which file is missing?

Try trashing your preferences, and also deleting the render files, and waveform/thumbnail caches for that particular project.

[Reed Gidez]

I'll trash my preference files and the render files and get back to the forum.

Thx