Unable to Open Project error at DVinfo.net

Matt Elias · February 8th, 2005, 03:08 AM

I'm trying to open my project in FCPHD and recieved this error "Unable to Open Project." Before I freak out, are there any steps I can take to recover my project? The last time I had it open was 2 days ago, and that was just to export it to a quicktime movie.

The weird thing was, though, when I opened the quicktime movie it was completely pixilated. I restarted my computer, and it worked fine. I'm using a G5.

Matt Elias · February 8th, 2005, 02:36 PM

I have older versions of the same project on my drive, and they open fine. Could my project have gotten corrupted somehow while it was exporting?

Boyd Ostroff · February 8th, 2005, 05:15 PM

Have a look at this thread for starters: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=26728

Matt Elias · February 10th, 2005, 06:23 PM

Thanks for the link. I'm going to run DiskWarrior first on my drive - to my luck version 3 does not boot on the new G5, so I ordered the update CD from Alsoft. It will take one full week to get to me...

Matt Elias · February 11th, 2005, 01:50 AM

Well I ran DiskWarrior...didn't work. I followed the directions on the thread...didn't work.

I still get a "Unable to Open Project" error, therefor I'm not able to choose the Restore Project function from the File Menu.

The weird thing is that my external drive is 200 GB, but in Disk Utility it only shows up as 127.8 GB. Can I still salvage my project? I still have the quicktime movie of it. If I import it back into FCP, it will show up as one huge clip, right? Is there a way to restore the individual clips, as well as my markers?

Kevin Kocak · February 14th, 2005, 02:38 PM

Have you tried taking all of your source media offline and then attempting to open the project? If not here's how to do it. Say you have 5 clips you captured... Say they are in the capture scratch folder. You can either rename the folder or drag those clips into a new folder. This will break the link FCP has with the media. Then try to open your project. It should open and tell you that your media is offline and you can easily reconnect them. If it opens then that means that one of those clips is probably corrupt. Reconnect each clip one by one and you should be able to figure out which clip is the culprit. Post back if you need more info about this.

Matt Elias · February 17th, 2005, 01:21 AM

Still didn't work...I still get "Unable to Open Project File"

Any other suggestions? The most recent thing I had done to the project was add music, could there be an issue there? Possibly a song I DL'd from a P2P ?

Eric James · February 17th, 2005, 03:12 AM

Hey Matt,
Why do you need to use this copy of the project? Can't you open one of the backups and re-do the few things that have changed?

I have had this happen many times with huge projects, so I have my autosave set to 15mins. That way I never lose more than 15 mins of work time on a given save.

Also, I've been using final cut since 0.8 beta and I have gotten in the habit of saving (apple+s) every single time I play or stop the playhead. Sounds crazy but I never end up with a disaster.

One last tip:
Make sure your autosave is set to a different drive than you media. That way if the media drive fails you can recapture and then in FCP relink those files. Some time lost sure......but not the end of the world!

My 2 c,
Eric James

Matt Elias · February 18th, 2005, 11:03 PM

You're right, I can work from my last cut. It was structured completely different, but not the end of the world. I was trying to salvage this one because it had the most tedeous things that I'd done so far. But most of all, I was finished with my final rough cut. So the idea of being finished, and now having to go back is not what I wanted.

How do I set my autosave to a different drive (great idea BTW) ? Do I just drag the folder to the desired drive? Or is there a way to do it in prefs?

I actually save my project a lot, but this seems out of the ordinary, because I'm not able to open it at all.

Eric James · February 19th, 2005, 06:47 AM

Hey Matt,
To chance autosave location:
go to Final cut Pro HD menu> System Settings>Scratch disks.

Then below the scratch box you'll see "Autosave vault"
Click the "set" button right new to it.

Thanks,
Eric James

Sarah McMurray · July 8th, 2007, 01:27 PM

i have been getting this same 'unable to open project file' error, & have read many places saying to just use the most recently autosaved file instead....
but my computer is not autosaving anything! i set the time to autosave every 10 minutes, but i'm getting nothing.
strangely, my fcp file says 0 kb.
what's going on? what should i do?

February 8th, 2005, 03:08 AM	#1
Matt Elias Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: California Posts: 149	Unable to Open Project error I'm trying to open my project in FCPHD and recieved this error "Unable to Open Project." Before I freak out, are there any steps I can take to recover my project? The last time I had it open was 2 days ago, and that was just to export it to a quicktime movie. The weird thing was, though, when I opened the quicktime movie it was completely pixilated. I restarted my computer, and it worked fine. I'm using a G5.

February 11th, 2005, 01:50 AM	#5
Matt Elias Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: California Posts: 149	Update Well I ran DiskWarrior...didn't work. I followed the directions on the thread...didn't work. I still get a "Unable to Open Project" error, therefor I'm not able to choose the Restore Project function from the File Menu. The weird thing is that my external drive is 200 GB, but in Disk Utility it only shows up as 127.8 GB. Can I still salvage my project? I still have the quicktime movie of it. If I import it back into FCP, it will show up as one huge clip, right? Is there a way to restore the individual clips, as well as my markers?

February 17th, 2005, 03:12 AM	#8
Eric James Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 126	why do you need it? Hey Matt, Why do you need to use this copy of the project? Can't you open one of the backups and re-do the few things that have changed? I have had this happen many times with huge projects, so I have my autosave set to 15mins. That way I never lose more than 15 mins of work time on a given save. Also, I've been using final cut since 0.8 beta and I have gotten in the habit of saving (apple+s) every single time I play or stop the playhead. Sounds crazy but I never end up with a disaster. One last tip: Make sure your autosave is set to a different drive than you media. That way if the media drive fails you can recapture and then in FCP relink those files. Some time lost sure......but not the end of the world! My 2 c, Eric James

July 8th, 2007, 01:27 PM	#11
Sarah McMurray Tourist Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Summitville, Indiana Posts: 2	error without autosave i have been getting this same 'unable to open project file' error, & have read many places saying to just use the most recently autosaved file instead.... but my computer is not autosaving anything! i set the time to autosave every 10 minutes, but i'm getting nothing. strangely, my fcp file says 0 kb. what's going on? what should i do?

February 8th, 2005, 02:36 PM	#2
Matt Elias Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: California Posts: 149	I have older versions of the same project on my drive, and they open fine. Could my project have gotten corrupted somehow while it was exporting?

February 8th, 2005, 05:15 PM	#3
Boyd Ostroff Wrangler Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Mays Landing, NJ Posts: 11,802	Have a look at this thread for starters: http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/showthrea...threadid=26728

February 10th, 2005, 06:23 PM	#4
Matt Elias Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: California Posts: 149	Thanks for the link. I'm going to run DiskWarrior first on my drive - to my luck version 3 does not boot on the new G5, so I ordered the update CD from Alsoft. It will take one full week to get to me...

February 14th, 2005, 02:38 PM	#6
Kevin Kocak Regular Crew Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Tampa, Fl Posts: 149	Have you tried taking all of your source media offline and then attempting to open the project? If not here's how to do it. Say you have 5 clips you captured... Say they are in the capture scratch folder. You can either rename the folder or drag those clips into a new folder. This will break the link FCP has with the media. Then try to open your project. It should open and tell you that your media is offline and you can easily reconnect them. If it opens then that means that one of those clips is probably corrupt. Reconnect each clip one by one and you should be able to figure out which clip is the culprit. Post back if you need more info about this.

February 17th, 2005, 01:21 AM	#7
Matt Elias Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: California Posts: 149	Still didn't work...I still get "Unable to Open Project File" Any other suggestions? The most recent thing I had done to the project was add music, could there be an issue there? Possibly a song I DL'd from a P2P ?

February 18th, 2005, 11:03 PM	#9
Matt Elias Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: California Posts: 149	You're right, I can work from my last cut. It was structured completely different, but not the end of the world. I was trying to salvage this one because it had the most tedeous things that I'd done so far. But most of all, I was finished with my final rough cut. So the idea of being finished, and now having to go back is not what I wanted. How do I set my autosave to a different drive (great idea BTW) ? Do I just drag the folder to the desired drive? Or is there a way to do it in prefs? I actually save my project a lot, but this seems out of the ordinary, because I'm not able to open it at all.

February 19th, 2005, 06:47 AM	#10
Eric James Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2005 Posts: 126	Hey Matt, To chance autosave location: go to Final cut Pro HD menu> System Settings>Scratch disks. Then below the scratch box you'll see "Autosave vault" Click the "set" button right new to it. Thanks, Eric James