Questions

Can I use OffShoot for more than just media?

Yes, you can use OffShoot for everything; files are just files, so anything goes. OffShoot just packs a lot of extras for working with media, as those files are harder to work with than, say, a Word document.

Does OffShoot work on Windows 10?

Yes. However, we do not actively support it. That means we don't spend time on finding and/or fixing Windows 10-specific issues. That said, we're currently not aware of any.

I just heard Hedge (the app) is now OffShoot. How does that affect me?

We've collected all questions on a single page:

When I try to activate OffShoot (licensed or a trial), why am I told, “No virtual machine activations allowed.”?

Running OffShoot in a VM is a Pro feature.

If you see this error when activating a trial, you're running OffShoot in a VM, or a Hypervisor process must be active in Windows.

If you see this error when activating a purchased license, you have a regular license or a Pro license that needs VM activations allowed on your license.

A step-by-step guide for disabling any-and-all Hypervisor (Hyper-V) and Virtual Machine features on your PC is available here:

If you have a regular license and need VM activations, upgrade your license in the License Manager, then reach out.

Already on a Pro license? Reach out.

On macOS Big Sur (and up), my UNTITLED cards are not always showing up

macOS Big Sur introduced an annoying bug that prevented Hedge (now OffShoot) from detecting newly mounted Untitled cards. The bug is so deep, that even macOS doesn't see the card properly, only mounting it on the Desktop as Untitled 1. Hedge 20.4.7 and newer fixes this by periodically refreshing the Disks View.

Some of my drives are not showing up.

OffShoot by default shows all drives connected to your computer, including mounted Network Volumes. If a drive is not visible, most of the time one of these reasons applies:

Does none of the above help? Let us know.

OffShoot shows an incorrect "Drive is empty" alert.

When OffShoot is not allowed to access a drive, macOS will tell OffShoot it's empty. Fix this by enabling Full Disk Access in the Privacy & Security (macOS 13.x or newer) or Security & Privacy (macOS 12.x or older) system setting:

How do I know if a transfer failed?

If there's a hardware issue (lost or interrupted drive connection, or if you have Checkpoint enabled, an issue with a card reader or source media) you'll see a red transfer bar. If a file has been copied correctly, but the checksums do not match, you'll get an orange bar.

The former situation is fixed by simply redoing the transfer, as OffShoot will pick up where it left off. The latter situation requires you to check the copied footage, as very often there is nothing wrong with the file. If you nonetheless want to recopy that file simply delete the copy, redo the transfer, and OffShoot will detect it only needs to recopy that one file. This situation is pretty rare though; it's much more common that issues arise with source readers/cables/drives and such. Destinations nowadays are quite robust.

Why does OffShoot show an 'Incomplete Codex disk detected' alert?

Codex disks work with dynamic VFS volumes. After the Codex driver has mounted the disk, it takes a while for the file system to be populated. The duration depends on the performance of your computer and on how much content is living on the disk.

OffShoot checks twice if the Codex file system is done building; when the transfer starts and when the transfer is finished. When a change in the source's contents is detected between those two checks, OffShoot will show the 'Incomplete Codex disk detected' alert. The fix button will re-add the transfer, so the whole source is transferred again, skipping over the files that already transferred, and reading only the newly discovered files.

If this happens often, make sure to update to the latest Codex Device Manager. Also, don't start Codex transfers right away but give a mag some time to load properly. Alternatively, you can use Finder to check if all the clips and files are loaded, before starting the transfer.

Does upgrading my OS affect OffShoot?

If your OffShoot license is eligible for updates on the day a new macOS or Windows major release happens, you get a free update to support the new OS.

We always support a new macOS and Windows version on the day it's released, as a minor update (x.y.z). This means that if your license is eligible for the at that day current major version (x.y), the OffShoot update supporting the new OS is free.

When you run a version of OffShoot that was released prior to an OS release, that OS is not supported. However, that doesn't mean you can't use it:

When starting OffShoot on a too new OS, you'll get a warning that you are using an unsupported OS. You can either choose to extend your license, or continue as is. We cannot guarantee it will work without issues, as especially Apple often changes core systems that affect data transfers. Use of non-supported OffShoot versions is fine, but at your own risk, and obviously, not supported by us when you do run into an issue and reach out. We’ll of course try to help, but if your issue is obviously caused by using a too new OS, an upgrade is required.

When I buy a new Mac, do I need to extend my OffShoot license?

If you purchase a OffShoot license today, it will be supported on the current and the next version of macOS. If you buy a new Mac with an even newer version of macOS down the road, chances are OffShoot will be unsupported on that macOS release without extending your license.

In this scenario, OffShoot will launch, but then warn you it's unsupported on that version of macOS. If you see the Unsupported OS badge in OffShoot, you can continue using OffShoot, but we can't guarantee it will perform as expected.

So while most users extend their OffShoot license when buying a new Mac to ensure they have the latest, supported version of OffShoot, it's not required.

What if my computer goes to sleep during a Transfer?

OffShoot will prevent your computer from going to sleep while transfers are still running.

I see Transfer Logs and Media Hash Lists (MHLs) on the Destination. Can I delete those safely?

Transfer Logs are nothing more than a receipt, and also always saved locally on the machine that did the transfer, so it's safe to delete them.

When a Transfer is in progress, OffShoot prevents your computer from going to sleep, ensuring a complete transfer without interruption.

Media Hash Lists can also be deleted safely, although they are very useful when recopying a backup made with OffShoot. When OffShoot detects MHLs on a source, the checksums stored in the MHLs will be reused for verification, speeding up the process.

If having Transfer Logs and MHLs on your Destinations isn't useful in your workflow, disable their creation:

Settings > Transfers > Paper Trail > Create Transfer Logs and (MHLs) on Destinations

Why does OffShoot say my transfer "does not fit" on the Destination, although I have plenty of disk space?

If you're using a recent Mac, your Destination is likely formatted as an APFS volume. With APFS volumes, a portion of your storage may be designated as purgeable space. Currently, OffShoot can't clear purgeable data because macOS reports it to OffShoot as storage-in-use.

To find out how much purgeable space is on a disk, in Finder, select the Destination and do a Get Info (Command-I):

There is no official way to manually clear purgeable data as macOS handles it itself, but apps like OnyX can be useful to clean the System and Application caches, thus clearing that purgeable data on reboot, making it available for OffShoot once again. Otherwise, you'll have to wait on macOS to decide when that purgeable space is officially free to use.

After a transfer, Finder says the Destination and Source differ in size.

Some people that previously used Finder to copy data have a habit of comparing folder sizes to determine if a copy was successful. Besides this being a flawed method as it doesn't show file corruption, it also produces a lot of false positives. For multiple reasons, folders might contain different file amounts or sizes. Possible contributors may include:

• OffShoot doesn’t copy hidden system files (e.g. .DS_Store, .Trash, Spotlight, Time Machine files, etc.).

• Transferring files between different file systems (e.g. from ExFAT to APFS) can result in different sizes due to block size differences.

• Some extended file attributes couldn't be transferred during a transfer between different file systems.

• The operating system may create extra attributes on certain files during a transfer.

Why did my Mac crash?

OffShoot doesn't operate on the system level that's required for an app to crash a computer. If your Mac crashes while using OffShoot, 99% of the time, those crashes can be traced to kernel extensions ("kexts") used by third-party hardware - RAID is the number 1 suspect.

To troubleshoot crashes, disconnect any hardware (e.g., a Thunderbolt dock) or storage (e.g., SoftRAID) that may be using a specialty kext. Something like KextViewr may help you track it down. Then, connect your peripherals one at a time, do a transfer using the peripheral, and connect the second. Rinse, repeat, and you'll, at some point, run into the culprit.

Can I disable the Broken Media Detected alert?

No, but if this alert is blocking your workflow, you can tell OffShoot to dismiss it automatically after 20 seconds by copy/pasting the following command in Terminal (1 = enabled and 0 = disabled).

defaults write nl.syncfactory.Hedge.Mac SFIDefaultsZeroByteFilesDetectedAutoContinue 1

I have a Hedge for FxFactory license.

For some years, Hedge for Mac was available through FxFactory. We honor all those licenses and offer crossgrades for those as if they were purchased directly. That means one of two things for you:

• If you purchased your license over a year ago, we'll send you a checkout link to extend it for $69.

• If you purchased less than a year ago, we shall issue a free license with updates for the remainder of the year.

In both cases, reach out to [email protected] and include your proof of purchase.

Does OffShoot send any data to any additional servers as part of performing a transfer?

No. OffShoot only transfers files and any associated metadata to the volumes you specify as a Source or Destination in-app, nowhere else.

How can I reset OffShoot to its default settings?

How can I export/import settings?

mkdir C:\\Temp

reg export "HKEY_CURRENT_USER\\Software\\Hedge" "C:\\Temp\\OffShootSettings.reg"

(Get-Content "C:\\TEMP\\OffShootSettings.reg") -notmatch '("BuildVersion"|"LicenseVersion"|"ConnectCookies")' | Set-Content "C:\\TEMP\\OffShootSettings.reg"

Why does OffShoot ask to install a helper app on each start-up?

This issue occurs when OffShoot is unable to load the ProGrade helper tool. Follow these steps to resolve it:

1. Quit OffShoot.

2. Open System Settings > Login Items & Extensions.

3. Ensure ProGrade Digital Incorporated is enabled.

   

   If it’s already ON, toggle it OFF, then ON again.

4. If the issue persists, try reinstalling OffShoot to reset permissions.

5. If reinstalling doesn’t help, you can manually enable the helper tool using Terminal:

   1. Unload the helper tool (if it’s already unloaded, an error may appear—this is normal):

      Copy

      sudo launchctl unload /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.prograde.refreshpro.helpertool.plist

   2. Load the helper tool:

      Copy

      sudo launchctl load -w /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.prograde.refreshpro.helpertool.plist

      Note: After a computer restart, you may need to repeat this step.