How do I move my Media and/or Cache outside my FCP Library?

Before PostLab, one or more of your Library's Storage Locations were likely set to In Library. With PostLab, nothing goes in the Library. This keeps your Library as lean as possible for quickly importing Libraries or uploading changes to PostLab.

When importing or uploading a Library, PostLab will detect if any of these exist in your Library:

• Cache, which includes these folders:

  • /Render Files

  • /Analysis Files

• Original Media

• Proxy Media

• Optimized Media

Here's how to move and/or remove these.

Cache

In FCP, select your Library in the Libraries sidebar, go to the Inspector.

Next to Storage Locations, click Modify Settings.

If Cache is set to In Library, choose a folder outside of your Library on a high-performance local drive.

Do not store a FCP Library's Cache on shared storage, whether it's network attached storage (NAS), a storage area network (SAN), or cloud storage (e.g. PostLab Drive).

FCP will ask you to confirm: Do you want to move your render files? You can Include your current cache to be moved to this new folder, or Don't Include and FCP will create a new cache there.

Once you decide, click one of those options, and your Cache will be outside your Library.

Afterwards, go back to PostLab and import or upload your Library.

Original, Proxy, and Optimized Media

FCP's Consolidate feature lets you move media inside a Library to a destination folder outside the Library.

Confirm none of your Library's Storage Locations are set to In Library.

In FCP, select your Library in the Libraries sidebar, then go to the Inspector.

In the Media section, click Consolidate.

In the Consolidate Library Media dialog, select the media you'd like to move based on the media types you're currently using:

• Original media

• Optimized media

• Proxy media

If you try consolidating a media type that doesn't exist in your Library, FCP will offer to Transcode media of that type, or you can Continue with the consolidation.

A folder for each media type will appear in the location defined in Library > Storage Locations > Media, which should be outside your Library.

Afterwards, go back to PostLab and import or upload your Library.

Manual Removal

In some cases, you may need to move or remove these files or folders from your Library manually before importing or uploading to PostLab.

Method 1

This requires deep digging into your FCP Library (.fcpbundle) so be sure to make a backup of the Library before proceeding!

1. With your Library open from PostLab, in FCP, select your Library in the Libraries sidebar, then choose File > Reveal in Finder (or press Shift-Command-R).

2. In Finder, duplicate your Library (.fcpbundle) to another location (e.g. your Desktop) outside the .postlab bundle.

3. In the .postlab bundle, right-click on the Library, then choose Show Package Contents.

4. Locate these folders, then move them to the Trash:

   1. Render Files

   2. Analysis Files

5. In PostLab, try importing your Library into your PostLab Production.

Method 2

If that feels a bit too surgical, here's an alternative method:

1. In PostLab, create a new Library in your Production, then Start Editing.

2. In FCP:

   1. Set your Library's Storage Locations. (Remember: nothing goes In Library.)

   2. Open the Library you couldn't import into PostLab, then drag-and-drop all Events into the newly created Library you opened from PostLab.

3. Back in PostLab, upload the newly created Library.

This method won't preserve the Activity Log in the former Library. You can either keep the former Library in your Production until it's no longer needed or retry Method 1. Still having trouble? Reach out.