Okay, so I exported a project from FCP as a Quicktime.mov, full quality. I saved the file to my desktop and it is approx. 9gb in size. When I try to drag it into my external HD it will begin transferring and then give me an error message everytime! I have 12gb of space on the external drive, do I need more of a buffer or something to transfer a 9gb file..frustrating, I've never had this issue before! please advise!

also, if yer feelin frisky out there!! could someone walk me through the process of transferring an FCP project to an external hard drive?

thanks in advance,
brendan

What is the external drive partition formatted as? If it's FAT32 then there is a filesize limit of 4GB I think.

I don't have the drive in front of me right now, but I'm pretty sure it's FAT32 format. Does the 4gb limit pertain to individual files, because I have definitely transferred 20gb+ 'folders' of files to and from this hard drive.

Each file needs to be under 4 gigs. If you capture a larger file, I've noticed FCP splits it into multiple files, that can't be opened, but are used a resources for you clip to work.
Also, usually a "quicktime conversion" video, even as "best" is not really the best quality. It is still compressing it, and you may be better off exporting a "quicktime" self contained, if you want an uncompressed video.

Assuming your external drives will only be used on a Mac, they really should be HFS+ formatted. FAT32 is for cross compatibility only and will also slow throughput on a Mac, if I'm not mistaken. For example my "Memory Stick" I maintain in FAT32 for transferring files back and forth, cross platform. But all my drives are HFS+.

hey shaun, I use this particular hardrive for pc and mac file transfer. I've never had this type of problem...

It is the FAT 32 file size issue that's causing you grief. In FCP in the future, you may want to check the "Limit File size to" check box in the Log & Capture window and enter a value smaller than 4096 MB. That will help for future captures and will split files up as they approach the 4GB limit.

update: I took the original 9gb file and re-imported to FCP and then did a quicktime movie export directly to the external drive, not the desktop. As mentioned, FCP split the original file into 4 files, one of which, references all the files..interesting, but it worked and now I can free up the space on my internal HD..thanx for you responses

update: I took the original 9gb file and re-imported to FCP and then did a quicktime movie export directly to the external drive, not the desktop. As mentioned, FCP split the original file into 4 files, one of which, references all the files..interesting, but it worked and now I can free up the space on my internal HD..thanx for you responses

Keep in mind that FCP will not be able to re-link to this footage through the Relink Media command as it is no longer one physical file.

understood, I no longer have a need for the original project, just needed that quicktime file of all the raw footage I had captured and edited..for dvd..