Lost project – Puttin’ out the Jesus beacon
 

Opening my project today I encountered the typical message that some files have gone off line, after (unsuccessful) attempt to reconnect the missing files the time line window does not even open. I’ve re-imported the missing sound files but the project will not open in the timeline, it only opens the browser and the slug window. The clips are there, so what could the problem be? Can a few lost clips and render files destroy six-months worth of work?

this is going to be a good year, right?

PC here with Vegas . . sorry. . . Things can only get better.

do you have any autosaves? Have you tried deleting your old render files using the render manager? I have had this happen a few times and both of those have worked before. Also, I know the powers that be probably hate to hear this but try the FCPdiscussion board at Apple.com they have saved my butt a few times and have a lot more traffic than this board. I still love this site however!

Thanks Kevin:
Ill give that a try. . Any other options you might throw out there?

So any luck?

Kevin:
I did manage to retrieve an earlier cut with all of its audio still intact, as far as some of the later versions I can drag them from the bin down onto the timeline but the audio fx and music has been somehow encrypted into the first two tracks of audio. So these versions are no longer available to be worked on.

Any ideas why these files have been drug through the mud?

I’m trying to warm up to the idea that hundreds of hours of work (not as exaggeration) might be gone. Gulp…

That is a stumper! There might still be hope. Go back to the apple discussion board and create a new post stating that you retrieved an AutoSave and what has happened to the audio. Maybe it has hapened to someone else. All I can say is good luck and in the future always create back up copies of your projects. If I work on a project for a month I rename a project based on the date every day. For instance, when I opened a project(xxxx) this morning that I have been working on I renamed it xxxx0105. Tommorrow it will become xxxx0106 and so forth. After they start stacking up I start thinning out but project files really don't take up much space. Anyways good luck!

Kevin thanks so much for your help!!

I do save my files as a daily routine dec. 4 – 5th – etc. but all of the files have been corrupted dating back a month, apparently all went south because of a few sound clips that were added, all of the cuts before that seem to be intact. You would think if I simply delete the responsible render files that it would be restored but the actual corrupted sequences are not even showing up in the bin as if they never existed. As far as the autosave vault I can find no copies of the later versions only capture/render/ files not the actual sequences. Could they be hidden in some other place, or am I not seeing them?

How are you deleting the renders? If you are just deleting them from the folder then that is a no-no. You should do this using the render manager under tools. What happens is FCP keeps looking for those renders and they aren't there so it is "freaking out" trying to find the renders you trashed . And as far as the autosaves... they go wherever they are sent via your system settings. Does anyone else use your system? Do you use external hard drives. If so I would use the finder and run a search on every drive you have for any AutoSave Vaults. If someone else has been using the system they might have set it up to save elsewhere. If you really get desperate and don't trust the finder, like me, just start maually looking for autosave vaults everywhere. It seems to like to default to
documents/FCP documents
Otherwise I got nothin else unless you have any more info. Good luck and keep me posted. I am interested to see what happens.