Syncing a Project between a Desktop and Laptop
 

i currently have a Dual 2.0 and FCP 4.5 that I use for all of my editing. I'm looking to get a Powerbook to do basic editing in the field, and then come back and do the rendering on the desktop. What are my options for syncing projects between the two computers? I assume that I could keep all the project files on an external drive and move that drive between machines, but I am really looking to keep the project on the internal PB drive, perhaps in a low res format.

Is my best option to capture in low res for the PB, edit, save the project file and recapture for rendering on the desktop? Or is there a better way?

Cheers,
Patrick

Why are you keen on keeping the project on an internal drive?
I don't have a Mac, but I put all the project files + media on an
external drive and can thus edit on different machines without
any problems. Works fine for me.

My only interest is in taking my laptop someplace without a powersupply for my external harddrive. If I were to do that, and work with a sizeable project, it would not be possible to do. For example, on an airplane it would not be possible to edit video because I would not have access to power for my external drive.

However, the method you mentioned is probably the best and the way I will go.

Smaller Firewire drives like the SmartDisk Firelite are bus powered. They will use up your battery faster but they don't need to be plugged in to an external power source and if you bring your airline or 12V adaptor you won't be running off battery power anyway. They have FW400, FW800, and USB2 models up to 100GB.
http://www.smartdisk.com/Products/St...s/FireLite.asp

If you don't have your files on an external drive you can always backup the project from one computer to another but that can get confusing if you're not careful. Remember the "Final Cut Pro Documents" folder? If your workflow keeps that folder as the default location you will have all your autosave's, render files, cache files and such in there. You can setup a backup routine to sync that folder (or whatever ones you need) between the desktop and laptop. I've done it many, many times myself and it will work just fine.

You don't mention what format you will be editing in but I will assume DV (because of the forum). DV is so small I couldn't really justify the added labor involved in editing in "OFFLINE RT". That's more reserved for larger analog or uncompressed formats. Unless you really want to (you certainly CAN do it). It works quite well too. Log your tapes as you capture, edit, then just transfer the EDL to the desktop machine and use it to recapture the footage you need on the bigger machine.