Working with Final Cut Pro backups

Backups are automatic in Final Cut Pro. You should understand the difference in terminology between backing up and archiving. Backing up is a temporary and ongoing process that happens while you are editing. Archiving is the process of securing a library’s projects in an optimized working state so that they can be opened at a later date without the dreaded red Missing File warning:

Figure 19.1 – The dreaded red Missing File warning

The automatic backups that Final Cut Pro activates every few minutes are stored in the Users folder on the Mac’s system disk. The backups do not take up much space on the disk because they do not include media. The backup library simply points to where the media is stored. This is a good thing – because of the small footprint – but is inherently dangerous due to the media needing to stay available for the backup library to be of any value. If the media is...