Final Cut Pro X works much differently than legacy versions when it comes to storing media. Video, audio, graphics, stills, etc. are all stored in Events and projects. Rather than editors manually setting their scratch disks, FCPX does it automatically based on the projects and Events. This can be a good thing for those who aren’t good with organization. Also, it makes our lives much easier.

Both projects and Events can be created on multiple hard drives. By default, files are stored in the “Movies” folder in the user directory of OS X. However, you can easily save them on different hard drives. To create new Events on external hard drives, simply either right-click on the HDD and choose “New Event” or select it and go to File -> “New Event”. The same thing can be done for projects in the Project Library. Sadly, as of FCPX 10.0.1, Events and projects are stored on the root of the hard drive rather than a custom directory.

To move an Event, go to File -> 'Move Event'.

Moving Events

You can easily move Events to different hard drives. All you need to do is select the Event in the Event Library and choose File -> “Move Event” in the menu. A popup window will appear asking you where you’d like the Event to be moved to.

Duplicating projects in FCPX.

Duplicating Projects and Events

For some editors, it is important to make duplicates of projects. Final Cut 10 makes it simple and easy. To duplicate a project or Event, just select one or the other and press command+D or go to File -> “Duplicate Project” or “Duplicate Event”. When you duplicate an Event, you’ll be prompted to name and choose the location. When you duplicate a project, FCPX asks you the location, what specifically to duplicate, and whether to include the render files or not.

Organizing Projects

Like I previously mentioned, Apple hasn’t given us much in terms of organization for the project location. However, FCPX does allow editors to place projects in folders. These can easily be made by pressing the “Create a new folder” icon on the bottom left of the Project Library or by going to File -> “New Folder” (or shift+command+N on the keyboard).

Organizing Events

Final Cut 10 also lacks options for organizing Events. Currently, the only way to organize Events in FCPX alone is to put them on separate hard drives. To make an Event (or project for that matter) not show up in Final Cut, just eject the hard drive. The Event (or project) will disappear from the list.

But, there is a third-party application that can hide projects or Events without ejecting drives. It’s called Event Manager X by Intelligent Assistance. For only $5 bucks, easily disable any projects or Events you want to be invisible. It’s that easy!

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