Why I Don't Care For Save As...

By Brendan Boykin

You will often see in the forums a suggestion to perform a “Save As” for your FCP Project File to avoid corruption. If avoiding corruption is your only goal, then FCP is taking care of this automatically. FCP creates a backup copy of your project every 30-minutes by default. These copies are kept in the Autosave Vault. The Autosave Vault is located in the logged-in user’s Documents folder…unless you change the System Settings. I advise leaving the Autosave Vault in its default location. No media is kept in the project file, so the file is relatively small compared to video files and does not require fast access

If you are unable to launch a FCP project due to project file corruption, just dig into the Autosave Vault to find the most recent version. If a project is unable to open due to media corruption, well, that’s another ballgame that is not solved by backup copies of your project file (whether Autosaved or Saved As).
I don’t care for using Save As because media files are saved in your Capture Scratch by the project file’s name at the time of Capture/Transfer. And, the media is NEVER moved to follow the project file’s name change when you perform a Save As. The result, you end up with required media spread across multiple project folders. Eventually, this will lead to media mismanagement.

Where I do suggest doing “Save As” is to keep backup copies of your project file during various phases of a project to a different location…AKA fire insurance. But you don’t have to use Save As for this safety practice. When I’m working on a project over a couple of weeks, I’ll finish my daily sessions by saving my project in FCP, quitting FCP and then in the Finder, copying the FCP project file to a flash drive (which then goes into the fire safe) and/or my MobileMe account (which is offsite of course). I end up with a daily series of backups at the ready if those we don’t speak of decide to make my life miserable and crash my drive.

About Brendan Boykin:

Brendan is one of Weynand Training's lead instructors. He is the owner of Creek Mountain Media, and has been providing Apple Certified training since 2003 with current certifications in Final Cut Studio 3. For more information visit his website. He is also the author of the Apple Pro Training Series book, Final Cut Pro 7 A Qucik Reference Guide. For more information on the guide click here