Why does final cut pro say my external hard drive is out of space when there are 200GB free?

Question

When logging and capturing footage, final cut pro wont import more than 9 minutes 25 seconds or about 2gb of footage. I checked my log and capture settings, and i don't have a capture limit set. After the 9 minutes the tape stops running, and a message comes up saying there is no free space on my hard drive but in reality there are 200 gb free. Does anybody know what is going on? My hard drive is a 400gb western digital "my book", usb 2.0. Thank you for your help!

Answer 1

This doesn't happen because of a USB hard drive, though I'd agree with the post above that FireWire is a more effective connection when it comes to non-linear editing.



This happens because of your hard drive's format. Your external hard drive is formatted FAT32, which has a filesize limit (usually 4 GB, but I also run into the 2GB (9min dv video) limit when capturing.



There are three main hard drive formats:

NTFS-Windows only [No filesize limit]

Mac OS-Mac only [No filesize limit]

FAT32 (MS-DOS File System)-Windows & Mac Compatible [4GB/2GB limit]



Most externals come formatted FAT32, so nobody need reformat for functionality, but when you're editing video, this isn't the best way to go.



I have two external drives formatted FAT32 for storage and transfer among operating systems. I have two others formatted Mac OS Extended for when I edit.



In order to change the format, go to: 'Applications>Utilities>Disk Utility'



Be sure your drive is plugged in when you're ready to format.



*NOTE: Formatting the drive erases it as well. Be sure to back up all your information so you can reload it after it's been formatted.



Select the drive and click on the 'erase' tab. Set the volume format to Mac OS Extended (Journaled). Journaling protects against hardware malfunctions.



Hit erase, and come back in a little while to a fresh hard drive with no stinkin' file size limit!



P.S. You can also partition the drive in disk utility also. I have a 500GB hard drive split into 3 partitions. First partition is for application support for my editing programs (plug-ins, FCStudio library files to save space on my internal hd, etc.) Second partition is full of my additional editing tools (sound effects, stock footage, etc.). My third partition is my scratch disk. I keep all my captured footage, photographs, project files, etc. on that partition. It helps me organize and maintain all my projects in Final Cut and Avid.



PEACE!

Answer 2

There are several possibilities, but the biggest one is that you are running a USB drive. You really need to get a Firewire Drive. Although USB 2.0 is a little faster than Firewire, the way data is sent over USB is different than over firewire. What is probably happening is that it's in effect choking: there is just enough of a drop off in how fast the data goes from Final Cut onto the drive (USB doesn't send the data in a continuous stream) that Final Cut stops seeing the drive. I had a digital video class using Final Cut Pro last year (I'm a graphic design student) and one of the things we were required to have is a Firewire external drive. Firewire 400 will work, but 800 is even better. (I used a Maxtor OneTouch III triple interface: it has USB, Firewire 400 and Firewire 800.)



Hope that helps! (Yes, I know, you probably didn't want to hear you need to get a different drive.)

Answer 3

out of space when it comes to RAM ?

Answer 4

What operating system are you on?