I have to be honest, it took me a while to understand how important it was to organize my scratch folders. I came across this article a couple of years ago and it changed my habits and helped me speed up my editing, I finally knew where all my media files were. This article by Larry Jordan is something every practicing FCP editor should follow…

ORGANIZE BEFORE YOU START

There are lots of different ways to organize a project. This is my system. It works for me. And, if you don’t already have a system, this will work for you, too.

If you are serious about your editing, you’ll have at least two hard drives: one for the operating system and Final Cut Pro (called the “Boot Disk”) and a second hard disk to hold all your media.

On your boot disk, create a folder called, “FCP Projects.” This folder will hold all your non-timecode-based project files. If you are the only person using your computer, you can put this in your User folder, or anywhere else you care to store it. If other people also use your computer, store this folder at the “root” level, that is to say, at the same level as Applications and User, because that way, everyone can have access to the projects stored in this folder.

On your second drive, create a folder called, “FCP Media.” This folder will store all your timecode-based media. [More...]

There are many articles from some of the top editors around the world like this one on Ken Stone’s website. Check it out.

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