final cut pro on an external drive or the cloud: what works

final cut pro works well from an external hard drive or ssd, as long as the drive is formatted apfs (mac os extended also works), isn't your time machine drive, and is fast enough for your footage. the library itself must not live in a cloud-synced folder like google drive, dropbox or icloud desktop and documents. media is more flexible: import it with "leave files in place" and it can sit on another drive or a mounted cloud drive while the library stays local.

what apple supports for libraries

apple doesn't spell out why, but a library is a package of many small files and a database that final cut writes to all the time. a sync app uploading and replacing those files underneath it is an easy way to damage one.

set up an external drive for final cut

1. check the format: select the drive in finder, press command-i and look at format. many drives come formatted exfat or ntfs for windows.
2. if it needs reformatting, copy everything off it first. open disk utility, select the drive, click erase and choose apfs. this deletes everything on it.
3. use an ssd for active editing. a usb-c ssd is far faster than even 4k prores 422 hq needs (about 884 Mbit/s, or roughly 110 MB/s, at 30 fps). a spinning drive is fine for archive.
4. eject it in finder before you unplug it.

move an existing library to the drive

apple's steps, in short:

1. optional but worth it: select the library and choose file › delete generated library files to remove render, proxy and optimized files, so there's less to copy.
2. select the library in the libraries sidebar and choose reveal in finder.
3. quit final cut pro.
4. drag the library to the external drive.
5. double-click the copy on the external drive to open it, and check your projects play.
6. only then delete the original, if you moved it to save space.

if some media was imported with leave files in place, it isn't inside the library and won't move with it. to take everything together, open file › library properties, click modify settings, set media to in library, and choose file › consolidate library media before you move it.

library on the mac, media somewhere else

you don't have to move the whole library. a small library on the mac's internal disk, with the footage on an external drive, is often the best of both: the database that final cut writes to all the time sits on the fastest disk, and the bulky media sits where there's room.

• new footage: in the import window, choose leave files in place. final cut links to the clips where they are instead of copying them. set it as the default in final cut pro › settings › import.
• existing footage: select the library, open library properties, click modify settings and set media to a folder on the external drive. then file › consolidate library media moves the clips out of the library.
• cache: in the same storage settings you can put render files, waveforms and thumbnails on another drive too.

the drive with the media has to be connected when you open the library. if it isn't, clips show as missing. reconnect it, or use file › relink files if you moved the clips.

and the cloud?

keep the library local. the media can come from the cloud if your cloud storage shows up as a drive in finder.

• google drive for desktop or dropbox: import from the synced folder with leave files in place. it works, but in stream mode or with online-only files each clip downloads in full the first time final cut opens it, and the copy stays on your mac. for a large shoot that brings back the space problem.
• a streaming drive: feather drive mounts google drive and dropbox in finder and fetches only the parts of a clip final cut reads, so clips take no space on your mac. in a side-by-side test it opened a 1.22 GB video in 1.7 s, against 1 min 44 s for google drive for desktop, which downloaded the whole file first. compressed footage can often play straight from it on a fast, steady connection; for prores, create proxies (stored in your library on the mac) and set the viewer's view menu to proxy preferred. it needs an internet connection to open files, macos 26 or later, sees only files you put in it, and is a paid app with a 3-day free trial.

the cloud rule still applies here: don't put the library itself in feather drive or any other cloud drive. libraries on the mac or an external drive, media wherever suits you.

which setup to choose

related

• can you stream google drive footage into final cut pro without downloading it?
• how to free up space from final cut pro
• how to edit videos on a mac with your footage in the cloud
• external ssd vs cloud storage for a macbook air
• how much storage do you need for video editing on a mac

common questions

can i run final cut pro from an external hard drive?

you can keep your libraries and media on an external drive and work from it. the drive should be formatted apfs (mac os extended also works), must not be your time machine drive, and should be an ssd if you edit 4k or prores.

can final cut pro use an exfat drive?

apple calls exfat and ntfs unsupported formats for final cut pro libraries and tells you to reformat the drive as apfs. copy everything off first, because reformatting erases it.

can i keep a final cut pro library in google drive, dropbox or icloud?

no. apple says not to store libraries with third-party cloud storage services, or in desktop and documents when icloud is syncing them. keep the library on a local or external drive and put only the media in the cloud.

why are my clips missing after moving my library?

the media was probably left in place on another drive, or that drive isn't connected. reconnect it, or use file › relink files to point final cut at the clips' new location.

should i use a hard drive or an ssd?

an ssd for anything you edit, especially 4k and prores. spinning hard drives are fine for archive and for lighter compressed footage, but they slow down scrubbing and multicam.