can you stream google drive footage into final cut pro without downloading it?
by sumit paul · last updated
yes, with an app that mounts google drive as a streaming drive in finder. final cut pro then opens your clips like files on any disk, and only the parts it reads come down from google drive. google drive for desktop doesn't work this way: even in stream mode it downloads each clip in full the first time final cut opens it, and keeps the copy on your mac.
what each option does with a clip
| app | when final cut opens a clip |
|---|---|
| google drive for desktop (stream) | downloads the whole file, then keeps it locally |
| google drive for desktop (mirror) | every file is already on your mac |
| feather drive | reads only the byte ranges final cut asks for; zero bytes on disk |
| rclone mount, mountain duck, cloudmounter, expandrive | mount drive as a disk; how much they cache depends on their settings |
in a side-by-side test, feather drive 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.
set it up with feather drive
- download feather drive, sign in with google and switch on its file system extension when asked.
- copy your footage into the google drive folder inside feather drive in finder. it uploads in the background and takes zero bytes on your mac.
- keep the final cut library on your mac or an external drive, never in the cloud.
- in final cut's import window, choose leave files in place, so it links to the clips instead of copying them into the library.
- for heavy formats like 4k prores, make proxies once and edit those; the full clips are read again only for the final export.
feather drive only sees files you put in it (google's drive.file permission), so move the shoot into its folder rather than expecting your whole drive to appear.
related
- final cut pro on an external drive or the cloud: what works
- how to edit videos on a mac with your footage in the cloud
- how to open a large video from google drive without downloading it
common questions
do any apps actually stream google drive files into final cut without downloading them?
yes: apps that mount google drive as a streaming drive. feather drive does it for google drive and dropbox: final cut reads only the parts of each clip it needs, and the clip takes no space on your mac. rclone, mountain duck, cloudmounter and expandrive also mount drive, with their own caching rules. google drive for desktop, even in stream mode, downloads each clip in full the first time final cut opens it.
can the final cut library be in google drive?
no. apple says not to keep final cut pro libraries in third-party cloud storage. keep the library on your mac or an external drive, and only the media in the cloud.
how fast does my connection need to be?
faster than the footage's bitrate for smooth playback: roughly 50 to 150 Mbit/s for typical h.264 or hevc camera files, around 700 Mbit/s for 4k prores 422 hq. for heavy formats, make proxies once and edit those.
does it work offline?
not for clips that live only in the cloud. keep proxies, or the clips for the current project, on your mac if you need to edit without a connection.