Multiple versions of Final Cut Pro
By S Simmons. Filed in Editing, Final Cut Pro |
A while back I posted a link to a handy tip on Shane Ross’ blog about keeping mulitple versions of Final Cut Pro on a system to avoid the dreaded:
I had not tested this brilliant work-around to that common problem but decided to give it a try upon the upgrade to Final Cut Pro 6. I’ve had the upgrade sitting around for a week now and finally got around to the install (as well as finally being between FCP and Avid projects) last night.
Since my system still had FCP 5.1.2., I wanted to try for the 5.1.4 update to keep that version around as well. I first had trouble with the software update seeing the 5.1.4 update when I dragged Final Cut Pro.app out of the application folder, the update wouldn’t give me the option. I solved this by duplicating the FCP application in a folder on my desktop and renaming it with a 5.1.2 addition. It’s important to note that you can’t change the original name of the Final Cut Pro.app until after you’ve duplicated it. After this, software update saw the 5.1.4 update from Apple’s update servers. After installing that I duplicated the Final Cut Pro 5.1.4.app in the same folder on the desktop and ran the Final Cut Studio 2 installer in its entirety. After a loooong install process, I had Final Cut Pro 6.0 up and running. Then I just dragged the 5.1.2.app and 5.1.4.app back into the application folder and now I have all three versions alive and well. They all seem to boot up and run just fine. You can’t run more than one at any give time as you will get the serial number/network message telling you that more than one version of the app is running on the network. You must be careful not to update an older project that you might have the need to open later in an earlier version as without proper project management and knowing which clients use which version of the app you could accidentally update a project you didn’t mean to update…. if that makes sense. But with a little time and effort maybe the “file format warning” will be a thing of the past. That is until Apple decides to break this little work-around.
EDIT:
Thanks to the commenter’s below who point out this Apple Knowledge Base article warning against doing exactly what I did above. I think it must be pointed out that whenever one tries a “hack” such as that above there is always a risk that something could go wrong. I mentioned in a reply below that I worked in and out of the different versions on Friday without any real issues. If one was to attempt this (or any other thing that is out of the norm for a software install) then always (always, always) do a back-up of your working system first in case something goes bad. That said you should always be doing regular back-ups anyway. There is no excuse not to!
Friday, May 25th 2007 at 9:58 pm
interesting! this seems to directly contradict an Apple knowlegebase article regarding keeping old versions after upgrade to FCS2
Final Cut Studio 2: Don’t keep older versions of applications when upgrading
Issue
Earlier versions of the applications in Final Cut Studio might not open or may behave unexpectedly if you use them on your computer after upgrading to Final Cut Studio 2.
When you upgrade to Final Cut Studio 2, there are a number of application-support resources that also get upgraded. Earlier versions of the applications in Final Cut Studio are not compatible with these newer support resources, and should not be used on a computer that has been upgraded to Final Cut Studio 2.
full articlehere:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305389
Saturday, May 26th 2007 at 2:23 am
Have you seen the warning Apple posted about doing this?
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=305389
Saturday, May 26th 2007 at 6:49 am
Thanks for those links. I had not seen that article mentioned for FCP 6 but I do remember a similar one back on one of the earlier versions. I take this “warning” with a grain of salt for a couple of reasons: first is that I spent the day on Friday jumping back and forth between them on a couple of different projects just to see if anything strange happened. All is well except the apps have to profile for RT Extreme each time upon boot, other than that I have seen no issue with the older (or new) versions. Second, I certainly don’t think Apple would condone doing this as it seems antithetical to the whole idea of upgrading the app. I certainly don’t plan on using 5.1.2 or 5.1.4 anymore for any real work but with clients these days having their own versions of Final Cut Studio and not always upgrading as quickly as most of us it is a nice insurance policy to have around. One complaint that I (and from all the forum posts many other users) have always had is the fact with with any upgrade, even incremental “dot” upgrades, you aren’t able to open a newer project file. Sure there’s XML but the simplicity of the project file pass around can’t be beat. Avid has done it for years without a hitch, if a newer feature isn’t supported in an older version it just doesn’t show up, and it is very convenient.
Saturday, May 26th 2007 at 8:12 am
Sorry for posting the link a second time. Did not see the first comment. Strange.
Anyway… thanks for telling us about your experience with keeping 5.1.2 and 5.1.4
I enjoy reading your blog!
Wednesday, June 27th 2007 at 11:09 am
Has anyone been having issues with FC 6.0 and th emulti cam function? Has anyone tried running 1080i footage with th emulti cam?
Thursday, June 28th 2007 at 7:31 pm
Mulitcam is running just fine for me. but you must remember it is very processor intensive and 1080 footage makes it even more-so… try searching the Apple forums.