FCP5.0.4-File I/O Error

[stretchweider]

when exporting from timeline as mpeg2 i sometimes get this message -file i/o error-when encode finishes,and i get no m2v files,why and how do i avoid?

[terryj]

Source/ destination disc has a problem.
Check and verify that if you are capturing or exporting to
a FW drive, that it is mounted, and that permissions
allow you to read/write to it, and that media referenced
in the timeline is still existing.

[stretchweider]

terry,
capturing to a partitioned drive on my powerbook,
is there a different fix for this?
i split the 20 min sequence into 4 segments and tried to mpeg2 encode each seperately,first 3 no problem,
last segment get error,
tried recording last segment from timeline back to minidv and then capture back into fcp,still get error,
i also tried exporting as dv-pal so i could drag to toast to encode and still file i/o error,
trashed prefs and export as dv-pal now working but still errors for mpeg2 export,
i'll try capture and export from diff partition,dont know what else to try,

[terryj]

Last source footage is the problem.
IF the first three pieces of footage exported fine,
that tells me they are intact on the source drive,
and that they are valid file type. Also tells me they
are in valid data blocks, that do not need repair.

The fourth segment from what you are describing
sounds like it is in a bad data block on the disc.
Have you tried running Disc Utility from your boot CD/DVD
that came with your powerbook? What does it say
about the volume header/bitmap on this partition?

Disc Utility should be able to repair most volume header/bitmap
problems, but if this one is a stubborn one, you will need
to get a copy of DiscWarrior 3, and run it to repair the
volume bitmap/header on the drive.

[stretchweider]

terry,
only just got time to connect and read your post so i didnt get chance to follow your advice,but thanks for taking the time,
yesterday i cleared out partition and erased using disk utility,
exported same 20 min sequence as mpeg2 to clean partition and no problems this time,
any ideas on why this solved it?
before i erased the partition(19Gig)it was almost full of 18-25 min m2v files,maybe 2 gig left,
during clean up i had problems moving a couple of the m2v files to my ext drive,message that parts of files could not be read or written,
1 of files copied ok to another partition on powerbook but other still has problems,
open these files in QT and they play fine,they also worked fine in DVDSP authored discs,know what the problem is with these?

[terryj]

terry,
only just got time to connect and read your post so i didnt get chance to follow your advice,but thanks for taking the time,
yesterday i cleared out partition and erased using disk utility,
exported same 20 min sequence as mpeg2 to clean partition and no problems this time,
any ideas on why this solved it?

Wiping the Partition would clean out any problems that exist on
the Volume Bitmap header, restoring it to a clean Index, without
any broken nodes. In other words, it restored it to as if nothing
had ever been on it, all blocks were clean, and the structure was re-mapped and set.

so when you copied the data back, it wrote it in a logical block fashion,
where all blocks were written in order, and it could find all the pieces
of data that made up that file. I'm guessing that before, when you
originally wrote it to disc, the drive was almost full, heavily fragged,
so it had to write pieces of data were it could, and the volume bitmap
header, which is supposed to create an accurate catalog of the data,
could not due to heavy fragmentation.

before i erased the partition(19Gig)it was almost full of 18-25 min m2v files,maybe 2 gig left,
during clean up i had problems moving a couple of the m2v files to my ext drive,message that parts of files could not be read or written,
1 of files copied ok to another partition on powerbook but other still has problems,
open these files in QT and they play fine,they also worked fine in DVDSP authored discs, know what the problem is with these?

Yes, you had filled the the drive up, and where those files were physically
written, it sounds like were in the a heavily fragmented volume block.
They could play fine, and link up fine in DVDSP, but physically all
pieces could not be read to be copied off to another volume,
bit by bit, byte by byte, due to the volume bitmap header
on the 19GB drive not being proper.

After a large amount of projects, or between every small project,
it is good practice to go in and erase the media partition, or
at the very least run DiscWarrior 3 on it, to clear up any fragmentation,
which often occurs accessing ( read/write) large amount of data
like this.
I've got 3 320GB drives for video, and with all the recording to,
conversion to and fro on formats, and little pieces or snippets
I like to create for making DVDs, Ialways at the end of a large
project(s) go in and erase the drives, to clear out any fragmentation,
so that the drives are ready to use for the next project.

[stretchweider]

terry,
appreciate the straightforward answers to the questions raised,
thanks

[terryj]

your welcome!

[wowprod]

your welcome!

Hi Terry,
I noticed your post from early January to someone re: FCP "File I/O Error" message. You seem to know your stuff so was wondering if you have any idea as to how I might solve my problem. I'm using FCP 5.1 on a MAC OSX G5. I'm trying to export an edited wedding sequence (just over 3 hrs long) to Quicktime Movie. When it starts exporting, I get the "File I/O Error" message. Can't figure out what's going on. The system is pretty new and I have plenty of memory. Any help is much appreciated!
Thanks.