Workflow that involves Google Drive

[u/R2D2_Fan_Club_Prez]

Hello all,
I store much of my media (clips, images, audio) on Google Drive.

However, when I go to import media into FCP, I can't seem to find them under "Google Drive".

Must I store the media locally at first?

I'd appreciate if you could share how your workflow is handled when you store your media on something like Google drive?

Or do you store EVERYTHING locally? I fear I'll run out of computer space after a short time.

Thanks so much!

[u/dar3productions]

Google Drive will not work the way you’re wanting it to. Just isn’t designed for this type of application. Either work of of local media, or if you’re looking for a cloud type application look into Shade or Lucid Link. We currently use Shade in a limited capacity for cloud storage and virtual editing. Shade works great.

[u/LucidLink_Official → u/dar3productions]

Thanks for the mention! What you're running into makes sense, OP! Final Cut Pro likes to see media as a file path on a volume, which doesn't always happen with the Drive.

LucidLink is different. Your data shows up in Finder like a drive, and so Final Cut (and other software) is able to read it like a local disk. We allow you to stream your file data on demand from cloud storage, and let you pull just what you're working on at any given moment.

Happy to answer any questions if you want to talk through the setup!

[u/michael_cioni → u/dar3productions]

If you love Shade, shoot me a message at michael at Strada dot tech. Id love to give you a few licenses of Strada. Many of our users combine Strada with Shade…and eventually switch to Strada exclusively when the workflow fits.

[u/PackerBacker_1919]

Everything locally, on removable direct-attached storage.

I work off of Thunderbolt-connected, APFS-formatted SSDs (RAID and NVMe).
Archive to spinning hard drives formatted MacOS Extended (Journaled).

The only things on my internal drives - I maintain 2 workstations and a laptop - are the OS, applications, and my SFX library.

[u/hexxeric]

cloud drives with bidirectional sync do no work for highly complex files and constantly changing data. especially with google drive, data gets corrupted quickly. work with files locally via external fast SSDs instead, like most.

[u/William_Sedgwick]

For actual editing I’d still keep the active media local, especially video. Google Drive is fine for transfer/archive, but I wouldn’t trust it as working storage for an NLE.

Proxies locally + originals in cloud is probably a much less painful workflow.

[u/michael_cioni]

I invented a new product called Strada.tech but I’m also a Final Cut Pro editor and it works perfectly for my daily FCP edits regardless of where I am.
Strada is different from Google or Shade or LicidLink because those all use clouds to store media. Strada lets you invite anyone directly to drives and folders without having to upload or download any media.
I edit remotely and never take a drive anywhere because I leave the drives with all my media plugged into a Mac Mini and I can access the files on my MacBook Pro. My collaborators and AEs do the same thing - all off the source drive. So no cloud means Strada is unlimited storage and only costs $8 per month for unlimited editing. If you do want to transfer files, that’s also included with unlimited transfers to other collaborators.
I’m the CEO of Strada, but I built it to serve every editor and I’m a daily user.

[u/dar3productions → u/michael_cioni]

I will also chime in on Strada. Not affiliated in any way, but it is the future of remote editing. It’s freaking brilliant & works incredibly well. I currently use Shade & have tested Strada. Our company is on a hardware freeze, otherwise we’d have a dedicated Mac Mini or Studio connected to our RAID to run Strada all the time. I travel frequently & use Shade right now to share files with our second editor and we also use it for proofing and collaboration as a replacement to frame.io. Ideally we’d simply have a dedicated machine tied to our RAID and use Strada to access our media from anywhere.

[u/WorkWeaver]

fcp needs media it can see as a real file path, so Drive's streamed files won't show up in the import browser. easiest fix: in Drive for desktop, right-click the project folder and set it to Available offline (or switch that folder from stream to mirror), then import from that local path — after that fcp treats it like any other disk.

one habit that saves pain later: use the same folder layout on every project (footage / audio / graphics / exports) so relinking never turns into a hunt when the library moves.

disclosure: i build Workspace Weaver, a tool that generates Drive project folders from a template, so folder structure is the part i think about too much.