Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express: Reformat DOS-formatted hard drives before saving

  • Last Modified: May 19, 2006
  • Article: TA27660
  • Old Article: 93720

Products Affected

Final Cut Express, Final Cut Pro

With earlier versions of Final Cut Pro and Final Cut Express, project files should be saved to a Mac OS Extended format hard disk.

Some hard drives are preformatted as DOS. If you try to save a Final Cut Pro or Final Cut Express project file to a DOS-formatted drive, the operation may appear to be successful, but the project file will be empty. For this reason, you should reformat these drives as Mac OS Extended format using Apple's Disk Utility software, which is available in the Utilities folder.

Warning: Reformatting or reinitializing your hard drive erases all information on your disk. Make sure you have a backup of all files you may have created and any preinstalled software that came with your drive.

To see what format your hard drive is:


  1. Click the Finder icon in the Dock.
  2. From the File menu, choose New Finder Window.
  3. Click your hard drive icon.
  4. From the File menu, choose Get Info.


Products affected

  • Final Cut Pro 4.5 and earlier
  • Final Cut Express HD (3.0) and earlier
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