Do project snapshots take up space in Libraries?
I tried do an experiment where I created a "duplicate project as snapshot"
And in my finder waited to see if the GB went up on my library...it did not.

I also chose to NOT create optimized media or proxy media on import but now I have noticed some clips do have the green circle saying optimized. So I was wonder how did they get optimized. Why only a few?

Also what is the way to completely remove media from the library? Because I have used ⌘ Delete (from the file list in the top left side of the screen) ...but then I still see that media in the timeline. Does that mean it is still in the hidden files of my library somewhere taking up space?

I would like to address all these questions because I don't understand how my 3 minute short film, where all the original footage added up to approx 14GB, is now a 492GB Final Cut Pro X Library. This has happened before on past projects as well. It's ridiculous.

Snapshots, Projects, Events, are all just text entries in a database, they take up no real drive space. There is no duplication of the original clips, as those are only referenced by the Library and its functions.

There are some formats that get Optimized automatically, I believe. What is the codec/source of these clips?

The copy of a clip in the Browser and the copy in the Timeline are independent. You'd have to remove both manually. There's no way to remove both at the same time automatically. There's only one physical clip on your hard drive, every "copy" you use inside of FCPX simply references that original copy, it is never duplicated, using many copies of one clip does not use any extra hard drive space at all. The physical clip on your hard drive does not get deleted from the Library until the last copy is deleted inside of FCPX, at which time FCPX will warn you that you are deleting media and can't be undone.

I suspect you have Background Rendering turned on in your Preferences. Turn it off, then select the Library itself in the Browser, and go to the File menu, to "Delete All Generated Files" and delete all render files. "Final Cut Library Manager" from ArticWhitness is a very valuable tool to have.

FCPX.guru wrote:
They are.mov files H.264 59.94fps

FCPX.guru wrote:
Yes under Preferences > Playback ...the Rendering: Background render box is checked and set to start after 0.1 seconds. If I "delete all generated files" what exactly will happen? Because I am still in the middle of working on this project daily. I am not done with it.

Turn off background rendering, it's not needed 99 percent of the time.
Deleting render files only deletes render files, it has no effect on anything. They are generated all the time from scratch. Perfectly safe process.

Okay great thanks. I will try this today as soon as I get to my iMac. Since I am curious by nature always trying to learn...What is the 1% of time where you need background rendering?

And why is it default set to on if we almost never need it?

Manually render (very end of the Modify menu) when you have titles and compositing and stuff that your Mac is struggling to playback smooth enough to edit with. Not sure why it is on by default, but automatic rendering in the background (not really in the background, but when FCPX is idle) would be turned on for older Macs that simply have a hard time playing back anything.

Problems are, background rendering is always building new files, making your Library get really big really fast. And some of those render files can get corrupted and play havoc with you in a variety of ways.

If you use FCPX a lot and have a lot of Libraries, you'd be well advised to purchase "Final Cut Library Manager" from ArticWhitness. Then you can manage all sorts of Library things all in one easy to use place.