Trouble saving proxy files on external drive

Hi,

I am about to edit a project in DaVinci which was filmed on the Canon C300 Mark II using Canon XF-AVC H.264 Codec.

The MXF footage wouldn't open in DaVinci so I converted the files to ProRes 4444 XQ, with the intention of creating proxies for editing.

When DaVinci automatically selected a folder on my Mac's hard drive as the location for the proxy files, I was able to create proxies. But I started again and set an external drive (Seagate BackUp Plus 2TB) as the location for the proxy files (which is also where the camera footage is saved). Now, whenever I try to create proxies, I get the message: "Proxy media failed to generate for the following files."

I would prefer not to save the proxy files on my hard drive due to lack of space.

i would be grateful for advice on how to fix this problem, please.

Many thanks!

I am about to edit a project in DaVinci which was filmed on the Canon C300 Mark II using Canon XF-AVC H.264 Codec. The MXF footage wouldn't open in DaVinci so I converted the files to ProRes 4444 XQ, with the intention of creating proxies for editing.

I think 444XQ is hopeless overkill for H.264 files from a Canon C300. If I were you, I'd get a much faster drive and use 422HQ proxies instead.

Second that.
And then, why proxies? If you can't read the originals anyway, just convert all your clips in full size to ProRes 422 HQ (plenty good enough) and work with those all the way through. They should work on any decent external storage without a problem.

Thank you so much for your advice, Marc and Uli. I really appreciate it.

But still, what if you wanted light-weight proxies from those ProRes HQ files? It should be possible to create the proxies on an external drive. Not sure why you encountered the issue you first reported. I'll have to give it a try later to see if I can reproduce.

Add - On my macOS system (see signature) running Resolve Studio 18.1.2 on Ventura 13.1, I was able to change my proxy location for the project to one of my external drives and then selected 'Generate Proxy...' and it just worked. I'm sorry I have no idea why yours didn't unless it was some short of sharing/privilege issue.

But still, what if you wanted light-weight proxies from those ProRes HQ files? It should be possible to create the proxies on an external drive. Not sure why you encountered the issue you first reported. I'll have to give it a try later to see if I can reproduce.

Add - On my macOS system (see signature) running Resolve Studio 18.1.2 on Ventura 13.1, I was able to change my proxy location for the project to one of my external drives and then selected 'Generate Proxy...' and it just worked. I'm sorry I have no idea why yours didn't unless it was some short of sharing/privilege issue.

Thanks, Steve.

I checked settings, tried to generate a proxy clip for a clip I hadn't used before, but I'm still getting the same message: "Proxy media failed to generate for the following files."

I appreciate your efforts to help me.