Debugging Final Cut Express HD startup problem
I was using Final Cut Express HD on my MacBook and I found the need to change some of my scratch disk settings to use my external 500GB Lacie hard drive.
The problem was that the next time I started FCE HD, the program threw up an error dialog complaining about my scratch disks. On this occasion, my external drive was not attached.
So, I went and fiddled with the settings again and restarted. This time… FCE HD did not start. The splash screen came up but nada after that. The program simply vanished.
I poked around but could not find a way to fix the problem.
Every day or so, I’d try something new. Google was little help. I tried opening up the application by “Show Package Contents” but the directory which seemed to have settings did not have settings for scratch disk. In fact, deleting what I thought were settings basically did nothing.
It was then that I figured there must be documentation on fully uninstalling FCE HD. I was hoping not to have to do this since the install takes an hour on my MacBook (not sure why). But, I thought the uninstall procedure would give me insight into locating the bad settings.
Turns out I was right. Using the following Google search:
“final cut express full uninstall”
Yielded this link:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=301182
In the end, I had to delete:
~/Library/Preferences/Final Cut Express User Data
Doing so and restarting FCE HD caused it to ask me a few questions I remember being asked when I first installed and viola, problem solved.