MC 2018.12.9   OSX 10.14.1

Got a lot of ProRes from an Arri on a SSD drive which is formated as ExFat.  It does not want to stay linked.  I link it in a bin, check a clip  or two, go to the next folder on the drive, and the previous folders clips go offline.

Are there any known issues with ExFat and linking?

I ask because other drives from the same shoot were NOT ExFat and all work just fine.

Jef

Based on your results and my poor memory I don't think ExFAT is a supported disk format for Avid in OSX.

Interesting!  Where would I even begin to look that up? 

Thanks,

Jef

Google  ExFat +OSX perhaps

From that search this looked to me like it could fit your issue.  
"Hottest 'exfat' Answers - Ask Different - Apple Stack Exchange
apple.stackexchange.com › tags › exfat › hot

Disable the disk check when reconnecting an improperly disconnected disk to OS X. Open Terminal and enter: #Get the disk identifier of the ExFAT partition ..."

Alayne

Hi Jef:

               FWIW, I have had nothing but problems when clips have come in on drives formatted as ExFat with MC. All kinds of strange random errors. One workaround is to either get the client to clone their disc over to a Mac formatted drive, or you'll need to import those files off of that ExFat media onto your own MAC formatted drive and work from it. Cheers.

Laptopeditor.

Mark Job:

or you'll need to import those files off of that ExFat media onto your own MAC formatted drive and work from it. Cheers.

That is in essence what I did.  It just slowed me down .... a lot.  I don't want to tell production to not use ex-Fat un less I am really sure that is the case.

Jef

jef:

I don't want to tell production to not use ex-Fat un less I am really sure that is the case.

There have been rumours...

Mark Job:

Yes ! It is the EVIL ExFAT EXTERNAL MEDIA DRIVE !!! [...] I will complete this job and NEVER use a media drive formatted in ExFat ever again !!!

Pat Horridge:

I'd agree avoid Exfat for anything but transport. I've had odd issues as well.

Mondo:

BTW - my advice - never use exFAT.

mikooka:

Everything went well. [...] the harddrive is formated both to PC and MAC (ExFat). Now, when we're back to the MAC, we can't edit!

Roger Shufflebottom:

A student had bought a [...] drive which the dealer had formatted as ExFat [...] On her Mac [...] the Source Browser could see the files and folders on her external drive but linking failed [...] I advised her to [...] reformat the drive, which she did. Now it worked.

And to quote myself...

Cutyes:

I have had trouble on a few occasions and I avoid it since then.

Thanks for all the responses.

I have been speaking with others at our facility and I am beginning to wonder if this is an Avid only issue.

We get lots of exFat drives.  We are basically a Mac house.  We do not see the issue when using Resolve or Premiere.  Both of these are using "linking" only.  Avid is the weak link.

Don't know how I can test this further.

Jef

It is Avid specific.  With that said, you'll either need to transfer the material to a compatible volume format or use a different method to get that material into your system.

You would not want to use exFat drives anyway. ExFat is a fragile filesystem used only for max compatibility between OS's
Always better off cloning to a more robust file system ASAP. 

brainburst:

You would not want to use exFat drives anyway. ExFat is a fragile filesystem used only for max compatibility between OS's
Always better off cloning to a more robust file system ASAP. 

I agree.  I need to convince production companies of this.

Jef