# emac problem



## senior-a (Feb 10, 2008)

Two questions: 1) The Final Cut Express program on my emac is giving me a "Preview Disabled" on the capture screen. I cannot download my clips. How do I fix it?
2) Can I remove other programs that came with the computer but I never use? They take up space that I'd rather have available for video editing.


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## middigit (Feb 3, 2008)

i have no idea about your first question, but regarding the second yes you can but be careful what you get you rid of - which application do you want to delete?


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## senior-a (Feb 10, 2008)

I don't use Address Book, iChat, Sherlock, or iCal.


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## middigit (Feb 3, 2008)

not as if they take up much space - they are only small apps in file size

i suppose you could if you really wanted too - at your own risk, i'm not saying it's a good idea or anything


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## senior-a (Feb 10, 2008)

Then I don't think it is worth removing those programs. Thanks

Any insight on Final Cut Express repair (changing the Preview Disabled message on the Capture screen?


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## senior-a (Feb 10, 2008)

Don't know where my reply went...but if those programs don't take up that much space, then it is not worth removing them.

Does anyone know anything about Final Cut Express and how to fix the "Preview Disabled" message on my Capture screen that prevents me from importing clips. Someone suggested using FCP Rescue but that is for Final Cut Pro rather than Final Cut Express. Someone else suggested stripping my hard drive clean and reinstalling from the original disc, which I don't have. Any ideas?


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## middigit (Feb 3, 2008)

sorry, i've never used Final Cut so don't know anything about it


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## Yankee Rose (Jul 14, 1999)

Hi senior-a:

Have you tried Deleting User Preferences? This resolves many problems with FCE.

Do you happen to have an external Firewire 400 drive attached to your Mac? If so, try disconnecting and then capturing to your internal drive.

Hope that helps.


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## senior-a (Feb 10, 2008)

Yankee Rose,

Your advice solved the problem soooooooooooooooooooooooooo simply. Thank you very much! But why is my external hard drive just now deciding to interfere with the capture? It didn't do that before. 

Also, by User Preferences, I'm assuming you mean plists? Can I delete ANY plist?


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## Yankee Rose (Jul 14, 1999)

Hi again senior-a:

Glad to hear my advice solved your problem.  I assume you meant that removing your Firewire drive resolved it? I've read that external FireWire 800 and SATA drives are better for this.

I've also read that upgrading Quicktime will help resolve this issue.

As far as deleting any plist, read below (from the prior link):

Deleting the User Preferences in Final Cut Express:

You can resolve many issues by restoring Final Cut Express back to its original settings. This will not impact your project files, but you should verify your Scratch Disk location setting after doing this.

To reset your Final Cut Express user preference settings to their original state, do the following:

1. In the Finder, go to ~/Library/Preferences. *Note:* The tilde (~) represents your Home folder.

2. Remove the *"com.apple.finalcutexpress.plist"* file from the Preferences folder.

3. Remove the "Final Cut Express User Data" folder from the Preferences folder.

Hope that helps!


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