FCP Backup Manager

Automated backup for Final Cut Pro backup bundles.

v0.8.0 · build 1 · macOS 14+ · SwiftUI · Menu Bar Utility

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FCP Backup Manager watches your Final Cut Pro backup source folder, compresses new .fcpbundle backups into zip files, and copies them to one or more destinations such as a local folder, external drive, NAS, SMB share, or other mounted volume.

What It Does

• Discovers Final Cut backup bundles under ~/Movies/Final Cut Backups.localized/ by default
• Compresses each bundle with ditto to preserve macOS metadata
• Copies each bundle once per destination using manifest-based dedup
• Writes destination logs plus local troubleshooting logs
• Supports manual runs, scheduled runs with optional preferred time and quiet hours, retention cleanup, bundle-name filters, Setup JSON import, and MDM-managed deployment

Quick Start

1. Open the menu bar app and choose Settings….
2. In the Source area, confirm the source path and add any optional .fcpbundle keyword filters.
3. In the Destinations area, add one or more destinations.
4. Click Test Destinations to confirm access and writable status.
5. Click Back Up Now.
6. Use View Logs… in the menu bar or Settings if you need troubleshooting details.

How It Works

1. SCAN      Discover .fcpbundle directories under the source path
2. DEDUP     Skip bundles already recorded for each destination
3. ZIP       Create a per-bundle zip archive with ditto
4. COPY      Write the zip into destination/FCPBackupManager/<hostname>/
5. LOG       Write destination logs, session logs, and a local app diagnostic log
6. CLEANUP   Remove temporary staging files

Each discovered bundle becomes its own zip archive. A bundle is copied once per destination unless the destination copy is missing, in which case the stale manifest entry is repaired and the bundle is copied again.

Bundle Filters

Project Filters in Settings, Setup JSON, and MDM now work as bundle-name filters.

• Matching is case-insensitive
• Filters are checked against the .fcpbundle folder name
• A filter like VIP will skip any backup bundle whose name contains VIP
• Diagnostic logs record the exact keyword and bundle name when a filter matches

Destination Layout

/Volumes/MyDrive/
└── FCPBackupManager/
    └── edit-suite-03/
        ├── ProjectA_20250623_1929_PDT.zip
        ├── ProjectB_20250710_0815_PDT.zip
        ├── backup.log
        └── edit-suite-03-2026-03-23_0926.log

The stable backup.log is the latest destination log. The timestamped log provides a per-run record.

Logs

FCP Backup Manager writes logs in three places:

• Destination run logs at destination/FCPBackupManager/<hostname>/
• Session logs at ~/Library/Application Support/FCPBackupManager/Logs/
• App diagnostic log at ~/Library/Application Support/FCPBackupManager/Logs/app-diagnostic.log, plus daily rotated app-diagnostic-YYYY-MM-DD.log files

These are especially useful for network-volume troubleshooting because they show destination filtering, bundle-filter matches, copy attempts, fallback writes, and per-run results.

Configuration Priority

Settings resolve in this order:

Priority	Source	Behavior
1	MDM Profile	Auto-applied and locked in the UI
2	Setup JSON in App Support	Schedule/source/retention applied automatically; destinations require user acceptance
3	Imported JSON	Same behavior as Setup JSON
4	User Settings UI	Manual control for non-managed settings

See MDM-ADMIN-GUIDE.md for managed preference details.

Documentation

• User Guide
• MDM Admin Guide
• Archive Format Comparison

License

Apache 2.0