Reinstalling Final Cut Studio

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Before reinstalling Final Cut Pro, you will need to perform a few other tasks first for a good clean install. Also, with the release of the suite of applications known as Final Cut Studio 2, in order to reinstall Final Cut Pro or any other individual Studio application, you must reinstall all of the Studio applications. Although certain material does not need to be re-installed, as we'll cover next.

1. Delete all relevant applications that were installed with the initial installation. Specifically, in the Application folder, throw the Final Cut Pro Pro application into the trash (and all other Studio applications). If you are reinstalling because of an issue with Compressor, also check out this article Compressor: Troubleshooting basics which outlines certain other files that should be deleted before reinstalling.

2. Trash certain "receipt" files.

            A) Go to the Macintosh hard drive > Library > Receipts.

            B) Select the file FinalCutPro.pkg by single-clicking on it.

            C) Change the view of the folder to list and click on the Date Modified column.

            D) Throw into the trash any other items that have a modification date within 3 minutes of the FinalCutPro.pkg's modification date, including trashing the FinalCutPro.pkg file.

            E) Throw away any other receipts that have FinalCutPro in the name.

3. Go to Home directory > Library > Preferences. Trash all Final Cut Pro preference files (see Trashing Final Cut Pro Preferences).

2. Repair permissions before installing Final Cut Studio as outlined earlier (see Repair Permissions).

3. Install Final Cut Studio from the installation discs, but follow the steps below to avoid having to reinstall everything, specifically the additional "content" for Motion, Live Type, Soundtrack Pro and DVD Studio Pro. This additional content was installed the first time you installed Final Cut Studio and generally doesn't need to be reinstalled.

            A) After agreeing to the license agreement, destination and a few other prompts in the installation process, you will reach the "Installation Type" page listing all the applications and content to be installed.

            B) To the left of the listing for Motion, Soundtrack Pro, DVD Studio Pro and Live Type are disclosure triangles. Click on the triangles to open the list of content to be installed.

            C) Most things are installed by default, and those items are grayed out and can not be un-checked. But some items are optional, and the checkboxes next to those items will be available. Click into any available checkboxes to un-check them (a couple checkboxes need to be clicked more than once to be completely un-checked).

            D) Continue along with the installation.

4. After installing, repair permissions again.

5. If there are any updates to Final Cut Pro and other Studio applications, even if previously installed, they will need to be installed again. Check Software Update. Before and after installing any updates, remember to repair permissions.

Here is a link to an Apple article detailing some of the same procedures: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=302337