The good news is that it is a very simple structure: there needs to be a parent folder that has two folders in it: a folder named “DCIM” and a folder named “MISC” Put a folder with your files in it in the DCIM folder. It doesn’t matter what the folder is named. The other thing is that you can’t delete the .THM files that come off of the memory card. (They are only a few kb in size, so I don’t know why people delete them in the first place)

In this image my files are in the “Canon 7d card dump 2010-04-16″ folder.

That’s it! Go shoot!

apps
perian – codecs for tons of odd formats all wrapped up into one package.
mpeg streamclip – great for batch encoding to prores, deinterlacing, or a lot of other useful procedures.
vlc – an alternate to quicktime when you find yourself dealing with a tricky file. VLC also correctly reads in pixel size more frequently than quicktime does.

helpers – not full apps, but still useful
compressor presets / droplets.
some applescripts like these
magic bullet looks

etc – not necessary, but will save you some googling
bookmarks to resources
after effects expressions

Oh yeah, one other thing. I don’t actually put this on a usb drive. I wash/lose/forget them far too frequently to keep one in my pocket. I put all of this up on my dropbox (free!) in a folder so I can access it anywhere the internet is.

UPDATE – 03.03.2010
Apps from Alex, linkified for your viewing pleasure

- BigTime (if the client has a pre FCP7 version)
- Flip4Mac (watching WMV files)
- Handbrake / MacTheRipper (for DVD ripping)
- Jes Deinterlacer
- NameMangler (for mass renaming – such a time-saver)
- VisualHub (for speedy conversions and DVD burning) seems to be discontinued.
- Senuti (Useful for ripping songs quickly off of my ipod)