P: Major issues with 'link media...'

Dude they are so bad for the past year.

Everytime i click the project, it starts to relink media like it was never linked before, no more “conforming files” that was lasting for 10 seconds, now i need to wait 2-4 minutes EVERY TIME TO LINK EVERYTHING… im loosing mu shirt overhere xD

[Profanity removed by moderator]

@Rach McIntire - yes, there are repeat instance of the same file name in the different folders. For example, there's a C0439 in a card folder in the 2021 master folder, and a different C0439 in a differently-named card folder in the 2022 master folder. When automatically linking files, it seems that Premiere searches for file name in the first alpha-numeric folder (in my case, the 2021 master folder) and if there's not a matching file name it moves onto the next master folder in the structure, the 2022 folder and looks for the file name there. I know if every clip had a uniqe file name this would be less of an issue, but that's something I didn't know to set in motion five years ago!

@Dani_V. - always between Windows systems

- .mp4 files, from multiple Sony A7S iii cameras

- I'm not using either of those methods of linking files. So, because the files all automatically linked wrongly when I first opened the project on the new computer, I'm having to unlink them by shift+selecting all the clips in a bin, right-clicking and selecting "Make offline..." (and choosing to keep the media on the drive). Then I'm right-clicking on the still-selected clips and choosing "Link media..." That's the process I'm using (as per this screenshot).

It then gives me this window (below), so I click 'Locate', navigate to the folder where the clips are stored, then select the one that matches the specified file name. Occassionally it links all the files correctly after I select the first one. More often than not it links the one I've specified correctly and then starts searching through the 2021 folder onwards until it finds the same file names for the rest of the selected clips. And lately, in the last few days, it's stopped automatically linking altogether and I have to manually work my way through every single clip in the window (below), which sounds like the problem @Brandon5 is having.

Hey @Dani_V. I don’t think this has helped, it seams that windows will show .MP4 whether the file is .mp4 or .MP4

Hi @braydon, is this happening with the 'Use Media Browser to locate files' option checked, or are you linking files through File Explorer (or does it happen with both)? You also mentioned you've noticed this when jumping from one computer to another. Has this jump been between Windows systems or has it been between Windows and Macs? What files are you working with (are they .mp4s), and what camera model?

@Brandon5, I noticed in your screen recording there is a mismatch between .mp4 and .MP4 under 'Clip Name' vs 'File Name'; can you try unchecking 'File Extension' under the Match File Properties section, and see if that helps?

Thanks for that extra info. The sequential thing is definitely interesting. Are there any repeat camera roll numbers, like a C005 in 2021 and a C005 in 2022, that could be tripping it up?

Hi Rach, thanks so much for your reply.

Yes, the case you referenced sounds almost exactly the same as what I'm experiencing.

The footage lives on external harddrives. The project is located on the PC's SSD, as are the project proxies. I don't use any cloud services for storing video project assets. I've recently moved the footage from many small 5TB harddrives onto a single large RAID, but the incorrect linking has behaved the same.

The main project I work with uses footage from many, many shoots over the last five years. All camera cards are stored in folders with consistent naming conventions, and each year's worth of footage is in a master folder, eg. 2021, 2022, 2023, etc. The reason I know that Premiere is reverting to the top of the directory and searching the folders sequentially is because it keeps incorrectly linking to files in the 2021 or 2022 folders.

One futher piece of info. Sometimes when running 'Link Media...' the first few clips (sometimes up to ~25% of the clips) will be from the folder I've selected, then at a random point the rest are from very different cards. Other times, all but the first clip will be from the wrong folder (the first clip being the one I manually selected to begin the process). Very occassionally it will correctly link all the clips correctly from the folder I've selected, but this is the exception, not the norm.

One point that I didn't mention, but was reminded of by brandon05's case, is that sometimes when linking, the automated process would just stop half way through the list, then I would have to manually link every remaining clip thereafter. This is a new thing I've only just started experiencing, and it hasn't been all that often. It was only on the most recent occurence of this that I noticed the point where it stop was at a numerical gap in the file names, where a clip had been deleted in-camera and the file naming convention skipped a number. For example:

C0047 - linked automatically

C0048 - linked automatically

C0049 - linked automatically

C0051 - prompted to manually link

C0052 - prompted to manually link

C0053 - prompted to manually link

Clip C0050 never existed (and wasn't a clip Premiere was trying to relink) but it seems that because of that numerical gap the automation stopped and the rest of the exercise became became a manual process. I don't know whether a numerical gap was present in other instances of the automatic process failing.

I actually did try to 'Link media..." using only the clips after the numerical gap, to get the automated process to reactivate, but it immediately made me manually link each one.