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J
jeffm31724173
Inspiring
June 7, 2018
Answered

Why can't I save a project or even move an after effects folder to and external hard drive?

  • June 7, 2018
  • 3 replies
  • 4015 views

Older projects were saved to the same hard drive but now I suddenly can't save anything for safe keeping. I don't want to save everything on my desktop.

I might have been using the 2015 version before but not totally sure. Does that really make a difference, if so? I've been trying to figure this out for hours now...I also wish there was someone you could actually talk to at adobe. It's prob something simple but any answer that might have passed under my eyes is embedded in so much convoluted discussion here in these forums, there's no point in even scanning the often snarky replies (that I can detect).

So, yeah, help me if you can please.

Thanks,

J

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer jeffm31724173

    What happens when you try to Save to an external HD? Does an error message appear? Do you have sufficient space on this external drive? Is you current AEP saved within a network setup? Is there anything specific to your network setup that prevents you from saving anything (not just AEPs) onto an external drive?


    The error message appears. Yes, have tons of space. Yep, to network, too.

    I forget what error message said verbatim because I got it working again awhile ago. When I updated my computer I had to reset my external hard drives, too, and switch it from "read only" in Disk Utility for the hard drives to "Read and Write". I'm being a little vague, some would say I'm blathering, but that's because I did this awhile ago. I've mentioned before I work a lot so sometimes I can't respond right away. But yeah, problem solved, though I can't believe no one has come across this before.

    I should also point out that the screen on my computer cracked at one point, so I had to back up the hard drive when I sent the computer back. All these things may have a prompted the external hard drives not to recognize my computer after it was reset/rebooted etc. So that's it. Took me forever to find this out. Thanks for giving a shit, y'all!

    3 replies

    B
    Community Expert
    Byron CortezCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 7, 2018

    Ey Jeffm

    Give us a little more information, for example on what file system your hard drive is formatted, if you changed last from Mac to Windows, what version of Ae are you using, things like that in order to have a better overview of your issue.

    Byron.
    Szalam
    Community Expert
    SzalamCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    June 7, 2018

    Mylenium may have been a bit...harsh in his post, but he's right; we don't know enough to help you at all.

    After Effects should be able to save to any location you have write access to and space. If you're using Windows Explorer and can't move an AE file, that's not an AE problem; that's a problem on the OS level.

      J
      jeffm31724173Author
      Inspiring
      June 8, 2018

      Yeah, sorry, this problem seems so fundamental that I guess I assumed every aspect of my computer and AE set-up would be moot.

      My computer is a MacBook Pro OS 10.13.4. I installed AE 2018 before I realized it was about to collapse in on itself so then I re-installed 2017.

      As I mentioned in my previous "blather" the last time I used After Effects a couple of years ago, for a class, we used the 2015 version. I don't remember having difficulty saving my files and folders to an external hard drive especially when the instructor suggested we used one, in the first place.

      When I do try to save things it just says

      J
      jeffm31724173Author
      Inspiring
      June 8, 2018

      Man this thing is clunky. Adobe, can you employ some UX designers please. Here's my original message:

      Yeah, sorry, this problem seems so fundamental that I guess I assumed every aspect of my computer and AE set-up would be moot.

      My computer is a MacBook Pro OS 10.13.4. I installed AE 2018 before I realized it was about to collapse in on itself so then I re-installed 2017.

      As I mentioned in my previous "blather" the last time I used After Effects a couple of years ago, for a class, we used the 2015 version. I don't remember having difficulty saving my files and folders to an external hard drive especially when the instructor suggested we used one, in the first place. 

      When I do try to save things to the hard drive it just says "After Effects warning: Could not open the file /Volumes/External Brain/AEtemp-5b4612-untitled project.aep".

      I'll probably just go back to 2015 at this rate but it nevertheless bothers me and I'd like to solve it. Could be simple, I'm no expert (ask the douche semi-troll Mylenium).

      Is this enough info?

      Jeff

      PS-I'm part of the working class so sometimes it's hard to respond immediately. Forgive the pause.

      Mylenium
      Mylenium
      Legend
      June 7, 2018

      You have not provided any technical information, so we can't tell you what might be going on. Sorry, but blathering on in vague and generic descriptions is of no use to anyone. You have not told us your system info, no details about your actual drive layout, storage capacities, what version of Ae you actually use, what's going on in the projects and so on.

      Mylenium

        J
        jeffm31724173Author
        Inspiring
        June 7, 2018

        Thanks, sir, I like abuse, so this helps a lot. And thanks for underscoring my point.

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