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Question

.pek files generated daily

Forum|Forum|28 days ago
June 25, 2026
3 replies
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Hi,

I have a problem with Premiere and I haven’t been to find a solution for it. I’m working on a Mac Studio M4 Max, connected to a Ugreen DXP4800 Plus via Network. Working on Tahoe at the moment, but the same issue occurred before on Sequoia. Working on Premiere 26.2.2 but the problem occurred with other versions of Premiere 26 as well.

Every day I open my project, Premiere will generate new .pek files for clips that were already generated before. The old ones remain in the folder where they were originally created and new ones are created in a new folder with the date.

I have tried changing Media Caché location, I re-setted the settings, I made sure the NTP of my NAS and computer match exactly. I actually completed formatted the computer and installed everything from scratch, and the problem remained. I don’t have any plugin.

I have checked the FileID and other metadata in the files on my NAS and nothing changes, so I don’t think the issue is with the NAS itself. I have another computer (exactly same specs) connected to the network in the exact way and that was doesn’t have any issues, it’s just this one location.

I know that there are ways to tell premiere to stop creating wavelengths, etc. — but that’s not a solution for me. I’m working on a long form documentary with clips being imported daily, and I will continue in the project for another 6 months, so I need to solve the issue.

Any suggestions? Potential things that could be causing the problem and I haven’t thought about yet?

It’s incredibly frustrating and unsustainable long term.

Thank you.

CadenBurton

Participant

Since you have an identical computer working perfectly on the same network, this is almost certainly an issue with how the problem Mac is mounting the NAS or handling local file permissions. First, check your hidden /Volumes/ directory in macOS to ensure the NAS isn't secretly mounting with a suffix (like "NAS-1" instead of "NAS"), which breaks Premiere's file paths and forces a cache rebuild every time. Second, go to Premiere's Media Cache preferences and ensure "Save .cfa and .pek media cache files next to original media files when possible" is UNCHECKED; forcing the cache to a purely local, dedicated folder on your Mac's internal SSD (rather than the NAS) usually stops network latency or slight permission quirks from triggering constant regenerations. Finally, verify that both Macs are connecting to the Ugreen NAS using the exact same protocol (SMB).

A

am.aAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hi CandenBurton,

Thanks for the suggestions. Sadly, the problem doesn’t come from any of those either.

Volume is mounting with the correct name (no suffix), the setting you mentioned is uncheck. And I checked just now and both computers are using the same protocol.

It’s so strange...

CadenBurton

Participant

That is really strange. Since you've already checked the mount name, SMB, and cache settings, I wonder if something is changing the files in the background without you noticing.

Do you have Spotlight indexing, a backup app, or any sync software running on that Mac or the NAS? Even a small change to the files or folders could make Premiere create new .pek files again.

Also, does this happen only when you reopen the project, or does it happen every time you close and reopen Premiere? That might help narrow down what's causing it.

P

PaulMurphy

Community Expert

Go to Settings > Media and check whether Write clip markers to XMP is enabled. This could be changing the modified date of the clip and causing Premiere to think it's a new file.

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am.aAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hi Paul,

I don’t have that enable. I have disable “Enable clip and XMP metadata linking” in case that makes a difference. I checked the other computers and none has Write clip markers to XMP available.

Averdahl

Community Expert

I have had those issues on Windows as well and something i noticed that increases the risk of ending up in a loop of re-creating .pek files are to start working with media before the .pek files have been created.

I solved it by closing all Adobe apps and then manually deleted the Media Cache Files and the Media Cache Database. Then i opened the project and did nothing in Premiere until all files were created.

To find the files location: Go to Preferences > Media Cache

I recommend having those files on an internal drive rather than an external drive/network/NAS/DAS.

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am.aAuthor

Participating Frequently

Hi. The Media Cache files are in the internal drive (tried default location from premiere and a different one I set up manually, no difference).

I have also done as you suggested, just creating all the .pek files before doing anything else. Sadly, none of those things worked 😔

Averdahl

Community Expert

Did you remove the Media Cahce and the Media Cache Database at the same time or only the Media Cache?

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