After Effects project (.aep) file is being deleted on Save

I came to this forum to try to troubleshoot this exact same problem.

Mac M3 Ultra

96 GB

Sequoia 15.3

AE 25.2.2 (Build 2)

PR 25.2.3 (Build 4)

I'm experiencing this after transitioning to Mac from PC so all my projects (as of now) were created in the windows ecosystem. I did use dynamic link. 

After relinking and opening on the new Mac, the AEP file disappears from the drive within like, 5 or 10 minutes of working.

I use a NAS.

So far the only workaround that's worked is re-saving the AE projects to the local drive. But for several reasons this isn't ideal.

This seems like a huge bug, i"m shocked there's been no response from Adobe or surefire solve in this thread for nearly 2 years.

I'm running into the same issue. Upon saving and closing, After Effects deletes its own project file in addition to all Auto Save files - no trace of the AE project remains. It doesn't make it to the trash, it's just gone. It should be impossible and the consequences of this happening on a big job are terrifying. If anyone from Adobe visits these forms, please make this a priority, this is as serious as it gets. 

DETAILS: As others have experienced, I created the project file on PC through dynamic-link and then opened it through Premiere (via "edit original") on a Mac. The specific task was using Rotobrush 3. It happened in 2024. I run both 24 and 25 on the same machine. I was editing off a T7 on M2 Max, Ventura 13.5.

QUETIONS: 

-- Has anyone experienced this problem outside of this specific scenario? 

-- Does it delete versioned files too?

-- Do we have a confirmed deletion in AE 2025?

MY TEMP SOLUTIONS: Obviously, I'm going to stop using dynamic-link until this is sorted out. I'm going to back up my versioned AE files on disconnected hard drives.  Hopefully that's enough.

In 15 years of working with Adobe, this is by far the worst, most catastrophic bug I've experienced, and that's saying something. 

I'm having the same problem. My projects disappear. It's happened twice so far. I recently migrated from Windows and use an external SSD for work. The 2 lost projects were created in Windows. A very unpleasant situation. A considerable loss of time and rework.

I'm revisting this issue once again. From the responses here, I think it may be helpful to add a few more details. 
1. SSD type. I am using Samsung T7 Shields for the external hard drive. I can try others, but am curious if this might be part of the problem. 
2. The SSD is ExFAT formatted
3. If I I save the After Effects file, it disappears. But "save as" does allow a file to be kept on the hard drive.
4, To clarify, the "disappeared" After Effects file ceases to exist, it is not misplaced (like I can search and find it at some odd location), it is gone
If anyone else has details they think are relevant from their experiences, please respond. It's been over a year with no real solution offered.

Oh no!!!! It just happened to me again with Premiere and After Effects 2025!!!

This bug is ridiculous!!! 

Pleas Adobe, solve this immediatly!

I have been having this issue as well on windows with files made on mac and passed to me.

it's a very serious problem 

@shrayanka 
I think I speak for the other customers in this chat when I say that we want a status update on this issue.
It's been confirmed with many users now. It's not a problem with our systems, it's very clearly an Adobe Premiere/AE bug. What is being done to fix this? We need some prompt action from your development team on this absolutely necessary fix.

If you have any online drive (onedrive in my case) the file was in the paper bin from the pc (where I created the dynamil link project)

what to do when you loose a 2 days of progress, thanks to this bug? Any possible solution?