Broken, Misplaced, and Duplicated Links - Illustrator 24.0.3

[polly_esther]

I'm working off a password-protected external drive, with my AI files and links are all in the same place. AI is flipping out on my links. All of this happens every time I open a file:

• It tells me the links are missing, no matter how many times I relink and save a new version.
• When it's relinking the files, AI does this whackadoo thing where it previews the images all in one (incorrect) location until it's done updating everything, and then the images seem to be in the right place.
• However, it always results in duplicate versions of images, sometimes in the exact same spot behind their counterpart where I won't notice, and sometimes at a completely different scale in a random location.
• Links to files that have multiple pages (AI or PDF) never relink to the correct page.
• Sometimes the images seemingly duplicate on their own! I saved a PDF and certain pages had darker versions of the images. In PDF edit, I was able to delete overlapping duplicate images, but when I go back to AI they're not actually there.

The links aren't even all the same format (I have layered TIFs, PSDs, AI/EPS, and PDFs). I assume this is related to the drive, but I haven't been able to work locally to find out. Either way, it seems like a major bug!

HALP!

[Ton Frederiks]

I don't know how your files and folders are organized on this drive, but Illustrator will look first for links in a folder named Links next to the Illustrator file. 

[polly_esther]

Thanks for your response, Ton. My department has the same folder structure for all projects, whether local, external or server-based. But the folder is called "_LINKS" next to the AI file.

[Ton Frederiks]

I tried it with an _LINKS folder and that failed, but a LINKS folder (without the underscore) worked.

[dDembicki]

This happens to random files for me too. The links (in the most recent case) are in the same folder with the AI file. It happens regardless of where the links are. Also, I've never seen AI automatically relink files the way that ID does. If the linked files are moved they always have to be manually re-linked.