Scratch Disk Paths Keep Changing to Same as Project

[chrisn21747402]

Using Premiere Elements 2020.

Edit>Preferences>Scratch Disks

There are six scratch disk paths available in this window.  I set the Audio Previews path to be "Same as Project", while the remaining five paths are set to Custom, pointing out to a different disk drive than the project is on.  These settings save fine if I close and re-open PE.  I can create a new project and the settings stay fine.  However, if I close out of PE after creating a new project, then open that project, four of the five scratch disks that had a Custom path before are all now back to "Same as Project".  Oddly, the Media Cache path stays on the Custom path specified earlier.

Does anyone know why these scratch disk paths keep reverting to "Same as Project"?

System Info:

- Windows 10 Pro 64-bit version 1903

- Adobe Premiere Elements 2020 version 18.0

- i7-980

- 24GB RAM

- 1TB SSD for OS and app, 120GB SSD for project files and audio previews, and 500GB SSD for remainder of scratch disks (at least that's what I'm trying to do)

- GTX 1060 3GB

[Bill Sprague]

I've not been able to figure out how to get Premiere Elements to remember my scratch disk preferences.   One "work around" is to make a master template project.  Open a fresh project, make all the setting you want and save it.  Then when starting a fresh project, open the master template, check your settings and do a Save As to a new project file name.  

[chrisn21747402]

Unlike all other preferences, scratch disk preferences are tied to each individual project.  My problem is that even when I save the custom scratch disk paths in a project and re-lauch Premiere Elements, those paths get changed back to "Same as Project".  I've created several test project files on different drives on my computer and they all fail to save the custom scratch disk paths.

Just got off of a chat session with Adobe support where they took control of my machine to troublehsoot the issue.  They did a bunch of testing and confirmed the issue to be true.  They tried several things, but could not get PE to remember the custom scratch disk paths.  Got to the point where they wanted to re-install Premiere Elements, but I declined as currently cannot risk having the Elements Organizer app uninstalled as I'm working on a time sensitive project in it.  Will try re-installing PE at a later time and see how that goes.

[MemoryofMagic]

An interesting twist on this problem.  I have a few old Elements 13 projects that I am converting to version 2020.  They were all originally set up with custom scratch disks.  When I open and save in 2020, the original scratch locations are retained.  If I then change them in the program to "Same as Project," and then save and restart, the scratch locations revert to the original custom locations.  The other interesting thing is that the elements preferences file changes as well.

I would really like for the scratch locations to be consistent either way.  I don't want my conversions to have scratch files in a "Custom" location while my new projects automatically go to "Same as Project." 

I tried the master template technique for the new files, but it doesn't seem to retain the custom settings when I add new clips and save to a new project.  It reverts to "same as project."

This is on PC Premiere Elements 2020.

[Bill Sprague]

"Will try re-installing PE at a later time and see how that goes."

I would not bother with that.  I've been using Premiere Elements since version 9 and the scratch disks have never been "sticky".   Checking them and changing them to what I want has always been a first step when I start a project.  It is inconvienent but only for a few seconds!

[chrisn21747402]

That's disappointing to hear, but appreciate the heads up.

I went ahead a wrote a PowerShell script to specify the scratch disk paths for me so I don't have to manually do it every time.  The code is shown below.  Just replace the paths with your own.  Once the script is executed, you have 4 seconds to manually select the Premiere Elements program window before it starts sending keystrokes.  Make sure you manually click on the Premiere Elements program window before it starts sending keystrokes, or those keystrokes will be sent to whatever program is currently active.

### SLEEP TO ALLOW MANUAL SELECTION OF PREMIERE ELEMENTS PROGRAM WINDOW ###

Sleep -Seconds 4

### ENABLE USE OF SendKeys ###

[void] [System.Reflection.Assembly]::LoadWithPartialName("'System.Windows.Forms")
Sleep -Milliseconds 1000

### GET TO SCRATCH DISKS PREFERENCES MENU ###

#Alt to select menu bar
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("%")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#E to select Edit
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("e")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#N to select Preferences
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("n")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#S to select Scratch Disks
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("s")
Sleep -Milliseconds 1000

### CAPTURED VIDEO ###

#Tab 5 times to move to Browse for Captured Video
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("{TAB 5}")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#Space to select Browse for Captured Video
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait(" ")
Sleep -Milliseconds 1000

#Type in folder path for Captured Video
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("X:\Premiere Elements\Captured Video\")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#Tab to move to Select Folder
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("{TAB}")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#Space to select Select Folder
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait(" ")
Sleep -Milliseconds 1000

### CAPTURED AUDIO ###

#Tab 2 times to move to Browse for Captured Audio
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("{TAB 2}")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#Space to select Browse for Captured Audio
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait(" ")
Sleep -Milliseconds 1000

#Type in folder path for Captured Audio
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("X:\Premiere Elements\Captured Audio\")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#Tab to move to Select Folder
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("{TAB}")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#Space to select Select Folder
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait(" ")
Sleep -Milliseconds 1000

### VIDEO PREVIEWS ###

#Tab 2 times to move to Browse for Video Previews
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("{TAB 2}")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#Space to select Browse for Video Previews
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait(" ")
Sleep -Milliseconds 1000

#Type in folder path for Video Previews
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("X:\Premiere Elements\Video Previews\")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#Tab to move to Select Folder
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("{TAB}")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#Space to select Select Folder
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait(" ")
Sleep -Milliseconds 1000

### DISC ENCODING ###

#Tab 2 times to move to Browse for Disc Encoding
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("{TAB 6}")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#Space to select Browse for Disc Encoding
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait(" ")
Sleep -Milliseconds 1000

#Type in folder path for Disc Encoding
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("X:\Premiere Elements\Disc Encoding\")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#Tab to move to Select Folder
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait("{TAB}")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

#Space to select Select Folder
[System.Windows.Forms.SendKeys]::SendWait(" ")
Sleep -Milliseconds 500

[omiazad]

Why the hell I would do this?

Didn't I pay Adobe to do things properly?

[Steve Grisetti]

Sorry. We thought you came to this forum for help.

[omiazad]

and you also need not to get involved on every conversation just to keep your rank high. Cheers!