Linking Media on PC

Report · Jun 04, 2019

Sup,

We just moved over to PC instead of Mac, and we keep running into this issue that seems very unreasonable and that there should be some kind of solution for this.

We have large project files, containing thousands of clips. When the project file opens up for the first time, premiere will attempt to locate everything - as it should, and we will point it to the location of one of the files, and of course it will locate the rest - however this takes large amounts of time because of the size of the projects. Note: The media is all stored on external drives.

The problem is this: Every time we move the computer, plug in new external hard drives, or remove other hard drives, the drive letter changes from E: to F: or to G: or whatever letter. Therefore, when you re open the project, you have to locate everything - every time. This takes substantial amounts of time.

I can't imagine that this isn't a problem for anybody else out there. Does anybody have anything on this?

Report · Jun 04, 2019

As a Windows+PrPro user for almost a decade, this is definitely something I've had to live with, and figured it's just a part of working in Premiere on Windows. Usually it hasn't been an issue for me in terms of time, even when dealing with ~3-4TB of RED footage. Worst case scenario, find the first clip, hit okay, and grab a sandwich while you let it process.

I think the issue here is that you mention "The media is all stored on external driveS."

Do you have footage for one project located across multiple external hard drives? That would be why it take such a long time, and why you have to relink each drive separately. I'd recommend getting a portable RAID setup, or if it's moving between computers in the same building, look into setting up an NAS (server), and just connect your computers to that.

Report · Jun 04, 2019

tylers46994722 wrote
I can't imagine that this isn't a problem for anybody else out there. Does anybody have anything on this?

Yes, it's not. First off, I'd have to mention its much more preferable to edit on internal drives. You wouldn't have this issue.

However, you should assign a drive letter to that media, whatever media you would be using where repeatable paths are an issue. In the Windows 'Computer Management' dialog you can add/remove/change drive letters. And when you give a drive a letter, it will come up the same each time.

Use the Windows RUN dialog from your start menu and enter: compmgmt.msc Click on Disk Management, then right-click whichever drive to add the letter.

Report · Jun 05, 2019

Step 3H below will solve this for you.

Unofficial Premiere Pro Troubleshooting Guide