Missing Media Problem.

Question

I ended my editing session, reopened the project the next day, and numerous Media files were not found.I’m on a Mac mini running Premiere Pro 2025.I did save my project, and a backup, on another drive.  I have AutoSave turned on.Doesn't matter, though, because the backup and the Autosave files have the same files that are missing.
The method I was using in this project was as follows:
Video was shot on my iPhone.
I waited for the videos to sync with iCloud.
I opened the Photos app on the Mac Mini, and they were all visible.
In Photos app, I created a collection and put the videos in the collection
I opened Premiere Pro and created a BIN I wanted to place the files in. 
In the Photos app and I selected the files I wanted to edit.
ChoseImage Menu
Edit WithAdobe Premiere 2025.
 
This imported all the selected files into the BIN. 
(I tried Many other methods, but only got JPGs, or .mov files with no sound.  Or the files just didn’t import.  This was the only way I found that worked.)
I edited the Project in Premiere and previewed it.  Lovely.
At the end of the day, I saved everything, and a backup on another drive.
The next day, I open the same project and most of the files I imported from the Photos App were missing.  All the files point to this “ExternalEditSessions” folder and I don’t know why. For some reason my link to this folder was changed and I don’t know how or why. Thanks in advance for any help provided.  Here is a screen capture showing the file path Premiere Pro is expecting for the videos.

JonesVid · Answer

Essentially you need local versions of your images and videos to edit them and export etc in Premiere Pro.

I'm not a Mac user but I believe the iCloud can be sync'd to your local Pictures folder in the Mac as default.

If you don't have sync enabled then you just see link references and I believe lo res thumbnails.

Any videos require internet to play and if you had a 4K file at 100 FPS that would need a fast link.

You normally don't sync if you have a big library and little space on yur HDD.

You can use an External HDD/SDD with fast link such as Thunderbolt or fast USB-C 3.2 if you want to always have your full library locally.

If you download the 'original full res files' you used in your project locally and re-link the media in Premiere (point to where local files are stored on your Mac ) it should work again.

Premiere normally flags up it can't find files when opening project so you just search for the first one and sync all.

I've just done a similar task to download over 200 4K UHD 50fps video files from iCloud to my Windows PC which I took with my iPhone 15 Pro.

Premiere uses those files for my project.

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