Premiere freezes when trying to link to media on separate drive

Report · Oct 28, 2023

Every time I start Premiere the same thing happens:

Premiere boots normally and shows me the project window
I'm able to select a project and Premiere starts to load it
Once project is open, media that resides on a second internal drive isn't linked. The progress dashboard doesn't show an attempt to find and link media. Premiere eventualy grays out and I have to force crash it out.

The workaround is that I have to rename one of the asset folders on the second drive to trigger Premiere to look for files. I guide Premiere to the renamed folder and verything links and is fine. Even if I switch projects, everything links fine.

But if I close and then restart Premiere, the same problem happens and I have to use the same workaround. Not a time consuming fix but tedious and annoying.

Anyone know why Premiere stalls when trying to read internal drives? This is a 4 month old Windows 11 machine with 32GB RAM. Boot drive is SSD and the media drive is HDD. Running PP 2024.

Report · Dec 04, 2023

Is there an admin or someone from Adobe that cam help me with this issue? It has not gone away. After doing tests with storing media in different locations, the problem doesnot go away. I'm losing vital edit time with constant freezes every time I try to open a project.

Report · Dec 04, 2023

FAQ: How to clean media cache files |Adobe Community

This hdd is it a regular spinning drive?

Report · Dec 04, 2023

Hi @Ann Bens. The first drive when this started was an internal spinning drive. I tested it on the internal SSD/boot drive and same problem occured. Also tested on an external spining drive and encountered same issue. Have not tested external SSD yet.

Report · Dec 04, 2023

Adobe recommends high speed drive for media.

Report · Dec 05, 2023

@Ann Bens Thanks for your ongoing support.

I moved all my video to a high speed external SSD and the same problem happens when I restart Premiere. The program doesn't connect to the source files that were linked teh last time Premiere was open and I can't force a relink. If I click anywhere within the interface, the program freezes, grays out and I have to crash out. The only workaround is to rename the folder that holds my media before I start Premiere and then relink the footage files. This has been ongoing for months now across every project.

The only files living in the internal spin drive are music and small After Effects exports. In tehory, Premeire should eb abel to handle those with ease.

In older versions of Premiere, and on an older & outdated computer, I wa able to edit with 4K video files on a spining external drive with no problem. This is a new computer with a strong video card and plenty of RAM.

Could there be a windows 11 setting that needs to be adjusted? Could a driver be causing this issue?

I've cleaned the cache multiple times, removed extraneous Nvidia apps, got rid of MacDrive and tried various things suggested via community groups.

The next thing I will try is to re-install Premiere.

Report · Dec 05, 2023

Could having PP2023 still installed on the same machine be causing any conflict?

Report · Dec 05, 2023

Different versions can work side by side without issues.

Report · Dec 05, 2023

Delete the Media Cache and Media Cache files:
https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro/faq-how-to-clear-your-media-cache-in-30-seconds-in-premi...

If that doesn't work, try resetting the preferences:
https://community.adobe.com/t5/premiere-pro/faq-how-to-reset-trash-preferences-in-premiere-pro/td-p/...

If that doesn't work, try resetting the Workspaces:
Reset a workspace
Reset the current workspace to return to its original, saved layout of panels.
1. Do one of the following:
• Click the Workspace menu icon and select Reset to Saved Layout.
• Choose Window > Workspace > Reset to Saved Layout.
from here:
https://helpx.adobe.com/premiere-pro/using/workspaces.html

If that doesn't work, try Preferences > Audio Hardware and set Input to None.

If that doesn’t work, try updating or rolling back your graphics driver directly from the video card manufacturer’s site. If NVIDIA, do a clean installation of the latest Studio Driver (NOT the Game Driver).

If that doesn't work, try creating a new project and import the old one into it.

Report · Dec 05, 2023

Thanks for the suggestions @Peru Bob

I removed all versiosn of Premiere and did a fresh install first and the problem kept recurring.

I then tried everything on your list and only when launching Premiere via the reset preferences method, the project opens with all of the media connected and operates properly. I then closed Premiere, without changing anything, and restarted it normally only to have the same problem return.

On the plus side, if I trash preferences at every startup my project will load normally, but I then have to modify all my preferences at each startup.

Does the above help in narrowing down where the issue may lie?

I should also note, with the original problem and workaround I was using, once Premiere was up and running and I had all media linked, I could switch between projects with no issue. But if I restart Premiere, the problem repeats itself.

So all my tests indicate that something is blocking Premier's ability to trigger the link to media folders upon opening the program. But what is that blocker and why does trashing prefernces clear the blockage?

Report · Dec 13, 2023

Anyone else have any ideas as to what is at the root of the problem?

Thanks to the suggestions provided, I narrowed things down to this:

only when launching Premiere via the reset preferences method, the project opens with all of the media connected and operates properly. I then closed Premiere, without changing anything, and restarted it normally only to have the same problem return.

On the plus side, if I trash preferences at every startup my project will load normally, but I then have to modify all my preferences at each startup.

It's a bit furstarting to have to change folder names before every start up to trigger Premiere to connect with media properly. What is it about the preferences that's causing this hangup?

Report · Dec 13, 2023

I wonder if your antivirus or firewall might be preventing the preferences from being saved?

Do you have any automatic optimizing software installed?

Report · Dec 13, 2023

@Peru Bob Not running any optimizing software. Don't see firewall being an issue, I assume preferences are saved locally. If I make changes to preferences, they do get saved and appear as they should once the project is up and running.

It's odd that trashing preferences unblocks the hangup Premiere has with connecting to media files.

I'll do a deep dive through teh windows ant-virus settings to see if anything sticks out as problematic.

Report · Sep 25, 2024

Did you get a resolution? I have been fighting this the last couple days and its killing me.