Relinked media doesn't stay linked after saving and reopening project.

[jeremyf9765482]

I recently moved all my media to a different drive on the same computer. I got the relink dialog pop up box as I expected and after linking the first one premiere automatically found the others as expected. The project opened normally and I thought everything was fine. However, I saved the project and closed it. Later I reopened the project and noticed a progress bar in the upper right corner and premiere was barely useable/nearly frozen while this progress bar was going. I opened it and it says "relinking media." THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS THE POP UP relink media box. There are probably a hundred or more clips and this takes about 40 minutes to an hour for this to finish every time I open the project. 

After opening but before the "relinking media" finishes I also checked media file properties. Many of the videos still show the old location for the video and the proxy. This makes me think Premiere pro is not saving the new location even after saving the project several times while it is open. Thus it has to search for the new location every time I open. That is my guess. 

What I have tried

1. restart computer several times. 

2. Hold shift on open and clear media cache in premiere

3. move files again and relink them again.

4. create new project and import old project after relinking media and saving. I never closed the old project.

5. reinstall premiere pro 2025 25.1

6. downgrade to premiere pro 2024 24.7

7. selected all clips in the project and selected "offline media." saved and closed project. Then reopened project and relinked all media. This also didn't work. 

I have been working on this project for months and have had to move it several times because it is so large. About 6 Tb. This problem only started around early December. There were a few updates along the way so it might also be related to updates. I might need to go back more versions of premiere. 

System

Windows 11 Pro x64

Version 10.0.22631 Build 22631

Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5950X 16-Core Processor, 3401 Mhz, 16 Core(s), 32 Logical Processor(s)

Graphics Nvidia RTX A5000

Other notes

Both drives are internal SSDs that don't get disconnected. So the drive letter don't changed and their connection otherwise seem solid. 

[Rach McIntire]

HI @jeremyf9765482,

Welcome to the Premiere Pro forums!  We’re happy you’ve reached out.  When you moved the media did you use the Project Manager or just move them manually and then relink?

[jeremyf9765482]

I did NOT use the project manager. I just cut and pasted the files to a new location as I usually do. I rarely use the project manager unless I want to do something more advanced like remove unused files etc. 

[Rach McIntire]

It could be the multiple updates as well.  Rather than importing the old project into a new one, have you tried copy/ pasting the old project contents into a new one?  Then try closing the old one before saving the new one and see if that makes a difference.

[jeremyf9765482]

I tried selecting the files inside the project and just copying them to a new one, then tried saving it before and after closing the original one. Neither worked. 

Also just FYI... testing this really sucks, because to close the project means waiting I test it when it doesn't work. Not your fault. Just sharing how painful this bug is. At least I can force close it on the final step if I see it is trying to relink them all again. 

[R Neil Haugen]

It would be useful to see the full file tree, as there are certain characters that can foul Premiere disc access processes.

[jeremyf9765482]

I don't think it is the naming as there are no special characters except a dash. 

All the sub folders had these names before the problem started, but just in case.

All Proxies are here F:\YouTube Footage Unused and other\China Trip 1-2 proxies

All the files are here   E:\China Trip\videos files 

Example sub folder E:\China Trip\videos files\10-23-2024 pcb factories 

there are no other special characters. 

[R Neil Haugen]

Thanks ... that's certainly clean enough!