Post-defrag bug in MF4; Proj. settings lost

[nyco_ork]

I've just discovered a bug in MF 4 that I know won't be fixed; I'm wondering if it has been fixed in MF 5.

I just copied over several projects to my extra-large backup HDD (outboard USB), then defragged the active HDD where I do my actual work. When I tried to reload the projects that remained on the active drive (either F: or H:), I got a message that "file has been modified; link to a new one?" This message is referring to the Mpeg file with the video material, not to the project file. Clicking either yes or no brings up an explorer window; if I link to the mpeg in the original folder, when the project loads, all the edits and chapter marks are lost. The only thing left is the main title menu.

If I tell the project to load the Mpeg from the backup drive (K; or L:), the same thing happens.

Now here's the rub: projects that were saved to the backup drive and DELETED from the original location are handled differently. If I load those projects from their new location on the backup drive, the message I get is one saying that the original file doesn't exist; do I want to relink? I point it to the mpeg in the new location, the project loads, and everything is there.

Really annoying. I didn't want to delete the projects that were still in their original locations, because I may have more work to do on them. What I did was temporarily remove the working HDD from the system, to trick the program into thinking the original files didn't exist; then I could load the projects from the backup drive, recover all the edits, and resave the projects in their new folders.

MyDVD has no problem at all with either the defragged files or the ones on the backup drive. This is obviously a Ulead bug. MF 4 thinks that a defragged file is a modified file.

How does MF5 handle this situation? Anyone been using it long enough to find out? I don't have it yet, since they pulled it from the market.

Richard

[sjj1805]

This sounds like a problem unique to your machine.
I have a multi-hard drive system and have set up a defrag schedule using Windows Scheduled Tasks so that each of my 3 main drives gets defragged twice per week (on different nights) commencing at 0400 hrs.
I have never suffered this problem.

[hbjeffers]

The same thing happened to me except I never moved or copied the project files. I ran defragment on the hard drive ( it is the 2nd drive in my system). When I tried to open the existing projects I got the message that said the files were modified and do I want to relink. I selected the same file ( exact same path, exact same file ) that MF4 said had been modified. When I opened the project all the chapter information was gone.

[hbjeffers]

Steve, I just had a thought about this topic. Since you defragment your drives on a regular schedule, it is possible that none of your MF projects has ever actually been moved by the defragment program. Does this make sense? Since your drive is always "clean" then any new project you create will be recorded as a contiguous file so it would not be moved by the defragmenter. Have you ever deleted an older project, run the defragment program, then opened a later project?

I'm pretty much thinking out loud here. Any thoughts?

Mike

[sjj1805]

The reason I have this defrag routine set up is because I am on a daily basis importing and later deleting several gigabytes of video files!
This almost always involves at least two of My Hard Drives.
My Operating system and Program files are on "C"
My captures go to "D"
The edited files go to "Z"
They are all seperate physical hard drives not partitions.

[nyco_ork]

I found a workaround, in any event. It's a kludge, but it works.

I had one project on the defragmented drive that had not been copied to the backup drive, so the loss of chapters was unrecoverable simply by opening the project. What I did was take my cue from what happened to the projects on the backup drive.

I created a new directory on the same drive as the defragged project, with a different folder name, then moved the entire project to the new folder, so the original folder was empty. Then I got the message that the file didn't exist, did I want to relinK? Which I did, and all the chapters were there. Then I resaved the project in the new folder.

I guess I will have to follow this procedure anytime I do a defrag. I do not schedule them the way Steve does, because I'm not doing this fulltime on a daily basis. I will, however, do it more often, perhaps before I start a large new project, so the new project won't need defragging later.

Richard

[hbjeffers]

>>I am on a daily basis importing and later deleting several gigabytes of video files

I kind of figured that. Oh well. If it happens again I will try the workaround. But in the future I will run the defragmenter before creating a project so I can avoid the problem completely. Thanks for your help.

Mike

[bquerry]

I have a bunch of projects that I tweak built at various times of the year. When re-loading the project, if I am in DST and the project was created when not in DST (and vice versa) I get the same message. What I do is chnage the clock back or forward 1 hour depending on the date of the original project, re-load the project, reset the time to the correct time with the project open, do my work, save as a new project. A real pain especailly since it happened right in the middle of a project on April 1, DST time switch day, but it works. YMMV, but this is how it works using MF3 with all updates on 2 different systems - don't know if MF4 fixed this "daylight savings time" bug. I have MF4, but I am still afraid to upgrade due to the delicate nature of the frame/flickering video problems I constantly fight.

[nyco_ork]

That is an interesting thought. I happened to do the defrag on Sunday, the first day of Daylgiht Savings Time. Could be that is the problem, not the defrag. All the projects I've saved so far were created in Standard Time. I'll experiment with this on my next project, which will have been created in DST. I'll do a defrag just to see what happens.

R

[omnitech]

I've lost a number of slideshow projects exactly as you all have described. First I get the relink message. Then when the project comes up at least one of the chapters displays colored lines and I'm unable to edit. Clicking on that chapter deletes it. If I try to hit "next" I get an error message that says "there are unlinked media files in the project. You must delete them in order to continue."
I do defragment often, but my technical knowledge is limited so I'm not sure how to save these projects other than just completely redoing them from scratch (knowing that they'll eventually be lost again).
I have noticed that the links for the projects that are having problems turn blue, while the other projects that are okay are still black.
This problem has become quite frustrating. I am currently using a bundled version of MF4 that came with my dvd drive. Does anybody know if upgrading to a full version would eliminate this problem?
Thanks!!