Lost Library Manager folders and clips after a reinstall

[mcope1961]

Due to reinstalling VideoStudio 10 Plus because of a reported problem with Service Pack 1 http://phpbb.ulead.com.tw/EN/viewtopic.php?t=17282, I have lost the clips I placed in special Library Manager folders I had created. Are those gone for good or is there a way to relocate them on my computer? Thanks.

[Ron P.]

That depends on where those folders were located on your system. Generally they are found under C:\Documents and Settings\UserName\Application Data\Ulead Systems\Ulead Video Studio\VideoStudio 10.

When installing or reinstalling then VS will most likely overwrite these. Try checking there to see if they may still be there and intact. If they are still there, to get the thumbnails back into the Libraries, in VS, select the Load Video icon, (Folder looking) then navigate to where they are on your system.

One safety net is System Restore. You might try going back to a time before you had problems and see if that may at least get them back so you can move them.

[heinz-oz]

If you haven't already followed vidoman's advice, don't. A system restore is likely to cause you other grief as well. System restore only restores the registry, data files are untouched. If the install overwrote your clips, they are gone.

As a rule, I always install programs into their default location and change the location for files I create after.

[mcope1961]

I think they're gone. I'll have to rescan about 3 hours of clips. I'm not going to try to use SP1 again until I'm between my next projects.

[andrewt]

Hi

Where did you create the special library folders. Do you mean from the Library Manager to create new pages.?

The clips in the library represent the captured video as a thumbnail. They are not the actual captured files.

Afaik, when you re-install the program the library will be re-written to its default. But the actual captured files should be still on your hard drive. Unless during the uninstall you actually deleted your working folder and captured files. If they were small enough they may be in your re-cycle bin.
Your VSP files should also be available, provided you haven’t deleted them as well.

Search your pc for *.vsp

If you find them, open in VS, If you get a Re-Link notification, see if you can find the files.

Captured files are stored in the ‘Capture/Working Folder’.
Did you previously change this folder or are you using the default location.?

I find it best to create a separate working folder for each project, that way I do not mix up my files.
If you used the default location:-

Go to file – Preferences- Working Folder. To view its location.

Its worth another look anyway

Trevor

[mcope1961]

Where did you create the special library folders. Do you mean from the Library Manager to create new pages.?

The clips in the library represent the captured video as a thumbnail.

Yes, I meant thumbnails, not clips, in Library Manager folders I created, not the default ones. I have not lost any captured files or projects, just the Library Manager folders I created and the thumbnails I had in them.

Answer me this, as I'm trying to get a better understanding of the Library Manager and its contents. I have two user profiles on my machine, one called "Mitchell" and the other "Video Editing". While I have no problem sharing projects and videos between these two user profiles using VS10+, they both have different Library Managers for their user. I'd like to have them share the same Library Manager. I think I could do this with a symbolic link created with a tool like Winbolic Link. I know the Library Manager is using one or more files as databases to contain folder and thumbnail information. What is the directory path for the file(s) used to persist the Library Manager?

With this information, I could symbolically link one profile path to the other. What would be even better is to put this one directory somewhere else on my machine and have two symbolic links point to it, one from each user profile. Then before I did my next uninstall and install, I could just delete those two links, preserving my single Library Manager. I would recreate the two links after the install.

As a suggestion to Ulead, I would prefer to have the Library Manager be a part of the project, and saved as such. This could also be a preference option for those that wouldn't want to work this way. From a software perspective, the Library Manager may be one of the weakest parts of VS10+ because it does seem to be so harded coded.

Another thing that they could do is to have a better way of moving thumbnails from one folder to another. Currently, you have to do a copy in one folder then do a paste in another folder, then go back and do a delete in the first folder. Why not have a "cut" function that would effectively do both the copy and the delete?

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

Sorry but I cannot help with your user profiles but the following may help.

The library files are called :

VS_Image.dat
VS_Video.dat
VS_Audio.dat
VS_Title.dat
VS_Flash.dat

etc

C:\Documents and Settings\your name\Application Data\Ulead Systems\Ulead VideoStudio\10.0

If you re-install VS copy these files first, then replace after installation.

Hope this Helps

Trevor

[wbusselle]

Windows 7 does not have C:Document and Settings/Users

How to I get VS to point to the new scheme without resorting to a hexascii editor?

[BrianCee]

On my Windows 7 computer those .dat files are stored in :-

C:\Program Files (x86)\Corel\Corel VideoStudio Pro X5\Ulead.dat\

or the same for X4 - just change the 5 to a 4

I would assume that on a 32bit PC it would be the same but without the (x86)