most effective way of deleting thumbnails

[lakewud]

Hi all,

So..ive clogged up my videostudio with heaps of cam footage...edited and the rest...now i want to delete it off my computer all together as i have hours more footage to put on.

Whats the best/most effective way of deleting these thumbnails? And is it possible to really erase them so they are not taking up valuable space on your harddrive...or is the only real method re-loading windows altogether and blanking your harddrive?

[sjj1805]

Firstly take a look at this article:
Various Tweaks to VideoStudio

Very briefly, you have
1. The VideoStudio Program
2. Various Video Files scattered about your hard drive.

When you 'Import' a video into VideoStudio, the file doesnt actualy move, it remains where it already is. You do however get a thumbnail which is a link to that video file.

In the above article I have described how to create separate library folders to keep these thumbnail in. If you delete those libraries and/or the thumbnail you have simply broken the link. The videos themselves are still there on your hard drive in their original positions.

This means you can re-import (or perhaps less confusing - relink) those videos and recreate thumbnails for them.

To remove the videos completely you need to go to the hard drive folder(s) containing the actual video and delete them. Bear in mind that once deleted they are (normally) gone forever.

A quick way to delete the thumbnail AND the actual video is to hold down the shift key when deleting the thumbnail. A message box will pop up inviting you to delete the video itself in addition tothe thumbnail.

[Trevor Andrew]

Hi

Just to add a little to Steves reply.

When you capture footage from your cam-corder, the captured files are saved to the Capture Folder aka Working Folder. (File-Preferences)
I find it best to create a separate Working Folder for each project.
That way I know exactly where all files are relating to each project.

When I have completed a project it is easy for me to clean the hard drive.
First using the library as described by Steve then searching the working folders to remove leftovers.

Other unwanted files may be located here Tools-Preview Files Manager.

It’s a matter of good house keeping, and managing the files.

Trevor

[blplhp]

lakewud,

And to add to what Steve and Trevor have said, before I remove a working folder from my hard drive after I am done with that particular project, I transfer to entire working folder to my external hard drive to preserve all of the files. You never know if you may want or may have to go back into those working folders to view how you did something in one project, or if you want to borrow previously used clips, etc.

I, like probably many users, only have one hard drive in my computer. Even if you have a relatively large hard drive, like mine (320 GB), after creating 4 or 5 projects, it's not uncommon for 100GB's of hard drive space to be used up. So, I opted for an external hard drive unit, this way I can transfer my entire working folder over to it to preserve it, then clean up my internal hard drive to keep it clean and working to its maximum capability.

Just another option to consider.......................May work for some and not for others..........