Multiple link failure PLEASE HELP, I AM DESPARATE!!

[david1000]

ProX4 tells me that all the links have failed in all the videos I am working on (6 of them). As far as I can see nothing has changed! All the material is in its original place. I have not altered anything in any way. Everything was going fine, the the next time I switched it on, this happened. These are very complicated videos involving hundreds of panned and zoomed photos and probably about 200 hours of work. It would be virtually impossible to relink each one individually.
All my video work is done on an external 1TB My Passport drive.
Please help! I would be extremely grateful.
Yours in desperation,
David

[BrianCee]

Although keeping all your videos on an external hard drive is an excellent idea it has one problem if you are in the habit of unplugging and replugging the hard drive in that Windows often applies a new drive letter to it - and that causes VideoStudio to completely lose track of where the videos etc. are - can also happen with windows updates etc - when using hard drives you need to use Windows to assign a drive letter to an external drive so that it always has the same drive letter.

But it should not be a problem for you - when you open a project you will receive a warning telling you that your files do not exist - NOT TRUE - in the error box should also be a relink button - click on the relink button and a 'Browse' window will open - note carefully what file VideoStudio is looking for and browse to where that file is NOW - regardless of what VideoStudio is saying - select that one file and click OK and after a few seconds you should receive a message to the affect "all files have been successfully re-linked" and all your edits cuts etc should be restored - only in that project of course you will have to do each project separately but in each one following the error prompt *should* relink all files in the project providing you did the first one correctly and all files are still in the same relationship with each other.

[Ken Berry]

You need to take a close look at the relink message and see if it mentions a specific drive letter where it is searching; or if you remember what drive letter it was using, even better. The problem is, you see, when using an external hard drive (which I also do all the time for both my video and image projects), their drive letters (:\D; \E; F' G\ etc) are assigned at random but Video Studio remembers the letter at the time the project is created. But later, you might not have that external drive connected and plug in, say, a USB stick drive or another hard drive, and it is assigned the letter originally assigned to your project drive. So next time you plug that in it gets another letter and VS can no longer track the project to that drive.

So either remember the original letter and use Windows to change the drive letter back to the original before reopening the project file (which is what I usually do); or else take a close look at the new letter assigned to the drive, reopen VS and then redirect it to the new drive letter and folder on it to relink to your project files.

EDIT: I see Brian has beaten me to the punch but with the same answer!!

[david1000]

Although keeping all your videos on an external hard drive is an excellent idea it has one problem if you are in the habit of unplugging and replugging the hard drive in that Windows often applies a new drive letter to it - and that causes VideoStudio to completely lose track of where the videos etc. are - can also happen with windows updates etc - when using hard drives you need to use Windows to assign a drive letter to an external drive so that it always has the same drive letter.

But it should not be a problem for you - when you open a project you will receive a warning telling you that your files do not exist - NOT TRUE - in the error box should also be a relink button - click on the relink button and a 'Browse' window will open - note carefully what file VideoStudio is looking for and browse to where that file is NOW - regardless of what VideoStudio is saying - select that one file and click OK and after a few seconds you should receive a message to the affect "all files have been successfully re-linked" and all your edits cuts etc should be restored - only in that project of course you will have to do each project separately but in each one following the error prompt *should* relink all files in the project providing you did the first one correctly and all files are still in the same relationship with each other.

Thank you so much!!
I can’t begin to tell you what a relief it was to know that someone understood my problem.
I have spent weeks on this project and the thought that I might have lost it was very distressing.
I owe you a drink! If ever you’re in Brighton, UK, get in touch!!
Thanks again, I really do appreciate it.
David

[david1000]

You need to take a close look at the relink message and see if it mentions a specific drive letter where it is searching; or if you remember what drive letter it was using, even better. The problem is, you see, when using an external hard drive (which I also do all the time for both my video and image projects), their drive letters (:\D; \E; F' G\ etc) are assigned at random but Video Studio remembers the letter at the time the project is created. But later, you might not have that external drive connected and plug in, say, a USB stick drive or another hard drive, and it is assigned the letter originally assigned to your project drive. So next time you plug that in it gets another letter and VS can no longer track the project to that drive.

So either remember the original letter and use Windows to change the drive letter back to the original before reopening the project file (which is what I usually do); or else take a close look at the new letter assigned to the drive, reopen VS and then redirect it to the new drive letter and folder on it to relink to your project files.

EDIT: I see Brian has beaten me to the punch but with the same answer!!

Thank you so much!!
I can’t begin to tell you what a relief it was to know that someone understood my problem.
I have spent weeks on this project and the thought that I might have lost it was very distressing.
I owe you a drink! If ever you’re in Brighton, UK, get in touch!!
Thanks again, I really do appreciate it.
David