Downloading issue

[Al Marotta]

Hi,
I have VSP 10. I recently started a project and downloaded the video I am going to use DIRECTLY into the new project from a USB thumb drive. I did not make a download to my computer's drive. Could someone tell me if there is any problem whatsoever in proceeding with a project using a USB drive without downloading to the computer's hard drive? Am I advised just as a general principle to download to my computer my material? Will my downloading from a USB drive directly into my program in any way affect rendering or cause a conflict with video material in a project that has in fact been downloaded to my computer's C drive or indeed with other usb drives I may use?

Thank you,
Al Marotta

[tletter]

... is any problem whatsoever in proceeding with a project using a USB drive without downloading to the computer's hard drive?

Not as long as the USB's drive letter doesn't change (you'll need to relink if it does). If it's a USB 2.0 drive then performance will be slower.

tletter
https://www.youtube.com/user/tletter

[Ken Berry]

Just making sure you are aware that when you say you are downloading from the USB drive into VS, you are in fact not downloading anything, just linking the file on the drive with the VS project file. In other words, while you are editing your project which includes that clip, you should leave the drive plugged into your computer. If you close the project and remove the drive, then on reopening the project it will look for and not find the clip. And as others have said, you will need to relink when you plug the drive back in. You will also have to relink if you plug the drive in and reopen the project if the computer assigns a different drive letter to the USB drive.

That's the beauty of actually downloading and storing the clip on the hard drive: you can open and close the project many times and it will always know where the clip is located.

[tletter]

That's the beauty of actually downloading and storing the clip on the hard drive: you can open and close the project many times and it will always know where the clip is located.

There are external hard drives which connect just like a USB and their drive letter can change or they may not be present at all, just like a USB. Hence as others have said, you will need to relink when you plug the drive back in.

Using the internal drives on your system will reduce the likelihood of having to relink.

tletter
https://www.youtube.com/user/tletter

[Ken Berry]

I was including such drives in my generic reference to USB stick drives. In fact I have 7 of them -- up to 4 TB -- sitting on my desk right now, all using USB 3.0. That's apart from an enormous array of actual stick drives, two of the biggest each being 2 TB courtesy of Wish...

[Al Marotta]

Thanks you gentlemen (persons) for your help. I think I'm advised to use my computer's hard drive.

Al Marotta

[RobertOZ]

Thanks you gentlemen (persons) for your help. I think I'm advised to use my computer's hard drive.

Al Marotta

According to your profile you only have a 385Gb hard drive, so how much free space do you have, many members have multiple external hard drives connected, in my case 3 hard drives connected via USB3 ports, all my data is stored on these external devices, these devices are not removed from their respective ports so re-linking has never been an issue

[Al Marotta]

Hi Oz,

Thanks for your response. Are you saying that if I use my Seagate 2 terabyte external hard drive and as long as it listed as "J" in my computer (as opposed to another letter, such as my second Seagate, which is listed as "K") I will be all right? Could you tell me how to relink if all of a sudden a hard drive or usb shows up with a different letter?

Thanks,

Al Marotta

[lata]

Afaik the only reason for the drive letter to change is if you disconnect the drives, boot the computer, close down to connect the drives and boot again may allocatee a different drive letter.
If that happens Video Studio will not locate its files and request a relink for a particular file, you follow the instructions to browse and locate the file on the drive, selecting the correct file will re-link that and all other files within the same folder.
If you have never experienced a relink request then that is good as you are managing your files well.

You can test the relink yourself, create a new folder on any drive as a “test folder”, add a few files to that folder, images will do
Import the images to the library then close VS
Rename the test folder to “ test folder 2”
Start Video Studio, the library will show a re-link is needed, navigate to select the file.

[Al Marotta]

Thanks for the help, Trevor.