Restore Media Library - VS Ult 2019

[lmmd]

Hi,

I created a few folders in the VS 2019 Media Library. Because of issues with VS Ult 2020, I had to use the cleaning tool to remove VS 2019. (I later received a refund as VS 2020 could not open VS 2019 project. VS 2020 does not have tech support... still no response to ticket created a week ago).

I want to restore the media library but cannot find the created folders to do so.

I did contact Corel support and was told that it is not possible to restore the Media Library from backup.

...
(01:42:45) *** Rakesh joined the chat ***
(01:42:50) Rakesh: Welcome to Corel, My name is Rakesh.
(01:43:00) Lmmd: HI
(01:56:23) Lmmd: When I create a folder in the Media Library, where is that folder located on my computer?
(02:01:23) Rakesh: Sorry we cannot find that.
(02:03:05) Lmmd: You do not know where these media folders are located when created in VideoStudio Ultimate 2019? Surely someone must know.
(02:03:57) Rakesh: it's part of a series of files that govern the makeup of VideoStudio
(02:04:10) Rakesh: So it will not be found in drive.
(02:04:38) Lmmd: So how do I restore from backup?
(02:12:04) Rakesh: Sorry you cannot do so.
(02:14:23) Lmmd: I find that most difficult to believe.
(02:15:15) *** Lmmd left the chat ***

Is it true I can not restore the Media Library from backup?

Thanks for any help.

[BJC]

The media library folders in Videostudio are not real folders at all - they do not exist in the normal sense of Windows folders - the information about them is stored in a .dat file in your system but in a form which the user cannot read - the media file libraries do not in fact hold any media at all - all those thumbnails you see are just that - thumbnails - containing a link to the real clips / photos / videos etc stored in proper folders in your Windows file system - so all the real clips and photos are in the Windows folders where you put them when you added the clips to your computer and *should* still be there

There are ways of moving the files from a versions to another ones but if you have completely removed VS2019 using the clean up tool I do not think there is a way to rebuild them as they were now - exporting the libraries before you deleted VS2019 and then importing them again once you re-installed *may* have worked - but I don't think it will after a deep clean

I always copy media libraries individually to the time line in the older version - save that as a .vsp and open that in the next version and push all the clips back up into the library - and repeat the for each library - would also work for rebuilding the original version libraries

Maybe someone else knows what to do once you have completely removed the a version and want to put it back - but I don't

the only suggestion I have is to restock your libraries by opening each one individually and using the 'add media' option to find them in the real Windows folders and get them back in

[lmmd]

It would take a long time to manually get everything back to what it was.
This is why backups are nice to have... except where VS is concerned.

I did export the library, but VS 2019 crashed when I tried to import it.

To recap: Upgraded to VS 2020 from VS 2019. VS 2020 crashed when trying to open project created with VS 2019. Cleaned VS 2019. VS 2020 crashed again. No support from Corel (no response to ticket), so I asked for and received refund. Tried to import VS 2019 Media Library, but it crashed VS 2019. Had tried to restore from backup. Can't be done, I am told.

Where is this .dat file located?

Why can it not be restored from backup?

Can anyone recommend an alternative to VS?