Best way to transfer project to another drive?

[Jeff Schroeder]

File|Save-As check the box ‘copy media’, select trimmed or full, and specify new location. (I’m not sure of the exact wording.)

Jeff

Windows 7 64-bit, ASUS P6X58D, i7 960 3.20GHz, 24.0GB DDR3, 12TB connected storage
http://www.narrowroadmedia.com

[Mike Kujbida]

As long as you have everything in one master folder (a process I highly recommend), copy that folder over to the new drive.
When you open it from that drive for the first time, Vegas will pop up a warning saying something like “I can’t find file xxx, what do you want to do?” and give you several options.
Pick the one that lets you choose the new location for the file.
After doing it once, Vegas should say “I found file xxx in the same location. Do you want me to use it?”
Say “yes to all” and the project should load as expected.
Once it’s all loaded, I like to save it with a new name.

[Nigel O’neill]

I use Mike’s method, but it does mean you have to be disciplined and store all your project assets/media in a project folder with subfolders. My typical folder structure is:

Project Name
Veg
Video
Images
Audio
Documentation
DVD Architect
Art work

For this method to work (and to be machine independent), you cannot rely on image libraries, for instance, as they may not be available or the same on a different machine.

I have had limited success with the copy media approach when saving projects. In all my attempts, Vegas has crashed.

Mike’s approach is KISS, and it means you can pass off the work to another Vegas editor. I recently did this on a large job in which I was given multicam project on an external HDD to complete. I did all the colour grading, some changes to effects, pan & crop fixes, and all I then had to do was send the original editor the latest .veg file.

My system specs: Intel i7 970, 12GB RAM, ASUS P6T, Vegas Pro 10e (x32/x64), Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, Vegas Production Assistant 1.0, VASST Ultimate S Pro 4.1, Neat Video Pro 2.6

[Mike Kujbida]

Nigel, I’ve been doing it this way for so long that it’s second nature to me.
Even when I have assets that exist elsewhere on my hard drives (eg. logos and graphics), I always make a copy of them in the appropriate folder.
It makes backups a lot easier as well as tasks like this.
I periodically take work home with me on an external drive and doing it this way greatly simplifies things.

[Nigel O’neill]

Mike

I couldn’t agree with you more. I have been doing it ever since I started editing.

I have noticed that Premiere and FCP tutorials refer to the creation and maintenance of media libraries/bins, but neglect to mention if the PC has issues and needs to be rebuilt, you lose the lot. It happened to an editor friend of mine who was editing a 2.5 hour multicam shoot when he got hit by a nasty computer virus that wiped out his PC. He lost almost all his media assets.

My system specs: Intel i7 970, 12GB RAM, ASUS P6T, Vegas Pro 10e (x32/x64), Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, Vegas Production Assistant 1.0, VASST Ultimate S Pro 4.1, Neat Video Pro 2.6

[Elizabeth Thai]

Thank you everyone for all of your comments!

I currently have folders spread out on my computer that I’m working from. I’m imagining I need to transfer all the folders first to one master folder, then tell Vegas to look for the folders I moved to the master folder. Then, when I move the master folder to another hard drive, I can just tell Vegas to look for the project in the master folder which is now on the new hard drive. Is that correct?

Thanks!

[Nigel O’neill]

Somewhat. I copy what I need into my project folder structure so the project is completely independent from a media perspective. Whilst it means duplication of media and thus, uses up loads of disk space, it does allow me to archive the projects to a hard drive and use them years later. With the cost of HDD’s being so low nowadays and the capacities in the 2+ TB range, it is now possible to store all your projects ‘as is’.

I know of at least one editor who buys 1 hard drive per project and gives that to the client with a full copy of the project. If the client wants changes done in future or wants to reuse media, they need only produce the HDD. He does risk them taking the work elsewhere, but he tells me that that has not happened yet.

My system specs: Intel i7 970, 12GB RAM, ASUS P6T, Vegas Pro 10e (x32/x64), Windows 7 x64 Ultimate, Vegas Production Assistant 1.0, VASST Ultimate S Pro 4.1, Neat Video Pro 2.6

[Stephen Mann]

I know of at least one editor who buys 1 hard drive per project and gives that to the client with a full copy of the project.

I don’t give it to the client, but that is my workflow, too. Before the flood in Taiwan, I purchased a box of 1TB Seagate Barracuda hard disk drives. I wasn’t prescient, just that at $49 each, I had to stock up. Anyway, everything I do is on HDV, so your mileage may vary. I dedicate a new hard-disk to each project, and drop that drive into a USB (2.0) external dock. I do all my editing on that drive. If I need to move the project to another PC, I just pull the hard disk from the dock and drop it into a docking station on the other PC. The drive letter is usually different, but I have a fix for that, too.

On the root of each external drive, I copy this batch file: 3603_makedriveb.bat.zip

This batch file makes the current drive look to Windows like drive B:.
When I drop the hard disk into a dock, I run this batch file and then all my file references are to drive B:, regardless of the actual drive letter assigned by Windows.

My next move will be to make the batch file run automatically upon inserting the drive into the dock.

Steve Mann
MannMade Digital Video
http://www.mmdv.com

[Elizabeth Thai]

Hi everyone, I’m having a few problems transferring over my project.

– the first is, Sony Vegas seems to want me to pick a location for each file that’s not in the right place. I can’t just seem to pick a master folder.
– In the box where it asks you to either select the missing file or ignore it, sometimes the file name is so long that I can’t tell specifically what file it’s asking me to replace. I can’t seem to find a way for it to show the whole file name. It just displays as much as the screen will allow, and then it shows “…”. As a result, I don’t know what file it’s asking for.
– I’ve deleted some files that I decided I didn’t need anymore that I had originally added to a media bin. I deleted the files from the media bin and also from my computer itself. I also made sure there were no clips on my timeline that would refer to this file but now when I open Vegas, it says it can’t find the file, even though the file has been deleted from the media bins and there’s nothing on the timeline that would be referring to it.

Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks!

[Mike Kujbida]

“he first is, Sony Vegas seems to want me to pick a location for each file that’s not in the right place. I can’t just seem to pick a master folder.”

My guess is that this is because you never had all your files in one master folder to begin with.
If you had them scattered throughout your hard drive, this will happen and it’s another reason for following the steps Nigel and I outlined.
Your choices are to put up with the messages (easy way out) or go back to the source project, make sure all the files are in the master folder, re-save it and start this process all over again (lots more work).

” now when I open Vegas, it says it can’t find the file, even though the file has been deleted from the media bins and there’s nothing on the timeline that would be referring to it.”

You need to click the lightning bolt icon (Remove All Unused Media From Project) to tell Vegas that the files that are in the project are the only ones that belong there.
Do this, save your project and you shouldn’t get that error message again.

“sometimes the file name is so long that I can’t tell specifically what file it’s asking me to replace”

This happens to me too so what I do is stretch the box out as long as I can until I can figure out what the file name is.