[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

Is all the footage in the same file structure with respect to the other files on the new drive? If so PP will relink everything, you just need a new copy of the project file from the editor on HD1

I’ve done the exact workflow you’re describing many times so I don’t know why PP messed up this time, but the manual offline will make relinking more likely to succeed.

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

Can you get editor 1 to Offline everything, save as, and email you the project flie?

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

An additional idea, which I haven’t tried, is:

When PP opens the project and asks you to relink to the missing footage, instead of relinking anything, click “Offline All” and then once the project opens select everything and “Link Media…”.

EDIT: I tested this, it doesn’t work.

The only way I can make everything relink at once is by selecting everything in the project panel and right click. “Make Offline”, then “Link Media”

This does seem like a silly little problem, but at least PP is capable of Mass relinking everything. If that feature was actually truly absent that would be bad.

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

Tom, I have a suggestion.
I believe the problem is that although the folder structure on the two drives is the same, PP has written something into the metadata of the files on HD1 and since it doesn’t find that on HD2 it’s asking for every file one at a time. Silly? yes, but I think I have a work around:

With the project open and everything linked to HD1, select all your media and “make offline”

then Save As… and copy that project file to your computer. (that way the project file on the main computer wont be saved with everything off line… a nice present for the next editor who opens it.)

Then open the project on your computer, and select all the media and select “link Media….”

PP should find everything in one go.

I don’t know why, but if you send everything offline manually, PP will find all the files automatically when normally it would ask about every file. I’m guessing it’s cause it isn’t looking for the ID in the metadata.

I’ve used this method to reconnect to proxies and color corrected stuff that isn’t even the original file formant. As long as they’re all the same name and in the same place, it’ll find them all.

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

Did you select “use system soundcard” in the Matrox Audio playback prefs?

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

I tested this, and couldn’t reproduce your problem. The popup numbers do not interfere with my ability to place the clip. The mouse moving over the popup has no affect. Are you sure there isn’t some other reason you can’t put the clip on the track below?

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

It seems to me that External Drives are a much better backup solution then a RAID. The main problems with a RAID for backup are:

1) All your data is on the same “drive” all the time. Despite the redundant hardware of a RAID, Loss of all your data is still only one failure away. A simple corruption of the GUID and you’re sunk, for example.
RAID’s are only redundant against hardware failure, not data corruption do to software problems and user error. You need to have totally separate copies that aren’t even plugged in at the same time to be safe from software related problems.

2) what do you do when then RAID fills up?

I’ll tell you what I use

I have an internal RAID that I edit from, but all my footage is backed up to pairs of external drives. That means that while I’m editing, the data is in 3 places, (the RAID, drive A, and drive B) and when I’m done I delete it off the array (the less data on it the faster it will run) and I still have two copies on two totally separate drives.

Those drives are External enclosures into which I stick bare internal drives. $70 for 2TB is pretty cheap, and I have FW800 and eSATA. When the drives fill up, I buy two new drives, take the old ones out of the cases, stick the new ones in, and drive A goes in a safe, and drive B goes in a drawer by my desk.

If I need the data again I grab the drive from the drawer and stick it in a cradle, and bingo there’s the data again.

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

Actually there is an issue. You will be able to send projects to him without any trouble. But his PP5.5 will update the project files on import to the new version, and there is no way he can save a project that you can open. You’ll have to rely on XML to send anything from him to you. How well that works will depend, I expect, on the kind of project you will be working on.

The will be no problems with the media.

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

Well, the obvious possibility is that FCP mucked with the file somehow. I’m guessing this one file was sent to you and you don’t have access to the camera?

I’m assuming you tried opening it in AE and AME too?

I’m going to sleep on this…

[John-michael Seng-wheeler]

Just a file with a .MXF extension?

Are you using the Media Browser to import the file?