I'd like to clean up my desk top files, but....

everytime i delete files to recycle bin thinking they are ones im not using wwithin my resolve timeline, clips dissapear in my timeline, then i have to undelete from the recycle bin, clogging my desk top up all over again..

Is there any way i can trace on the clips in my time line i have saved on my desk top, so i can delete the ones that are not showing up?

Hi Donald. Some of your posts suggest that you may be lacking some basic training in how to use a computer, but maybe you could clarify a few things:

1. When you say "desk top" do you mean your desktop computer or do you mean the desktop on your computer? If you're saving your video files to the desktop of your computer and they're cluttering it up, the simple solution is to create a folder on your hard drive called "Movies" and move all those files there, and even better would be to create subfolders within that "Movies" folder by project or date to help you keep those files organized. Once you move them, you'll have to relink them within Resolve.

2. When you say all those files are "clogging up" your desktop, do you mean they fill your desktop screen, or do you mean they are taking up too much hard drive space on your desktop computer? If it's the latter, what happened to the idea of storing all your video files on an external SSD? I saw that you bought one but were having trouble getting it to work; did you try reformatting it to NTFS format?

3. If you have a lot of files, Resolve's Media Management tool can help; see Chapter 37 in the Resolve 16 manual for details.

I second the recommendation to use the media management tools in Resolve.

Hi Donald. Some of your posts suggest that you may be lacking some basic training in how to use a computer, but maybe you could clarify a few things:

1. When you say "desk top" do you mean your desktop computer or do you mean the desktop on your computer? If you're saving your video files to the desktop of your computer and they're cluttering it up, the simple solution is to create a folder on your hard drive called "Movies" and move all those files there, and even better would be to create subfolders within that "Movies" folder by project or date to help you keep those files organized. Once you move them, you'll have to relink them within Resolve.

2. When you say all those files are "clogging up" your desktop, do you mean they fill your desktop screen, or do you mean they are taking up too much hard drive space on your desktop computer? If it's the latter, what happened to the idea of storing all your video files on an external SSD? I saw that you bought one but were having trouble getting it to work; did you try reformatting it to NTFS format?

3. If you have a lot of files, Resolve's Media Management tool can help; see Chapter 37 in the Resolve 16 manual for details.

Its my hard drive in my computer, I sent raw files to my "desk top" so they show up on my computer screen, then was sending them to resolve. But I have a bunch of unwanted files that im not using and was wanting to delete the ones im not using, I was having trouble locating the ones i was was keeping in my timeline, until i clicked on 'open file location', and it highlighted the ones in my computer thats in my timeline. Is there an easier way to identify clips/files by renaming them, or will that mess things up?

Also, if I make a folder called "movies", do i create this folder any where specific, like documents?
Do I create a 'zip' folder for easier storage?

Also, id like to ask if there is a way to delete unwanted footage directly from my bmpcc camera before sending them to my computer, that would make it soo much easier to delete the unwanted files.

Is there an easier way to identify clips/files by renaming them, or will that mess things up?

Changing the file names of your clips after you've already imported them into Resolve will mess things up; your media will go offline.

IAlso, if I make a folder called "movies", do i create this folder any where specific, like documents? Do I create a 'zip' folder for easier storage?

If you put them in a zip archive, Resolve won't be able to get to them. You can create the folder wherever you like, but note that if you move them now, you'll have to relink the files in Resolve. They will show up as offline until you relink to them at their new location.

Also, id like to ask if there is a way to delete unwanted footage directly from my bmpcc camera before sending them to my computer, that would make it soo much easier to delete the unwanted files.

You can't delete them using the camera (the camera doesn't offer a way to delete individual clips, which is a good safety precaution), but after you remove the SD card and put it into the SD card reader attached to your computer you can browse through the files on the SD card and transfer only the files you want to keep to your computer. Then when you put the card back in your camera, format it (which will delete everything on the card).

Is there an easier way to identify clips/files by renaming them, or will that mess things up?

Changing the file names of your clips after you've already imported them into Resolve will mess things up; your media will go offline.

IAlso, if I make a folder called "movies", do i create this folder any where specific, like documents? Do I create a 'zip' folder for easier storage?

If you put them in a zip archive, Resolve won't be able to get to them. You can create the folder wherever you like, but note that if you move them now, you'll have to relink the files in Resolve. They will show up as offline until you relink to them at their new location.

Also, id like to ask if there is a way to delete unwanted footage directly from my bmpcc camera before sending them to my computer, that would make it soo much easier to delete the unwanted files.

You can't delete them using the camera (the camera doesn't offer a way to delete individual clips, which is a good safety precaution), but after you remove the SD card and put it into the SD card reader attached to your computer you can browse through the files on the SD card and transfer only the files you want to keep to your computer. Then when you put the card back in your camera, format it (which will delete everything on the card).

thanks Brad... was also curious about when putting sd card back into camera and not re-formatting, i've read somewhere its necessary to reformat card after removing it, but one time when i forgot to reformat, i filmed new footage and the files that were on the sd card already, were still there as well. maybe BM changed it for the sd card to work automatically without re formatting

You don’t have to reformat the card every time you take it out and put it back in. It’s just that when you want to delete files from the card you should do that by reformatting the card in the camera. Don’t reformat it in your computer, and don’t use your computer to delete files on your sd card. The safest way to delete files from your sd card is to reformat the card in your camera.

Donald, if you have files already on your SD card when you put it back in the camera, any new recordings will be added incrementally to them. This is normal. The camera will not automatically erase the older files.
As to storage, I like to keep everything I shoot so the first thing I do is copy the SD card into it's own folder an external 3TB HD. I then import that folder onto a separate internal scratch drive for editing. When done I export a DRP to the external drive so I can then remove the files from the computer freeing up the space.

Donald, if you have files already on your SD card when you put it back in the camera, any new recordings will be added incrementally to them. This is normal. The camera will not automatically erase the older files.
As to storage, I like to keep everything I shoot so the first thing I do is copy the SD card into it's own folder an external 3TB HD. I then import that folder onto a separate internal scratch drive for editing. When done I export a DRP to the external drive so I can then remove the files from the computer freeing up the space.

ok, i think i understand...

I send files from Samsung T5 to my crucial external storage, then from there, I send them to downloads and put them into a folder?

* Im not sure what a 'scratch' drive is or a DRP

Yes, I copy the SD card with the camera files on it to a new folder on my archive drive first. Then I also put a copy of that folder onto my everyday work (scratch) drive for editing. It means that the archive drive is not being used very often, hopefully protecting it's contents from harm.
A DRP is a Davinci Resolve Project file containing all the information about your project such as edits and grading, etc, but not the media files themselves. It means you can reload a project by opening the .drp file.