Running out of Storage in a small project

On a small 15 minute project using a few 4k files but mostly 1080p files I am finding that that the Davinci Resolve folder has grown to nearly 2tb! Never had this issue before 18.5. I do notice the 2 cache files and optimized video are huge and account for most of this space.

What accounts for this and what can I do?

Thank you.

Change the video format for the cache.

Thank you. Could you be more specific? In the Davinci folders I find 2 cacheclip folders. One off the main folder and the other off the media folder. Are both used for the same purpose?

Bob

Check the format in the project settings:

Bildschirmfoto 2023-05-31 um 19.04.14.png (71.47 KiB) Viewed 576 times

And this is what I should choose? You are being a little cryptic.

Thank you,
Bob

No - Uli is showing you where to look for the cache and optimized media settings.

Honestly, I don't understand your first post - what do you mean by 'Resolve folders'? Did you not setup your cache location by specifying a location in the media storage preferences? Of course you can override this in project settings but the default will be taken from the first media storage location specified in the list.

I think what Uli is imagining is that your settings for render cache and optimized media are set to a high bitrate codec that will consume vast amounts of storage.

Where is your cache folder and what are your cache settings at the moment?

I only seem cryptic because you are missing some basic knowledge about DR. But I didn’t want to insult you by recommending training material right away.
And Steve is right, please check those settings on your machine.

I have included both an image of the Project Preference as well as the Folder Structure after install of DR 18.5
I want to add that the Media folder also has a Cacheclip folder within it.

I tried to delete the Cacheclip but found that I had to redo all my effects as the options were lost. The media was fine. So I can't just change the settings and go on.

You're not insulting me if you believe I am so lost that I need to study an area of DR. There is much I have to learn even after a few years. I just never needed to mess with these before. I welcome any advice you have.

Thank you again,
Bob

Hi Bob, a couple of comments:

1. Your cache location should be on a dedicated internal (typ) SSD. You can establish this by going into Preferences > System > Storage and setting the first media storage location to either the root folder or a sub folder of said internal SSD. If you only have one SSD, you can make this location a specific sub-folder but I don't recommend making it a folder in which you put other things like databases and backups.

(I can see your cache location is setup as D:\DaVinci Resolve at the moment because within it we see the .gallery subfolder but I also see things like Databases and Media in that same folder - not recommended)

You will also notice that this default cache location can also be changed on a project-level (in Project settings) but I don't recommend this as a first go. Start with more general settings until you get your workflow sorted-out.

2. Your Render Cache codec type is set to Uncompressed 10-bit. This setting will generate absolutely massive files and a 2TB drive will be consumed within very short order. If you are only using your render cache for expediting playback but you don't intend to use it for final delivery, you can set this to a much lighter weight codec - actually, even DNxHR HQX would be very good and much smaller than Uncompressed 10-bit (although much larger than DNxHD LB or H264).

Hope this helps - Cheers

Steve, it helps a lot!

I will take your advice, of course, as I have 3 ssd drives including C, so really have 2 so I can move some files. I will change the cache. Obviously, my knowledge in this are is scant at best. I put my trust in DR when I installed it to give me the ideal setup. Ignorance again.

One final question and I will leave you be; how can I get rid of these massive files without endangering all effects that are used in the different projects?

Thank you,
Bob

Hi Bob - Do you mean that you are concerned that you will lose the render cached effects from other projects? Presumably you would need to re-render them because they are consuming far too much disk space at the moment. However, before you go moving your cache folder (or rather, creating a new one to point to, I suppose), and since you are running 18.5 beta, you can use the new feature that lets you view the cache size of each project and you can clear the cache for selected projects. This would let you see which projects are consuming the most disk space and then decide which ones to free-up.

A question for you - are you really concerned about losing cache files or is it a concern about losing other aspects of those projects?

I am wary of losing my Effects settings, both DR and 3rd party. That is what happened the last time - a couple of weeks ago - I deleted both cacheclip data. Luckily I had backed up the entire DR Folder structure so I could continue otherwise I would have had to redo each Effects settings.

That sounds very strange. Deleting the cache should not affect the effect settings, just the rendering
If you are worried, backup your projects and then give the workflow a try with a test project.. Add some of your favourite effects to a few timeline clips with whatever settings you would normally use. Render the effects and then in the Playback menu, delete the render cache from either the selected clip(s) or the current project and see if the settings are affected.

Also, another question for you - what does your Preferences > System > Storage dialog look like? Just wanted to see what the Resolve installer setup for you by default (or have you already changed it).

Also - when you do change your cache location, check your project defaults to ensure your default settings don't still point to the old cache location. If you manually change the cache location in the project settings, you can save it as a default for future projects (and you may have already done this, so good to check and correct if necessary).

Most online training glazes over this stuff and it can really screw you up so hopefully you can play with it in a non-critical project and figure out the various workflows and any pitfalls. Cheers.

I will run that test Steve.

No sure what you mean "Also, another question for you - what does your Preferences > System > Storage dialog look like? Just wanted to see what the Resolve installer setup for you by default (or have you already changed it)."

Have not changed it but I do not have that setting the Preferences. I attach an image of what I show. Hope that's what you mean.

Thank you

Yep - that’s it. The first entry should point to your cache folder (in which the .gallery, proxies and capture folders will reside).

Steve, I am not really sure what that structure would look like. Would appreciate it if you would post your storage media so I can see what an experienced DR user does.
Thank you

Not sure if that was clear, Steve. What I am looking for is the images I sent to you but showing your folders and options.
Thank you
Bob

I'm on macOS at the moment but on my Windows machine I would create a folder on my S: drive (an internal SSD) and name that folder something like ResolveCache. I also have a media drive D: where I put my project media and I might have something like D:\Media (just an example - probably have project folders underneath that, each containing the media for a particular project).

Then, in my Preferences > System > Media Storage settings, the first entry would be S:\ResolveCache and my second entry would be D:\Media

Resolve automatically takes the first entry (S:\ResolveCache) to be the location to use for the .gallery folder, and a host of other folders including the location for the render cache, proxies, waveform cache, and the capture folder.

I'm not on my machine at the moment but that is a good summary. When you create a new project and go into the project settings page under the master settings you will see near the bottom of the page a series of 'Working Folder' locations for things like the gallery, proxies and render cache. Then on the playback and capture page you will see a location for captured media (things like voice over WAV files would be written to the folder location specified there).

Note of interest: I think only the gallery shows up without a fully qualified folder path, just a folder name, it is assumed to be located in the S:\ResolveCache in this example. I'm not sure why it doesn't have an explicit path by default.

As I say, this is from memory but it should be close enough for you to figure it out.

Thanks for your help Steve. Invaluable.

Bob

Glad I could help. Cheers.