missing media after disconnecting external drive

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observantsound

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missing media after disconnecting external drive

PostWed Aug 24, 2022 10:07 am

I work on a windows and a Mac and have most of my important data on a SSD that I move between the machines.
Every time I re-connect the drive and start up a project the media is shown as missing and I have to relink it.
Any way to avoid this?
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Joe Shapiro

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Re: missing media after disconnecting external drive

PostFri Aug 26, 2022 8:38 am

Interesting question. I wonder if the path stuff they added for collaborative workflows can address this.


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Andy Mees

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Re: missing media after disconnecting external drive

PostFri Aug 26, 2022 8:53 am

observantsound wrote:Any way to avoid this?
Yes, you can use the Preferences >> System >> Media Storage >> Mapped Mount feature, Max, that is specifically what it's designed for... on both machines, you need to add the local mount path as the 'Mount' (ie the media directory path as it is seen by the host machine) together with 'foreign' mount path as the 'Mapped Mount' (ie the media directory path as it is seen on the second system).

For example, on your PC the SSD might mount as 'E:\\', whereas on your Mac the same SSD may mount as '/Volumes/MySSD/'... so in Resolves preferences on the PC you would add a Media Storage 'Mount' of 'E:\\' with an associated 'Mapped Mount' of '/Volumes/MySSD/' and on the the Mac you would add the 'Mount' as '/Volumes/MySSD/' and the 'Mapped Mount' as 'E:\\'.

With those mount maps in place, whenever Resolve on your Mac or PC sees any of these known file path references it knows how to automatically remap them, hence relinking without issue.

Hope it helps
Andy

Edited because the eagle-eyed typo police are on patrol! And to be fair, it was confusing :)
Last edited by Andy Mees on Fri Aug 26, 2022 1:15 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Steve Alexander

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Re: missing media after disconnecting external drive

PostFri Aug 26, 2022 12:17 pm

I think I understand, Andy, but would you check your example and clean it up a bit? It looks like you made a couple of mistakes in your example (either that, or I really don't understand the mapping mechanism). Thx.
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Andy Mees

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Re: missing media after disconnecting external drive

PostFri Aug 26, 2022 1:13 pm

Fair play Steve, edited as requested. Well spotted. :)
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Steve Alexander

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Re: missing media after disconnecting external drive

PostFri Aug 26, 2022 1:20 pm

Andy Mees wrote:Fair play Steve, edited as requested. Well spotted. :)


I wasn't trying to be a d*ck about it. I considered that there was something I wasn't understanding about the new feature (I have not used it yet). Thanks for updating your post - now I am sure that I understand it.

Cheers
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observantsound

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Re: missing media after disconnecting external drive

PostFri Aug 26, 2022 2:01 pm

sounds like a smart thing to do, although I can't actually open resolve on my windows because my graphics card is too crappy.
I'll try it though.
While we're on the subject, maybe you can advise me how to manage my files a bit better.

What I don't like about resolve is it's project manager. I would MUCH rather just have a project file that I can double click and sort in my filing system however I like.
I like to sort things project based so I really don't have the one! folder where all my media is stored in but rather many different media folders inside other project folders.
With the project manager it's really hard for me to build up a reliable project history of video projects.
Any advise on how to better manage this?
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Andy Mees

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Re: missing media after disconnecting external drive

PostFri Aug 26, 2022 2:07 pm

Ha, no worries at all Steve, it was frighteningly all over the place. I'd started writing the post using one example then I think I 'tried' to edit it to be clearer by changing the example to something better.... and it ended up completely mixed up with bits of both. Lol. Glad you spotted it as it was super confusing.
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Andy Mees

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Re: missing media after disconnecting external drive

PostFri Aug 26, 2022 3:40 pm

observantsound wrote:I like to sort things project based so I really don't have the one! folder where all my media is stored in but rather many different media folders inside other project folders.
With the project manager it's really hard for me to build up a reliable project history of video projects.
Any advise on how to better manage this?


The Project Manager is just a centralised view into your database(s) (these are now officially called 'Libraries' by BMD, but they are still databases). The database is where you can keep and organise your project files, it has nothing to do with how and where in your storage system you choose to store the media files that your various projects reference, that's entirely up to you and you can sort and manage it however suits you best.

At the end of a working session, you can (and should) choose to save an external copy of your project file - you can save it in the same location as your media or wherever suits you best, like saving your project file in any other app - just hit Cmd E to 'Export' instead of Cmd S to 'Save' (or map it to whatever keystroke you prefer). Your project will still be in the project library (database) but you'll also now have an identical external copy that you can manage however you want.

If you (or someone else) needs to use an external project file at some future juncture, regardless of wherever they are, they can just double click the external project file and it will automatically launch Resolve (if necessary), import the project and open it as the current active project... basically exactly the same as any other app you may be used to, except other apps can't also store project files internally.

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