unwanted files in CS5 premiere pro

[Roy Alexander]

All of a sudden my hard drive is cluttered with files I don't understand and don't want. When I capture HDV clips from the camcorder, hundreds, and I mean hundreds, of files with names as CFA, PEAK, MPGinde, PEK, .xmp.appear on the hard drive. I have just deleted 990 of these files, and as soon as I start editing and using the clips I want, all the previously deleted files are back again. It makes it very tedious work as these unwanted files are mixed in among the clips I want and so it takes ages to find the clips I want to put in the project panel. When I first starting using Adobe premiere pro only the .xmp appeared on the hard drive and so was not such a nuisance. Is there anyway I can prevent these unwanted files from appearing on the hard drive . Any advice and help with this matter will be appreciated.

[Giroud Francois]

configure premiere properly to use scratch disks and path in a way you are happy with.

[Alan Craven]

In a word - no. Premiere needs these files on order to operate with modern HD files.

To improve the quality of editing, all audio files are converted to 32-bit (*.cfa), and to show the audio waveform on the timeline.

I have all that stuff on a separate drive to my media to avoid the clutter which bothers you.

If you find the mixture of files in the window untidy, you can shift their location - take a look at the media tab in Edit>Preferences. You can also remove the unwanted files gracefully from there.

[Mike Beckett]

These files have always appeared in a sub-folder for me, they tend not to get in the way of all my source files etc. I generally have them on a separate hard disk (I think it improves performance), and my backups aren't bloated with files than can be re-built if there's a disaster.

If you delete them all, then Premiere will have to re-index all the files when it opens, which can take some time when it's a complex project. I would only delete them at the very end of a project when I'm finished with it.

[Roy Alexander]

THANKS ALAN AND MIKE. Unfortunately there is no slot available in my PC tp put on another Hard drive but I have an external hard drive available, Is it in order to use this to store the files I call unwanted.And if so will someone tell me how to divert these files to the external drive. I have looked into the edit>.media panel and there are these choices. SAVE MEDIA CACHE FILES NEXT TO ORIGINALS WHERE POSSIBLE. below this is MEDIA CACHE DATABASE with means to browse for location and also a box marked CLEAN. At the bottom are two boxes to tick or not.(1) WRITE XMP ID TO FILES ON IMPORT
(2) ENABLE CLIP AND XMP METADATE LINKING. I have to confess in my ignorance I have no idea what all this means and so would be grateful for someone to tell what to tick and what not to, and if it is okay to use an external hard drive which box to browse to send the files to the ex. hard drive. Thanks

[Alan Craven]

Start by de-selecting "Save Media Cache files next to originals where possible".

It is the Media Cache Files and Media Cache Database that you want to shift - click browse for each in turn, and navigate to where you want to put it, and click OK.

Bear in mind that if the location you choose is on an external drive, that drive will HAVE TO BE PRESENT EVERY TIME YOU START PREMIERE. If it is not, Premiere will be forced to re-create all the files that it needs in the default location

[Ann Bens]

That is what you have to do: browse for a location.
Set a folder up anywhere you like and point the media cash database to that folder.

[Roy Alexander]

Thank you Alan for the instructions. I have now completed the operation.

[Trevor Dennis]

Do you have USB3 sockets? Or provision to add a card with USB3? I love my USB3 externals. They are plenty fast enough for normal use, and oh so flexible. I've got two 1Tbs and four two Tb WD My Book externals now, with four connected at any one time.

[Roy Alexander]

ALAN-MIKE-ANN. My attempts to move the "unwanted" files have only been partially successful. All files have been moved to a folder on another internal drive EXCEPT .XMP Files which still appear on the original hard drive, no matter where I try to move them to, they won't move. Any ideas anybody? Their present location is only temporary until I can place an external hard drive.

[Roy Alexander]

Since my earlier post, I have experimented with using an External Hard drive to store the cache files and Adobe Premiere Pro 5 is still working well, so I have proved the query I made about using an External hard drive. Of course I have to make sure that the drive is connected to the PC and switched on before opening up Adobe premiere pro 5. I still have a slight problem though and that is:- All the cache files are stored okay except the .mpg cache files and they won't store in any new destination I choose, they still store next to the video clips on the internal hard drive where I store captured video clips from the camcorder. I have tried opening a new folder on the internal drive but the .mpg files won't store in it. Can anyone tell me of any possible reasons why this is happening?

[Roy Alexander]

I have solved my problem with the .xmp files not moving to another destination. As it seems they can't be moved I have discovered by experimenting that I can hide them. This I have done and now my video clips captured from the camcorder are displayed on their own without .xmp files being shown among them.

[Paul R Johnson]

Roy - why are you worrying about this. I keep all project files in one folder, and then back that up for safety. Although there are lots of them, they don't take up very much space compared to video. If I'm ever stuck for space, I might delete them from projects long time closed, but over the years with audio and video editing these working files have become kind of normal. I do lots of audio work with Cubase, and you can easily have thousands of little files for edits and extra takes - if you don't work very purposely, giving tracks unique names you can get in a real mess. I lost one the other day and searched the entire computer for the track name - which back in 2009 when I first produced this track was called 'bass'. The search for the file name which was 'bass_01' brought back every single project with a project track called bass - over 1000!

My point is that my own attitude to files now is very different. If disk space gets low, forget about removing these files and just get another drive. I too have an increasing pile of external drives - which seems the cost effective way to do things, and forget totally about these working files. I use Sony sound forge, and it generates files for the waveforms, and the drives are full of them - they re-create quickly, but the idea of searching a drive and deleting them just seems a waste of time!

[Roy Alexander]

PAUL. Thanks for your import. I am no longer worried about the problem as you can see on my last post I have solved it to my satisfaction. I am working on the minimum specs. required for HD with only 4GB memory and no way of increasing it. With only three USB inputs I cannot connect extra External hard drives. At the age of nearly 86 I don't think it would be cost effective for me to buy another PC as I only make about four videos per year and that is only for YouTube and Vimeo, I am no longer in the commercial market. Best regards

[Paul R Johnson]

Don't worry Roy - the 4Gb of RAM isn't too much an issue - and doesn't have an impact on all this little files - it's your main disk space that's the key. Also, 3 USB sockets isn't a problem either. I assume you are using perhaps 2 of these for peripherals - mouse, keyboard, maybe printer? That kind of thing. You can buy a cheap USB hub - for around a fiver you can plug all the USB gizmos into the hub, and have two on the computer spare again - things like this

00039874 - HAMA - HUB, USB 2.0, 4 PORT, WHITE | CPC

Hiding the files unclutters the screen, but they're still there of course. A few years ago, I set my computer up to put these kinds of file in a separate places, but now put them all in the project folder - simply because working out 6 months later what belongs to what was very tricky!

As long as you have enough empty space on the internal drive to work with, it's ok. I'd keep plugging in the external drives. It's a shame that USB2 is not quite up to dealing with multiple HD streams, as you could keep it all external. USB3 seems much better on my newest machine - but if your use is lighter - then the external drives are just good for storage.