DV500 Plus Project Just Disappeared
 

Here's to hoping someone can help me.

WinXP Pro/DV500 Plus most current drivers/Premiere 6.0/512mb RAM/2ghz/160gb

I had been working on a 30min docu for the past 5 days. Been saving it as a project. Finished adding and balancing sound. Just giving it one last look over before rendering and exporting. Saving on every little action.

System froze. Hard to do a cold boot. System came back on, launched DV500, clicked recent project, selected the title and instead of the application opening all the files in the bins and timeline, it opens a FRESH PAGE with the title of the one I'd saved. It does not import all the files in the bin like it should, although they are all still in the same location, untouched. There is 51gb space available on the dedicated video HDD.

I went into my Final Edit directory. I saw a file with the title there. Tried to open it to no avail. Can't open it as a project either. I'd just connected my GL2 to export when everything went to hell. I am just getting adept at using this app, although I have cut 3 other 30minute docus in the last month on it.

Can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong please? PLEASE.

Please someone. I see all the temp files there, but I don't know how this app actually keeps a record of all the files. It's like the one thing that acts as its memory has been erased and it does not know how to associate all the files previously assembled.

I have been walking around half asleep these past few days, working around the clock to do this. To start again? I don't even want to contemplate it. Is there a temp file or something that can be done to jog the app's recall? Please. Thank you.

Thats pretty odd. The only thing I can think of that happened, is that when you reset your PC after the freeze, that the project file was corrupted. I don't think there is a way to fix that. I had this type of thing happen to me once, and I had to redo a project. It actually came out better the second time... Sorry I couldn't help you.

Well this is one reason I dumped Premiere and the 500 and got Vegas. Stability problems and loss. Anyway are you familiar with the project archive feature in premiere? It saves a version of your project every time you save. You will probably be able to open you project with one of those. You should look for the most recently dated one and try to open that by double clicking on the project file, then try some others if it doesnt work. It's been a while since I've used Premiere but look for the folder in the Program files folder then Adobe then Premiere then keep looking until you find the Project Archives folder.

Rob is right- not to reiterate what he said but I'm another one that switched to Vegas (specifically) from Premiere/DV500 combo.
I had a similar problem a year ago or so- I was just finishing up a wedding when all the sudden the project wouldn't load- it would get about 3/4 the way then crash. I was distrought. I feverishly searched a solution and found it when I loaded an archived version of the Premiere project. At the time I was using Windows 98SE but it was found following this path "C:\Program Files\Adobe\Premiere\Project Archive" Under there you'll find your project- for the sake of argument we'll say it's called "Test"- you'll see Test~1, Test~2, Test~3 and so on. Choose one from an earlier date and double click it to see if your file loads. If it doesn't backtrack and choose an earlier dated one. Hope this helps- good luck on salvaging your project! When your done with this project we'll be expecting to see you in the Vegas forum pronto! ;)

I very much appreciate your contributions. I will go give this a try and get back to you. Thank you. I'll keep my fingers crossed, although I'm mentally preparing for the worst.

Be well.

Premiere saves back up files. For Premiere 6.5 they are normally kept in "My documents". You might also want to try resetting all the preferences back to installion default. While opening up premiere keep your figures on Ctrl+Shift.

I still say that you can not beat intergration with other software and hardware, with Premiere.

Premiere 6.5 seems more stable. Now that Premiere Pro will not be mac based, it can only get better.

Cheers,

Ed

I found the project archives directory - and the last version i saved is fine and intact. Thank you all. I appreciate the lesson!

Be well!

Wow, I thought I was the only one who had randomly disappearing projects/footage on Premiere. I hope Premiere Pro is better at this..

I have just received the Pinnacle Edition 55-day try-out. I am going to look into it and the Vegas option. I will do anything within my budget for a fairly stable system. It freezes every other hour or so, for seemingly no reason. I just figured to save as frequently as possible. I plan to take memory to at least a gig in a few days. Got 2 slots free.

It freezes every hour? hmm, that shouldn't happen. Before you buy anything new for a system, I'd work on trying to pin down the source of the problem. More hardware in your computer = more stuff that can go wrong.

Do you have any other problems outside of Premiere? Any other crashes/freezes?

No problem outside of Premiere. Spanking new system too - 3+ weeks old. I had problems running it on my Win2k pro 1.4ghz 512mb RAM system, so i invested in XP to take advantage of the new drivers and all sorts. It didn't freeze on the Win2k. I just could not make the Live Platinum work with it, no matter how I moved the cards or changed IRQs.

Perhaps I exaggerate. On the XP, It could go on working for hours without any fuss. Then out of the blue, it freezes. I can live with it though. I save often! :) It is the only application on it, aside of burning apps.

I will look into upgrading Premiere to 6.01 I think. That's the only other stable free upgrade.

Several months ago, I stopped by this forum to ask for recommendations on what fast and dirty editing app to get because the DV500 was so intimidating then. I was advised to stick with Premiere until I figured it out. But I couldn't because I had projects that I needed to get out. Then I bought Studio Deluxe. That served me well for a while, but I outgrew it so quickly and wanted much more, so I went back to start watching my Premiere Total Training video collection, reading up on the books and manuals. Here I am today using Premiere to complete projects. There are things I still don't know, but I am getting there. Time is on my side!

Be well.