I've typically had my avid media files on my computer hard drive.  Now I want to have them in my external in order to save space on my computer.  I've allready coppied and pasted my media files from my computer hard drive to my external. Would I be able to delete the files from my computer hard drive and use the media files from my external instead?  I've generally heard that you shouldn't move media files and that's why I'm asking.

N.neal:

Would I be able to delete the files from my computer hard drive and use the media files from my external instead?

You should be able to.  Do a test first:  Rename the Avid MediaFiles folder on your system drive to xAvid MediaFiles, which will make Avid ignore it.

Start Media Composer, and if it still plays your clips, then that means it's playing them from the Avid MediaFiles folder on the external drive, and you're ok to get rid of the one on the system.

N.neal:

I've generally heard that you shouldn't move media files and that's why I'm asking.

Moving media files is fine, and many times Media Composer will see the moved media automatically.  There are tricks to make Media Composer "see" media that's been moved if it doesn't do so automatically.  See how it works when you rename the folder, and if it doesn't work don't panic; just post on this thread and we'll talk you through the next step.

In addition to Carl's recommendations, be sure you are following the Avid Media Folder Management Ground Rules:

1) The "Avid MediaFiles" folder (for MXF media) and the "OMFI MediaFiles" folder (for OMF media if you have any) MUST reside at the root level of the media drive, not inside any other folders or the system will not be able to find the media.

2) The folder names must always be the factory default names listed above (minus the quotes) or the system will not be able to find the media.

3) There can be only one of each folder type on any given media drive.

And if you experience any media offline issues after the move, rebuild the media database. Quit the application, and in each numerical folder inside the MXF folder inside the Avid MediaFiles folder, delete the two files that identify as "msmFMID.pmr" and "msmMMOB.mdb". If you have an OMFI MediaFiles folder, delete the same two files. On re-launch, the system will detect the missing files and build new ones at the "Initializing Media Streams Manager" stage. You will see the system go into scanning and then indexing modes at this point. Depending on how many drives and how much media you have on your system, this can take a while, so good time for a meal break.

All right I renamed the original avid media files xAvidMedia files.  The footage still plays but in the bin it says my files are offline atleast it shows them as offline in script mode.  Is that a problem and how do I fix it?

So if you double-click a clip to load it into the source monitor it plays, but it says "offline" in the bin?  Is that correct?

Well actually I misspoke, it's just my titles that are offline everything else is fine, and the titles still play in the timeline.

If the titles are rendered, you may be seeing the render files play back in the timeline.

Were the titles in the bin saved somewhere other than the system drive?  If you display the Drive column in the bin, where does the system thing the titles are?

Yeah they're saved on a different hard drive. (not the same mentioned in previous post)

N.neal:

Yeah they're saved on a different hard drive. (not the same mentioned in previous post)

If the drive where the titles are saved isn't connected, then that would explain them being offline.  You may be able to get them back with the Recreate Title Media command.  Take a look at "Re-creating Title Media" in the help for detailed instructions.

Okay but just so we're clear, it's safe to delete the media files from my computer hard drive, now that they are all on a another hard drive?

N.neal:

Okay but just so we're clear, it's safe to delete the media files from my computer hard drive, now that they are all on a another hard drive?

If you've double checked the "drive" column and are sure your system is pointing to the media files on the external drive, I'd say yes, you're ok to delete the media files on the internal system drive.