Ok, if this has been asked already i sincerely apologize, but i looked everywhere and couldn't find answers for my particular problem. Here we go:

I've been using Media Composer 3.0 for 8 months and everything was perfect. I woke up this morning to complete a music video I've been working on and all my media is offline. I don't recall doing anything to my files like changing locations or anything like that. I will let you know in advance that my media wasn't necessarily organized perfectly. I just put everything in my "G:/Media" drive.

I looked around a bit and noticed that in this drive were also the "Avid MediaFiles" & "License Files" folders. They had been corrupted somehow. So i backed up everything except for those two folders and ran chkdsk. It deleted those two corrupted folders. Everything else was still intact.

I have all of my XDCAM mp4's as well as the MXF files where they have always been. But when i get into Avid, it still says "Offline Media". Relinking produces "No Media Linked". Ive also tried reinstalling Avid. It replaced the "Media Files" folder in my G drive. But still nothing. I'm thinking it's just a matter of finding the proper way of organizing my media. I also tried dragging the MXF files into theG:/Media/Avid MediaFiles/mxf/1 folder but on start up it gives me this error: Exception: 'AComposition::ConvertFrom AAF!

Any help or advice is appreciated. By the way... I also noticed when i try to import any new MXF footage it looks jittery and takes a few seconds to respond to scrubbing, pressing play etc....WTF? Keep in mind that i have never had any other issues before this at all. Not even with XDCAM MXF files.

Thanks.

Marc

Ok, maybe im overcomplicating this problem. Ill deal with the jittery playback issue later...

Now, for the MEDIA OFFLINE issue. Ill simplify my question because nobody seems to be able to help me just yet:

I used Sony XDCAM EX Clip Browser 2.5 to convert my HD MP4 footage to Avid MXF. I imported them into Avid by just right clicking on my bin and selecting import. All of my raw footage and the MXF files are located on seperate folders on my "G:/Media" drive. Everything worked perfect. I edited my video.

Yesterday all of my projects went offline. Not just the my current stuff, but everything. I noticed that somehow, my "Avid MediaFiles" folder was corrupted so i ran Chkdsk as some in this forum suggested. It deleted that corrupt folder.

A reinstall of Avid brought back the folder into my "G" drive. What do i do now to relink?

Please help me. Im in dire straights here. Thanks.

What "should" work, if you still have all the original media that was imported is to select up all of the master clips in your bins and then do a "Batch Import" command.  That is found under the clip drop down menu.  That should re-import all of the media that you select and put you right back where you were... Good luck!

Thanks you very much mcabery. That solution worked perfect. Although, it does take a while to re-import all that media.

What im having a problem with now is that my media is having playback issues. It struggles to play in the clip preview and in the timeline. The video sticks a bit and skips frames . The response is very slow and choppy when i forward, rewind, or move to a specific frame. Never had this before either so im guessing it's related to my previous issue. Any ideas or should i start new post for this?

You could have a media drive on the way out.  I'd replace drive G ASAP if I were you.

jwrl:

You could have a media drive on the way out.  I'd replace drive G ASAP if I were you.

Marc, at least you should check the S.M.A.R.T. status of your disk. There are several free tools out there which can do just this and some HDD-vendors have their own utilities free to download.

But in general it is important to understand how Avid's media management works! Each and every file you import or capture or even render gets either (re-)wrapped (copied) or (re-)encoded to native Avid media and put into the "Avid MediaFiles"/"OMFI MediaFiles" folder structure. Also each track, either audio or video, gets its own media file! If you delete one *.mxf/*.omf files from that folder structure one item goes offline in your editing application (can be just a render which gets unrendered but also a video- or audiotrack...)! If you experience again that something's offline which definitely should be online (speaking: should have a mediafile in the mediafiles folder) you can try the following:

1. quit MC

2. go to (your mediadrive):\Avid MediaFiles\MXF\

3. go into each numerical folder (1, 2, 3...) and delete the two (rather small) files starting with "msm..."

Those are your media databases which will be recreated by MC at startup. MC will then scan and index all your mediafiles again and hopefully will bring up all your media online again. 

What "mcabery" suggested is based on that kind of media management. You lost your media but did not lose the "links" (masterclips) to the media. So you were able to batch-import. The same is true for captured media, if you lose the mediafiles you can batch-capture from your original tapes.

One last thing: if you need to re-install the software there is no need to delete the "Avid MediaFiles" folder structure! In fact MC will see all your media once reinstalled if you keep that folder! Under certain circumstances you might need to delete the databases as described above but that's all! That's one of the strenghts MC has!

I hope that helps understanding how MC works with its media.

Kind regards, g_f

Thanks a lot for your help guys. G_F, You are absolutely right. Understanding how Avid manages media is essential. I overlooked that big time, but im doing a lot of researching now. Thanks.

I am in the process of doing a smart check on that drive, but it's getting complicated i think, lol.

I have a 250G HDD for my OS only, A 500G HDD for Storage only, and then i have my 2x500 (RAID 0) HDD for my G:/Media. Im not certain SMART will work for this... Ill let you know.

By the way, is it a bad thing to put my "...Avid MediaFiles/" folder on the RAID 0?

I really appreciate your help,

Marc

Hi Marc, put the media files in a RAID 0 array is not necessary a bad idea but you must be conscious that the probability of a failure is multiplied for the number of disc member of the RAID, this is the reason why I use RAID 0 only for files that I can recreate. Before change the hard drives check the cables, the SATA connections can be oxidates (here, in a tropical land, is a quite common problem) and slow down dramatically the transfer rate. If the problem persist and the HD diagnostic tool reveal the existence of problems, replace without hesitation the hard drive, better all the RAID member discs if they have more then two years of usage.

Galo

Another cause of choppy playback is that you may not have imported the video in the same format as you did originally.  You might check what format you brought it in as and see how that compares with your original...

general_failure:

One last thing: if you need to re-install the software there is no need to delete the "Avid MediaFiles" folder structure!

jwrl:

You could have a media drive on the way out.

I have had a total drive failure on a RAID 5 array.  Apart from the array rebuild that the RAID firmware did in the background after I replaced the drive I had no further inconvenience.

Guys, youve all been wicked in helping me get through my issues on this forum. Big time thanks.

Just to clarify, i have a software RAID0. @jwrl: Currently, building a RAID5 array isnt an option for me either.

Somehow it seems that my drive was backed up with ghost files. When i went to defrag, it told me that im using 550G of space on that media drive but really i had only 100G of data. Plus it was all over the place. Completely scattered. That seems like one reason my video was lagging so hard. So i just reformatted it and did a SMART check. It's telling me both the drives are at perfect health. So im bringing back the MXF files that i need and the "Avid MediaFiles" folder. Then i will do a batch import. I think it will go smooth. ill let you know.

Thanks for the great info and advice.

Marc

Hi Marc,

mfantu:

When i went to defrag, it told me that im using 550G of space on that media drive but really i had only 100G of data. Plus it was all over the place. Completely scattered. That seems like one reason my video was lagging so hard.

Actually, it's ok if Avid media is fragmented.  Take a look at the note at the bottom of this Knowledge Base article:

Knowledge Base:

It is recommended to NOT defragment media drives, only the system drive.  Due to the high volume of data written to and read from the media drives, the drives are always in a fragmented state and Avid is designed to work with them like this.

Like the others have mentioned, I think the key to this is understanding how Avid manages media.  If I remember correctly, the Advanced Techniques for Media Composer class covers this, and you might take a look and see if it's offered in your area, or take a class from Avid online:

http://www.avid.com/training/alex.asp

good luck,
Carl

Thanks Carl,

I have never defragmented my Media drive before, but i felt this casw was different bewcause it was showing up that my HD had much more info on it than it really did. So i thought that might have been part of the problem. I wouldnt have done it otherwise. And yes i agree, i will spend the time to gain the knowledge i need to better understand how Avid actually works. But for now, i really need to get my system up and running as soon as i can.

Well, i pretty much hit a dead end except for a complete uninstall/reinstall of Avid. My sofware RAID0 HDD's are fine. My OS HDD is perfect. I defraged the OS HDD. Reformatted my Media Drive. Dropped my MXF files in there and my Avid mediafiles folder as well. Restarted the computer. And finally, i checked to see if the video i was importing with the same setting as before and it is. But still, i get all that lagging when i scrub or play.

Any more ideas or suggestions before i uninstall?

Thanks,

Marc

Hi Marc,

Wasn't trying to bust your chops with that post, more like a cautionary note.  Anyway, try creating a new user and a new project.  Then open up one of the bins with media that isn't playing back correctly (File > Open Bin, and navigate to the project that's causing trouble) and see if the problem persists.  If it doesn't, then your project or user settings are corrupt.

good luck,
Carl

No Prob Carl. your absolutely right anyways. It's important to learn this stuff. Were not dealing with MS Word here. Avid is a powerful tool that is an essential part of my career, and probably that of many others on this forum.

And i tried your suggestion, unfortunately it didnt work for me either. I will do the unistall and let you know how it goes.

Thanks,

Marc