@johnebaker

Hi John.

I think he/she wants to know where his projects are on the old laptop to transfer them to the new one.

So if the file location was not set by the user where would the files be?

Ray.

Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-8565U CPU @ 1.80GHz   2.00 GHz
16.0 GB (15.8 GB usable)
64-bit operating system, x64-based processor
Windows 10 Home
HARD DRIVE 349GB FREE OUT OF 475GB

HI. I have a folder with the VPX projects and BAKs... is that all I need to move across? All clips and effects are on an external hard drive.
But another issue is concerning me. Until yesterday, editing has been going really well. I'd cleared my laptop of all unnecessary files and apps and this seemed to have a positive effect upon the editing process. Smooth playback, few delays. Then, out of the blue, it has reverted to the problems of old: every edit is followed by a lengthy wait until I can do anything else; and playback is awful. In some cases, the cursor moves but the screen shows just one frame. As far as I know, nothing has changed on my laptop. Any thoughts/advice? Proxies ARE set up and screen resolution is low.

@MCK @johnebaker

Hi. As long as the external drive you use has the same name and drive letter on your new Laptop as when it was used on the old one then I think it should work. I have not done this with MEP or VPX but has worked with other programs. Then one the folder is transferred, try clicking on one of the project files in the folder to see if it activates VPX and loads the relevant files. If the project loads but can't find the files you may have to point to the files manually but that is normally caused by the drive the files are on having a different name or assigned drive letter on the new system.

As for the slowing down of projects. This can be caused by not enough free space on the project drive,not the C: drive of which you seem to have plenty of free space. Nor should having more programs on the C: drive make much difference although they should be stopped from loading into the background on startup. As many as possible programs not required for the machine to work effectively should not load to background on start up.

Your other problem may be your project drive is too fragmented if is is not solid state and read write speeds may suffer as a result, causing the slowdown and stuttering you experience. Large drives with small caches suffer most from this.

Ray.

Would it be better to transfer all files to a Solid State Drive? These perform better?

@MCK

Hi,

I have been meaning to get started on planning for this for a couple of months now, but haven't.

1. In VPX, Program Settings, Folder, look at the paths of everything. That is where you will find most things that you need to keep and set up. You may have changed some of these, so take note.

The main place is:

C:\Users\Admin\Documents\MAGIX\Video Pro X

so you may need everything under this, and copy it all to the new computer.

If you had older versions, including MEP, there may be similar folders that you want to transfer.

If you have saved MVP, MVD (movies), XBI (Project Temp Folder) files elsewhere, do a search and note and copy the folders.

2. If you have saved any transitions, effects, or titles, then they will be under:

C:\Users\Public\Documents\MAGIX\Common\Videocontent...

Video Pro X - in which case, you'll need to understand where they are, get them, and put them in the same place once VPX is installed on the new computer. I suggest keeping a copy of the whole thing just in case you need something.

If you have another folder, like Movie Edit Pro in the same place, keep a backup of that as well. Older programs kept things under:

C:\ProgramData\MAGIX...

and you may want to check what is there.

3. If you installed Music Maker or even if you didn't, check to see if this exists:

C:\Users\Public\Documents\MAGIX\Common\Soundpools

if so, then copy everything and put it in the same place on the new computer.

4. If you have any external resources that you use, copy them and put them in the same place on the new computer. Examples, audio files (music, sound effects), your own content like templates, images, masks. I have special folders for these and there are links in the Media Pool/Import to them.

5. Any project folders not covered above where you may have put resources, exports, etc. I have a main folder with subfolder by project type/projects where I keep things, like images, that I have made for the project, screen captures, exports, GPS data, travel routes, exports from other programs like Bluff Titler. Back up, copy and put on new computer if this information is still required for active or future projects.

6. Content - backup, copy/paste to new computer, with the same path, all content - photos, videos, audio.

7. Third Party programs - if you have saved any templates/effects etc. for these, track them down and copy them to the same location once the third party programs have been installed on the new computer.

You should already have a backup of everything anyways.

I'll probably think of more, as will others.

John CB

@MCK

A lot would depend on the complexity of the project and personally I prefer spinning disks if they are going to be written to as well as read. M2 drives over SSDs for read /write cycles but the tech is changing all the time. The more tracks or clips that have to be read at the same time the worse the problem in my experience although other peoples experience may vary from mine and I'm using a tower PC not a laptop so I have lots of fast internal drives. In your instance It may be the just the seek times for the heads to read from and write to rather than the speed of the drive although the resolution of the project will also have an impact on smoothness of playback as can the size you have your preview monitors set to. At least I find this to be the case. Also the amount of added effects also has a performance hit so a lot of variables to take into account.

Ray.

@browj2 @MCK

Hi.

John Browns' workflow seems closer to your workflow than mine. So follow his directions as to where to look for files.

Ray.

Thanks to all.
I have moved files from one laptop to another. Have tried to open the project, but am immediately getting this and other similar messages...
THE FILE
C:\ProgramData\MAGIX\VideoProX\8 (and then the file name)... COULD NOT BE FOUND
Sorry about my ignorance, but where are these files? I have keyed in the relevant locations into the original laptop, but there is nothing. The files are things like overlays and intros. Wouldn't they have come with the installation?
Any help would be appreciated!
 

@MCK

Hi

Hard drive vs SSD speeds:

@Scenestealer and I have had several discussions on this and there is no significant advantage using SSD drives over HD drives. With my new laptop I have reverted to using an external drive for all the project files and resources I use, and the render speeds are only marginally slower than my main PC, the drives are never driven to 100% usage in reading or writing as the data is transferred in bursts.

Lost files:

. . . .The files are things like overlays and intros.. . .

Are you using VPX 8 on this laptop?

Is all the Extra Content installed?

HTH

John EB

@MCK

Hi,

but am immediately getting this and other similar messages...
THE FILE
C:\ProgramData\MAGIX\VideoProX\8 (and then the file name)... COULD NOT BE FOUND

This is one of the reasons to always indicate the program and version; VPX8 does not have the content installed at the same place as VPX11 or 12. It helps us so that we're not guessing. Please add this info to your signature along with specs for your new computer.

I indicated what to do about older versions, where the data would be under ProgramData.

It looks like you did not download and install the additional content for VPX8, if that is the current version, which is why your new computer can't find it. This is to be installed, not copied. Do so before continuing.

John CB

I am going to re-read your advice. But first... I have updated VPX on the new laptop, but the version number differs from that on laptop 1.
i.e.
LAPTOP 1: 15.0.4.176
LAPTOP 2 15.0.3.154
Where am I going wrong?
Mark

Ah! Turns out that the update had failed. Have done it again successfully and the version numbers now match.

@MCK

Is that VPX8, X9? If it's VPX9 then you have projects that are using data from VPX8. Then you'll have to tell the project where to find the same data that would be also be in VPX9.

Have you downloaded and installed the additional content?

John CB

VPX8. I installed the extra content earlier, but am repeating the process now, just in case. Am thinking of buying the latest version of VPX. Is it significantly better than VPX8?

@MCK

Hi.

What do you mean by significantly better?

Are the results going to look better? No.

Will export times be quicker without hardware that exceeds the minimum hardware specifications? No.

Will there be some improvement in new tools and processes? Possibly.

Will it make handling your files better on its own? No.

Personally I think your first priority should be thinking about upgrading your hardware. Faster hard drives are not the answer if the rest of the hardware can't keep up.

Ray.

Good advice, Ray. I have been thinking about upgrading for some time (I've posted questions here) and take your points in their entirety. Slightly difficult to justify when I suddenly find myself with two expensive laptops which are falling a shade short of what is required!

@MCK

I totally understand concerns over costs of upgrades and that some people need to use laptops over tower cases for various reasons. I have always built my own tower cased PCs because I have the room to do so and it's cheaper on average as the parts (apart from GPU motherboard and ram combinations) can be upgraded a bit at a time. When I started editing video I had no idea of the importance of having a decent Intel inboard GPU as I had only been editing still images.Even the processor can be a few models down (with a few less cores) from the top of the range units as long as they have a decent inboard GPU and that can be more cost effective allowing more to be spent on the additional nvidia card that can help with smoother playback of more demanding files.

Unfortunately because of the nature of video editing it demands better components for a smoother experience.

John EB probably has the best laptop currently available for performance vs cost and running VPX at present out of the people who regularly contribute answers on this forum.

Ray.

May I ask what the specs are for John EB's laptop?

@MCK

Johns set up: Lenovo Legion 5i with 17" screen, 10th generation Intel (6 core), 16GB RAM, RTX 2060 and 512GB SSD

Forum Moderator

@MCK

Hi

The Lenovo Legion 5i, product key 81Y8003CUK, is here - far right hand column - purchased direct from Lenovo delivered in 2 days.

John EB

That looks good. Yet I am sure my laptop has even better specs. I guess it's not what you've got but how you use it...

@MCK

Hi.

Not quite for the smooth playback you want.

For file handling and exporting your system is more than adequate but the smooth playback is mainly down to having a good nvidia graphics card once the file sizes start to get larger.

Minimum system requirements • Processor: Dual-core processor with 2.4 GHz • RAM: 4 GB • Graphics card: Onboard, min. resolution 1280 x 1024, 512 MB VRAM and DirectX 11 support (recommended: Intel(R) HD Graphics 520 for MPEG2/AVC/HEVC, or NVIDIA GeForce 1050 for HEVC, or better)* • Hard disk space: 2 GB free disk space for program installation • Optical drive: DVD drive • Internet connection: Required for registering and validating the program, as well as for some program functions. *An active, integrated graphics unit with installed, up-to-date drivers is required.

Ray.