Hi

 Delete specific files option - use with extreme caution - if you select the project file the clean-up wizard will delete it from the hard drive, including all of the media files used.

If the files you used in the movie have also been used in other movies eg from other project folders then they will also be removed.

Search and delete superfluous files - automatically looks for extraneous files created during use of MEP. Before they are deleted, a list will be shown a dialog and  confirmation requested.

John

Hi

 Delete specific files option - use with extreme caution - if you select the project file the clean-up wizard will delete it from the hard drive, including all of the media files used.

If the files you used in the movie have also been used in other movies eg from other project folders then they will also be removed.

Search and delete superfluous files - automatically looks for extraneous files created during use of MEP. Before they are deleted, a list will be shown a dialog and  confirmation requested.

John

Correct.  Thanks for the addition, John.  I made an unconscious assumption here, namely that everyone does it the way I do.  I always copy the media file to the project folder and if any other projects depend on that same media I include their mvp files in the same folder, in order to avoid any duplication of huge m2ts files all over the place.  I always choose the superfluous-files option and check all, and have never had occasion to miss anything later that I should have saved.

Thanks for the responses folks.

My question referers to both superfluous files and extraneous files, I suppose. I did a bit of research before asking, however a good definition of both seems hard to find. I now have 100's of projects and files, so even testing to see what would happen, were I to delete, is hard.

I am not an expert in the MEP settings. My understanding of definitions of project files, media files etc... is limited.

The following of the MEP extensions already baffle me. .mvp, .hdp, .bak... these all seem to be created and in diferrent locations when I edit.

At the risk of wasting your time and forum space. May I ask a question in the following manner ?

1. I import a number of eg: Avi files into MEP.
2. I begin the edit of the project.
3. The Avi files on the timeline are trimmed shorter than the original raw footage.
4. The original raw .avi sits in a folder on my desktop.
5. I save the MEP project this creates a .mvp file which is saved.
6. I then export eg.. the file as an mpeg to another location.

When I delete the superfluous files. Which of the above gets deleted or what will lose?

Thanks again

When I delete the superfluous files. Which of the above gets deleted or what will lose?

Thanks again

Nothing in the superfluous deletion gets deleted unless you check (tick) it.  Once you click on the Continue button  you get to see which of the ones MEP considers unneeded and any comments it appends to each deletion (if any).   Your .avi files won't even make the list (well, at least my m2ts ones don't, so I assume it's the same for all other media files).

But, MEP doesn't decide what you delete.  You do, when you check each box in front of the entry or leave it alone.

Hi Arthur

Thanks for the response, but MEP does select the files when you use the wizard. I don't know why it chooses the files files it does, but that is the case. Perhaps MEP only searches the default folders

I'd like to use that function, hence teh reason for me asking the question on file clean up.

If I select all, what will I damage or lose ? The auto function would save me a lot of space.

Hi crash/ Arthur/John,

I think this tool is poorly designed and buggy. And the Help and PDF are weak, for example in lacking a solid definition of 'superfluous' or 'unnecessary'.

It also fails to include one crucial point - maybe assumed to be obvious, but it wasn't to me! Namely that the clean-up only applies to the project you've specified in Program Settings > Folder. To clean up some or all old projects, you need to (carefully!) use the Advanced button and check the subfolder option.

Worse, the tool itself seems useless, at least for my work flow. Unlike Arthur, I don't physically move or copy all my source files into my project folder. That seems the only way that the wizard might be able to do anything useful, and after my cursory tests even that is arguable.

For files (images, videos, etc) imported from a variety of other folders, it doesn't work. For instance, the HDP files created when each video object is first played in the timeline are not  deleted. If I want to delete files that I regard as superfluous when I've finished a project (HDP, H0, TAK, etc) I have to locate them manually - which is not what I expect from a 'wizard'! It won't even let me use a wild card approach, such as specifying *.hdp.

It also seems unable to recognise non-existent folders. And doesn't remember the name of the current project. And if no folder is specified (which you wouldn't know unless you use the Advanced button) it still reports 'No unnecessary files have been found'!

I'll stick to manual housekeeping with the aid of a few reliable tools!

--------------------

I'd be interested in feedback from other users about their approach to HDP and H0 files please. I have thousands (including backups on 3 drives). I'm inclined to zap the lot!

I see that many of them, especially the H0, appear to be associated with files I've never used, in Docs & Settings, i.e built-in. (For all versions of MEP I still have installed). As opposed to those in source media and project folders, remnants of old projects.

--
Terry, East Grinstead, UK