Hi,

What version of PowerDirector are you using?
Look in (directors' chair icon) Help > About

Split your project up please - you may have a corrupt video file or you've altered a menu selection that's not quite right, you've altered or added something.

Please ensure you have sufficient room on C drive - at least twice to three times the size of the project files (NOTE: THE PROJECT) and not just the estimated finished file sizes.

Defragment your drives - remove unneeded old data and clean up generally all the old temp files.

I'd also like you to do a simple uninstall - reinstall of PD - should correct some issues.

Dafydd

I am running PowerDirector Ultra V7 7.0.2519

I think I found where the problem is, and I am sure many many people will encounter the same issue. When I installed PowerDirector, there was just enough space remaining on my C drive to handle it. I set the installation paths all to another drive which had lots of space available. I assumed that when I downloaded menus, titles, and templates, that the files were being saved by default to the same directory I set during installation. Instead, they were by default being loaded on the C drive.

I am a computer programmer myself, so I understand why software typically defaults to the C drive as every computer has a C drive. I wish that software developers would realize that many people find their computers become unstable when the C drive becomes too full. No one does this I realize, but it would only take a line or two of code to check how full the C drive is before any additional files are installed, and offer the user a simple pop up asking if they would like to install to another drive if there is insufficient room. It would make the program so much more stable and I suspect reduce the number of crashes by half. I bet that you probably write a dozen or so post telling people to defrag their drive and uninstall un-necessary programs. That is basically a way of saying, our program is filling up your C drive without us telling you... you have to clear it out.

Eric -

You're right in one sense - that response has been written many dozens of times. That's because it's good advice.

I guess your PC is a bit older if it's scratching for space to put things! My observation is that this will continue to cause issues when you're using PD7. YOU NEED SPACE and PD7 needs room to breathe (that's tech talk, Adrian!)

In your boots I would
(a) go through your C drive and ditch some things you don't need
(b) uninstall & reinstall PD7
(C) defrag... all of which Dafydd suggested.

or invest in a new drive with greater capacity.

I don't know about YOUR PC, but on mine things only fill up my C drive when I tell them to.

Cheers -

Tony
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Unfortunately, software fills up people's C drives all the time without being told. Unless you have a computer that does not have automatic updates, never use the Internet, and have no virus scan software... every time you turn on your computer, megabytes of data are downloaded, very often without notification, to an individual's C drive. Personally, as of the last few months, my computer has been downloading new virus definitions every ten minutes. Granted, these are tiny insignificant files if you have a computer less than two years old with a giant C drive as most software developers in corporate offices have. However, I suspect that many of the people using this software like me, have computers over three years of age bought back when twenty gigabytes was still a significantly large hard drive. Software is always developed for new computers, but what software developers do not realize that the average person can only afford to replace their computer on an average of once every five years.

I am not your average computer user. I use to write the software that would launch training applications for other computer software for a major corporation. I am not a novice and I am well aware I am pushing the capabilities of my computer running your software. The average computer user, and average user of your software however, probably does not know the difference between a gigabyte of data and a gaggle of geese. The average person is like Billy Bob buying your software because they just bought a new HD camera on sale at Walmart, plugged it into their computer, and has no idea how to get the video from their camera to a DVD. If Billy Bob runs your software and it crashes, he will simply be pissed that he spent 90 bucks on software that doesn't work, and never buy from you again. You won't hear from him aside from maybe a single post in your forum where Billy Bob who uses his CD tray to hold his beer will be told to defrag a drive, reinstall software, and clear their his drives. Billy Bob will have no idea what defrag means let alone how to trouble shoot a computer. He will then in turn tell everyone he knows not to buy the camera nor the software. However, if your software does work, Billy Bob will proudly show all his neighbors and friends his kids little league baseball video, and you'll make more sales to more Moms and Dads with new HD cameras they can't use. Simply put, you need to make your software crash resistant and Billy Bob proof. The number one cause for crashing software on old computers isn't that the processors can't handle it... it is simply that the person's C drive is full while they probably have a few hundred free gigabytes on another drive. So, why not check the drive space, and redirect files to drives with more space with a simple pop-up? It is a simple fix and it will remove about half the post to this forum. Now, I don't want to sound too sarcastic about this because quite frankly, no software bothers to do this. Unfortunately, Bill Gates isn't taking my post which is why I am posting here. In most cases, Billy Bob ends up calling me on the phone to fix his computer and burn a DVD of his kid's little league game. It would just be nice if he could do it himself and I didn't have to constantly search for files your software sticks on my C drive.

Hi Eric -

Even though my Dad taught me never to play leapfrog with unicorns, I'm responding to your little rant anyway. Maybe I didn't learn it too well.

As it happens, I'm something of a "Billy Bob" in all of this... video editing, I mean. Because I'm new to it, I don't mind asking for people's advice when I need it... that's why I joined this forum. Man! I've learnt heaps from the people here. I value their experience, support and wisdom. I also value other "Billy Bobs" asking questions, because I learn from that too. When I try to help somone else it helps me too, because I have to explain things.

Unlike you, when I joined this forum I was completely aware that it was NOT a forum representing CyberLink. Unlike you, I was completely aware that its members were just users of CyberLink software... it says it at the top of the page! Quote: "This is a forum for CyberLink members to discuss and share their users' experience. CyberLink customer support will not reply in the forum regarding the technical issues." See what I mean?

When you say "YOUR" software, you're talking to the wrong people. It's not "OUR" software. We just use it... and some people here use it extremely well. I've seen them!

I absolutely agree with you about the instability of PD7. You're right. It SHOULD work properly, even for "Billy Bobs" like me. Another thing I know is that our moderator, Dafydd, communicates with the people at CyberLink directly. Issues raised in this forum get passed on to the software developers, so they can fix problems and make improvements. PD8 is being tested right now and I've heard that it's greatly improved.

You keep talking about all the things that clog up our C drives as if there's some kind of conspiracy going on. If you'd rather not have the updates and patches, virus definitions, drivers and codecs clogging up your drive... don't download them. Then you'll be able to preserve your space. Easy.

I just looked in my Program Files folder... PD7 is only about the same size as Microsoft Office (about 700 gaggles of geese each). That's not so bad is it? I can also tell you that one video I finished making yesterday was BIGGER than all the software I used to put it together (including PD7). I know size isn't supposed to matter, but - tell me - how big IS your hard drive? If you'd rather not tell everyone, send me a PM. I'll tell you how big MINE is.

Yes - I'm just your average "Billy Bob" and I don't understand all the inner workings of my PC... but I DO know that if someone I trust tells me defragging is a good idea, and that my geese will be healthier for it, I JUST DO IT!

Anyway - I look forward to your PM.

Tony

Oh - Adrian - if you're there - here's a little quote I just thought of...

"Just 'cos you're not paranoid, doesn't mean they're not out to get you!"
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Yes, my post was a bit of a rant, and it really is directed to the developers of cyberlink and not the members of the forum. The reason I posted this is I know at least a dozen people, all of them like Billy Bob, who come to me to ask me to fix their computer... and it is always the exact same problem. I've been advised not to suggest people to install their Cyberlink software on any drive other than C... and yet the very reason most people I know have issues with their various software is their C drive is packed. Most people do not know how to install software to other drives, and software for the most part is not designed to be installed elsewhere... wherein lies the problem. My computer is old and a bit slow... I know this, and yet it is still twice as powerful as most of the people I know and help. I know what files I can remove from my drive... most people do not. All I am saying is that if I were a developer for Cyberlink, it might be good to keep this in mind when they work on version 8. It is afterall, an underlying cause of many forum post. Many people, especially right now, are trying to extend the life of their old computers. For the other in this forum, I also think it was worth noting that Cyberlink requires room on their C drive, and if your like me and can't remove any more programs and have already defragged, check your downloaded template, menu, titles files. These can be moved... though you probably should know what your doing before trying this.

Eric,

I encountered that problem occasionally as well but less and less with each new version of PD (from 5, to 6, to 7 now) - and yes, I have a pretty large C: drive. What I have discovered though is that it crashes less if I use the "Create a DVD folder" option (so I can specify which drive to use for the DVD folder). I hope that would help you.

As to the question of the ever growing C: drive, there are hidden folders used by applications and they grow bigger and bigger. For my case, I moved "My Documents" to other drives and seems to have reduced the impact of this problem.

I'll give that a try. I never select the "Create a DVD folder" option.
Thanks,
Eric