The PDS file never contains any source clips, it only has the instructions to perform all of the edits you had made when you saved in the project. When you open the project, the first thing it does after reading the contents is to load the source clips from the location they were originally at.

It sounds to me like you had your clips on a removable drive, like a USB thumb drive, and it is no longer connected to your computer. When you opened that project, you should have seen a message like this:



If your clips are on a drive that's not connected to your editing computer, close PD, reconnect the drive and start PD again. The project will load and all of your timeline content should be filled.

If your clips are on your computer but you've moved them to another location since saving the PDS file, use the Browse button on the above window and navigate to the new location. You may need to do this more than once, but PD will then have the correct location, so be sure and save the project again to keep the new location.

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Quote The PDS file never contains any source clips, it only has the instructions to perform all of the edits you had made when you saved in the project. When you open the project, the first thing it does after reading the contents is to load the source clips from the location they were originally at.

It sounds to me like you had your clips on a removable drive, like a USB thumb drive, and it is no longer connected to your computer. When you opened that project, you should have seen a message like this:



If your clips are on a drive that's not connected to your editing computer, close PD, reconnect the drive and start PD again. The project will load and all of your timeline content should be filled.

If your clips are on your computer but you've moved them to another location since saving the PDS file, use the Browse button on the above window and navigate to the new location. You may need to do this more than once, but PD will then have the correct location, so be sure and save the project again to keep the new location.

No I didnt use a thumb drive.Ive tried the browse options but maybe I was too quick to move through the options .I will try again. i dont recall shifting the clips either.
Thanks Graeme

It might help if you could take a screenshot of your timeline, or even better, make a screen recording of what happens when you load the project.

Another option would be to download a free and very fast search app called Everything. Once it's installed, start typing the name of any of the missing clips and you should immediately see it in the results list. That will give you the clip's location which would make it easier to direct PD to it when using the Browse function.

YouTube/optodata

DS365 | Win11 Pro | Ryzen 9 3950X | RTX 4070 Ti | 32GB RAM | 10TB SSDs | 5K+4K HDR monitors

Canon Vixia GX10 (4K 60p) | HF G30 (HD 60p) | Yi Action+ 4K | 360Fly 4K 360°

Quote It might help if you could take a screenshot of your timeline, or even better, make a screen recording of what happens when you load the project.

Another option would be to download a free and very fast search app called Everything. Once it's installed, start typing the name of any of the missing clips and you should immediately see it in the results list. That will give you the clip's location which would make it easier to direct PD to it when using the Browse function.

I found the problem . I changed the name of the folder this morning because of a spelling error and it contained all of the clips and pictures . I have recovered all of them form the second to final version and am working to retidy this up . Will save it in its own folder as a back up. Thanks very much.
Cheers
Graeme