What happens when I delete Media Cache Files folder?

[zenhog]

My Media Cache Files folder is 70 GB. Although I've read those files are supposed to be "pointers" I swear there are full size mp3 and video media files in there. I tried the "clean" comman in the Preferences menu but there's still a lot of stuff in there I don't want. What happens if I delete those files and then open a project that relies on them. Will it rebuild them?

[John 'twosheds' McDonald]

If they are just media cache files you can safely delete them as they will be recreated as necessary.

[Bob]

But, make sure you aren't deleting your source media or project file.

The project file (the one with the .prel suffix) contains pointers to the source media, but if a video or audio file needs preview files generated or audio needs to be conformed etc., those files will be created in the cache folders within the project folder. Also, the default location for captured audio or video is also in the project folder.

Are you creating a separate folder for each project? It's a best practice to leave the scratch disk locations at the default "same as project" setting and create each new project in its own separate folder.

[George Tyndall]

It's a best practice to leave the scratch disk locations at the default "same as project" setting and create each new project in its own separate folder.

Bob, is it therefore necessary to move to another disk when one has, say, only 50GB of defragmented free space remaining on the disk that one is usingfor both scratch and projects?

Also, I seem to remember a recommendation that, for optimum performance, one shouldn't use more than 90% of the available disk space. Is that correct?

[Steve Grisetti]

That would be wise, George. It's virtually impossible to 100% fill a disc -- and it would probably be problematic if you tried.

A good rule of thumb is that an empty drive is a happy drive. The more wiggle room you have, the more stable your system tends to be. (Although this is more true of the C drive than the others -- but still true for all to some extent.)

[zenhog]

Thanks guys. Just to be safe I'll mvoe the folder and if the app doesn't puke I'll delete it. I'm dealing with the same issue mentioned in the thread - low on disk space. In fact there's about 15% of my space tied up in that cache folder.

I've started using the practice of creating a folder for each project based on learning that here on this forum. I daily thank my lucky stars I found you guys.

Thanks again,
C