I've seen a few posts on this topic but none seem to match my situation. I was working on a project and went to save it and Studio crashed mid-save. When I opened Studio again I could not open the project and got the "Associated Folder MIssing" message. Upon looking into the MY PROJECTS folder I see that the project in question has been divided into two "windows" manilla file folders instead of one "filmstrip - FF" pinnacle folder. There is plenty of data in those folders, but they seem to have changed into something that Studio doesn't recognize? Can the project be saved? IF NOT, I did render and burn my unfinished project last week to preview it, and if I can un-render it back into the timeline I can repeat the last few edits before the crash. Can that be done? Thanks for any help!

Colour is probably the best person to answer the lost projects issue. He should be along later. In the meantime do't touch anything to do with the projects!

You can't "unrender" as such, but you can import your DVD (or the Video_TS Folder) back in the Studio as an mpeg-2 files using the Import DVD Titles option in the file menu. There may be a drop in quality when you remake the DVD if you change the compression settings.

It will be a "flat" file, in that you won't be able to edit transtions, titles or the like, but you can salvage as much as you want to leave unchanged.

 

and a belated welcome to the forum 

I was working on a project and went to save it and Studio crashed mid-save. When I opened Studio again I could not open the project

In theory, Studio should automatically Save your Edit(s) every 30 seconds (I think). So, when that happens & you Re-launch Studio, you get a "Studio closed unexpectedly, what do you want to do?" Message. giving you 3 options. The 1st being "Continue with current Project" (Or whatever). However you have: 

got the "Associated Folder MIssing" message

instead, because Studio is expecting to "See" the Grey Project Folder, which has become corrupted, exposing:

two "windows" manilla file folders

Richard (UserName Culpenar - I can never remember his exact UserName), has Posted in a Thread I started, giving the corrupted File Name & a suggested fix for replacing it with an uncorrupted one, copied from what I call Studio's "Root" System Grey Folder. This probably involves a Registry Hack. Unfortunately that Thread hasn't been Pinned, as requested & is now buried.

There is plenty of data in those folders

Those are Studio generated Project Files & individually, are of no use to the User.

Despite the above, once the Grey Folder has become corrupted, nobody has been able to Open a Project, without having to Re-do it, except by pure luck, since S10 was 1st launched. Viz; If you have just the one Windows yellow "Containing" Folder, sometimes the .stx File will Open it. Re-booting your PC immediately after the event will sometimes Restore the Grey Folder. Sometimes the Grey Folder will be magically Restored of it's own accord, at any time you boot-up your PC.

The only answer, is to "Save As"  each Edit, with Same Project Name, but with incremental Numbers, for each Edit. That way if you lose your last one, you can Open the previous one & just Re-Edit that, instead of having to Re-do the whole Project. Or, Render each Edit, to File-DV-AVI, with same File Name, but with incremental Numbers, Importing those into the TimeLine, for a Final Render. That way, you don't lose anything.

NB - Read Jeff's Post above, first. 

Thanks for your info. I had a feeling it was unrecoverable. FYI: I disabled the auto save because I would often make some edits and then not like the results but didn't want to have to UNDO forever to find my way back. I was saving with SAVE AS but then had the "CANNOT OPEN PROJECT" message show up, so I just started saving the same project after every few edits, so this problem was creeping up on me for a while. I just wanted to get the project done before attempting to troubleshoot. Ironically I was ready to burn when the "incident" happened! In desparation I did a system restore a few hours after the problem, and a gray folder appeared with that project's name, but it was an empty project -- just gave me false hope. I will import the DVD I made last week and do the fixes one generation removed from the master. Thanks for your valuable information.

I disabled the auto save

The option to use "AutoSave" shouldn't be confused with Studio "Saving" your Edit at intervals whilst you are Editing. That "Option" only Automatically Saves your Project & Automatically Opens it, when you Launch Studio, instead of you having to Manually Open it. 

but didn't want to have to UNDO forever

UNDO/REDO remains "As Is", irrespective of chosing the AutoSave "Option".

I did a system restore a few hours after the problem

Doing a "System Restore", more often than not, compounds the problem.   

I had the same problem

 

Was working on a project called America.

After a save crash, it seems to have changed the foldername to America(2) and therefore gave the error message.

Once i renamed the folder back to Amerika, it all worked again.

Even the icon of the folder came back.

Thanks, I'll try that when I'm back home. BUT one difference... my project, WDW 09 became TWO folders after the crash: WDW 09(1) and WDW 09(2). Both have the same "date modified" date and time, both have similar sub-folders. I have no idea how to identify what the subfolders mean. I can't rename both with the same name, can I combine them and then rename???

steveromo:

Thanks, I'll try that when I'm back home. BUT one difference... my project, WDW 09 became TWO folders after the crash: WDW 09(1) and WDW 09(2). Both have the same "date modified" date and time, both have similar sub-folders. I have no idea how to identify what the subfolders mean. I can't rename both with the same name, can I combine them and then rename???

Right-Click on both Containing Folders / Properties / & Select the Folder with the greater number of MBs (Should be (2)) Rename both that Folder & it's associated .stx File, with the same name. You might get lucky, as per the other Poster. However if you don't, my First Post refers.

Ditto.

I had one folder with project(2) and project.pla file. After renaming the folder and launching the .STX file The file and folder got converted back into the gray folder.  The project then loaded fine.

Thanks for the tip!

haza1:

Ditto.

I had one folder with project(2) and project.pla file. After renaming the folder and launching the .STX file The file and folder got converted back into the gray folder.  The project then loaded fine.

Thanks for the tip!