When first started, Project Parking will automatically configure itself to look in the default locations for your Private and Shared Avid projects on your local disk.
If you have external Avid Projects, use the Configuration button on the GUI to open the Configuration dialogue and select the Project Locations tab. Use the Add Location... button to add new folders that contain projects, If you have a complex structure of projects, perhaps sub-divided by channel, period or customer, select a location higher up in the folder structure and the Tree View will reflect the structure and allow you to quickly locate your projects.
If you are using Project Parking on a machine which does not have Media Composer installed, you can exclude the default Project Locations, otherwise these will cause errors in the Console.

When first started, Project Parking will automatically find any mounted (drive letter or UNC) media workspaces that are available, and these will be listed in the Workspaces panel of the Home tab. If it does not find your media workspaces you can add them by using the Configuration button on the GUI to open the Configuration dialogue and select the Workspaces tab. Use the Add Workspace... button and type in the UNC path of the workspace.

Project Parking is not currently available on the Mac, however if the project and media directories are available on the network, Project Parking installed on a PC will be able to archive the projects. Customers using Bootcamp to boot their Windows on their Mac have successfully used Project Parking on their Mac. Another option would be to run it on a VM.

Any media on Avid Media Access (AMA) should be consolidated onto Avid storage accessible from the Windows file system.

Project Parking can be licensed in several different ways. There are detailed instructions in the on-line help and the pdf of the manual. You can find the pdf in the %ProgramFiles(x86)%\Marquis\Project Parking folder.

A free 14 day evaluation licence is available on request. Please contact us here.

Yes! Any bin, folder of bins or selection of bins from an archive can be restored to any project which is currently online. The bins will be copied into a new folder named as the name and version of the archive.
Note: Avid cannot open two bins with the same name at the same time, so you will have to close one copy of the bin before opening another.

Project Parking does not interrogate Interplay for details of what is stored in its folders, however this need not be a disadvantage if projects are checked out to a shared workspace on the ISIS/NEXIS. Editors check projects out of Interplay to the shared workspace and then edit them in place. Once complete they are checked back into Interplay. In this way, the projects on the ISIS/NEXIS are kept up to date with those in Interplay. Project Parking can therefore use the projects on the ISIS/NEXIS as up-to-date proxies for those on Interplay.

Archive directories have the same structure as Avid project directories. If you have a project archive in a directory, you need to mount the directory above it as a drive and then tell Avid to include it using the AllDrives command in the Avid Console. For example, if your project is called BAZtest4, and is in directory: D:\BAZtest4 you should mount D:\BAZtest4\_media\OS as a drive (for each folder under _media if there are several).

In a non-Interplay environment, each Avid workstation indexes its own media. If you are adding media to shared storage by transferring or restoring a project, you need to arrange for it to go into the right sub-folder of the media directory if the target Avid workstation is to see it and index it. You do this by typing the name of that workstation into the Workstation: field in the Restore or Transfer Details dialogues. When you restart Media Composer on that workstation it will report that it has found new media.

Project Parking does not store the archive metadata in a central database, but rather stores the metadata with each archive. This makes the archive truly portable and means that regardless of where the archive was made, if the archive can be seen, it can be restored.

Project Parking stores the configuration in a file called “Project.Parking.Configuration” in the following folder “C:\ProgramData\Marquis\Project.Parking”

Project Parking uses an MD5 checksum to verify that a copied file is a true duplicate of the original. During the copy process, Project Parking calculates the source MD5 checksum. Once the copy is complete, it then reads the destination file back and calculates the MD5 checksum again. If the two checksums match the copy is considered to have been successfully completed, otherwise an error will be produced, and that action will be abandoned.

Project Parking now supports Avid Interplay environments. During project analysis large Interplay workspaces will take longer to be analysed the first time they are seen. Project Parking does not update Interplay when it adds or removes media, though Interplay recognises these changes as it scans the media. See “How to best work with Interplay?” for more information.

Notes that you attach to a particular archive will appear in the Archive Report in the Archives & Restore tab when the archive is selected. They also appear in the XML files: archive.detail and archive.report, which can be found in the same folder as the archive.

You can restore bins from an archive to any project. The bins will be copied into a new folder named as the name and version of the archive they came from. The bins in the destination folder will not be changed.
Note: Avid cannot open two bins with the same name at the same time, so you will have to close one copy of the bin before opening another.

When you re-integrate a project (perhaps one that you transferred to removable storage for off-site editing), Project Parking only copies back the bins that have changed and any additional media. These bins will be copied into a new folder named as the name and date of the project they came from. The bins in the destination folder will not be changed.
Note: Avid cannot open two bins with the same name at the same time, so you will have to close one copy of the bin before opening another.

There are several tools in Project Parking which can help you investigate what is going on if you face errors and warnings:
Read messages carefully as they have been written to try to explain the problem as clearly as possible
On the Activity tab in the Console, you can click the down arrow to the left of an error or warning to get more information about it
You can get the additional information in the Console by enabling Verbose logging in the Logging tab of the Configuration dialogue
You can automatically save the output of the Console by ticking the Save To File button just below the console, you can find out the folder that the log is being written to in the Log File Location of the Logging tag of the Configuration dialogue.

These media files are not accessible from the workstation running Project Parking. On the edit workstation, consolidate the media files onto shared storage and try again, or share the local drive.

The most likely explanation is that your license file does not match the Host ID of the workstation you are using. Check this by comparing the Host ID reported on the Licence Screen with the Host ID in your license file.

Because Avid projects are stored in a directory of the same name, Project Parking looks for Avid project files in directories below the directory you set Project Locations to. Set Project Locations to one directory higher and your projects will appear.

What appears in the Workspace and Project Analysis tabs is a taken from the last Storage Analysis that you performed. This is a snapshot of the state of your storage at that time. No actions taken in Project Parking will affect this analysis, nor what is displayed in the Project and Workspace Analysis tabs. To update this information after operations such as sweep, restore or transfer, re-run the storage analysis.

Some configurations of workstation client and Avid ISIS/NEXIS or Unity storage generate an error during file copy or storage analysis of the form:
3/4/2013 8:26:02 PM : (Error) Copying file [\\...mxf]
The semaphore timeout period has expired.
This has sometimes been seen to be caused by particular Network Interface Cards, or other network devices between the workstation and the Avid storage. It can sometimes be cured by moving Project Parking to another workstation.
If it is not possible to move Project Parking to another workstation, the errors can usually be eliminated by limiting the number of threads Project Parking uses to access the Avid storage, or the bandwidth available to it. Both of these parameters are controllable from the Advanced tab of the Configuration dialogue. Initially you might try reducing the “Maximum number of concurrent media file scans” to 6 and reducing the “Limit network bandwidth utilisation” to 300. Additional help can be sought from Marquis Broadcast support here.

A log of actions is available in the Console. It is possible to save the entire contents of the console by selecting "Save To File...". Alternatively,  Project Parking logs all these Activity messages to a log file. You can find out the folder that the log is being written to in the Log File Location of the Logging tag of the Configuration dialogue. You can get the additional information in the Console by enabling Verbose logging in the Logging tab of the Configuration dialogue.

In order to complete Storage Analysis, Project Parking must look in every bin of every project and at every media file that is online. The speed of network access to the storage from the workstation performing the analysis will be most critical in how long this takes. In tests we have seen 500,000 media files, taking up 100TB of storage and approximately 1,000 projects be analysed in as little as 2.5 hours.

The speed of network access to the storage from the workstation performing the analysis will be most critical in how long this takes. Note that this relates to the shared Avid storage and the destination or source storage. You can test the speed by doing a Windows copy of a large file. You should see speeds similar to this in Project Parking. For example, a workstation connected to Avid ISIS/NEXIS over a 1 Gig Ethernet network might achieve 30% utilisation. This would equate to a 1TB project taking 9 hours to archive.

Use the Configuration drop-down menu and select Project Locations. Use the +Add... button to add new folders that contain projects, If you have a complex structure of projects, perhaps sub-divided by channel, period or customer, select a location higher up in the folder structure and the Tree View will reflect the structure and allow you to quickly locate your projects.
You can also run a Project Discovery job from the Schedule page. This job will scan all mounted Workspaces looking for projects and will update the Project Locations section of the Configuration with the results.
Review the results and use the Toggle State button to Enable/Disable the selected Workspace.

When first started, Workspace Tools will automatically find any mounted (drive letter or UNC) Workspaces that are available, and these will be listed in the Configuration > Workspaces page. If it does not find your Workspaces you can add them by using the +Add button on the Workspaces page. Use the +Add Workspace... button and type in the UNC path of the workspace. This should be in the form of \\hostname\share

Workspace Tools is not currently available on the Mac. Workspace Tools runs as Windows Services so can be run on a PC or VM.  The web pages can be accessible by any network machine.

Workspace Tools can be licensed from the Configuration > License menu. There are detailed instructions in the on-line Manual which can be accessed from the Help menu.

A free 14 day evaluation licence is available on request. Please contact us here.

Yes! Any bin, folder of bins or selection of bins from an archive can be restored to any project which is currently on-line. The bins will be copied into a new folder named as the name and version of the archive. This is done using the Project Restore application which is part of the Workspace Tool suite.
Note: Avid cannot open two bins with the same name at the same time, so you will have to close one copy of the bin before opening another.

Yes! Using Workspace Restore you can map the archived Workspace to a new Workspace. This is useful if the original Workspace is no longer available.
The Workspace Restore application which is part of the Workspace Tool suite.

Archive directories have the same structure as Avid project directories. If you have a project archive in a directory, you need to mount the directory above it as a drive and then tell Avid to include it using the AllDrives command in the Avid Console. For example, if your project is called BAZtest4, and is in directory: D:\BAZtest4 you should mount D:\BAZtest4\_media\OS as a drive (for each folder under _media if there are several).

In a non-Interplay environment, each Avid workstation indexes its own media. If you are adding media to shared storage by restoring a project, you need to arrange for it to go into the right sub-folder of the media directory if the target Avid workstation is to see it and index it. You do this by typing the name of that workstation into the Workstation: field in the Restore or Transfer Details dialogues. When you restart Media Composer on that workstation it will report that it has found new media.

Workspace Tools does not store the archive metadata in a central database, but rather stores the metadata with each archive. This makes the archive truly portable and means that regardless of where the archive was made, if the archive can be seen, it can be restored.

Workspace Tools stores the configuration in a file called “Server.Parking.Configuration” in the following folder “C:\ProgramData\Marquis\Server.Parking”
Also, as part of the Workspace Tools suite, there are two other applications that each has their own configuration file as follows.
Project Restore stores the configuration in a file called “Project.Parking.Configuration” in the following folder “C:\ProgramData\Marquis\Project.Parking”
Workspace Restore stores the configuration in a file called “Workspace.Parking.Configuration” in the following folder “C:\ProgramData\Marquis\Workspace.Parking”

Workspace Tools uses an MD5 checksum to verify that a copied file is a true duplicate of the original. During the copy process, Workspace Tools calculates the source MD5 checksum. Once the copy is complete, it then reads the destination file back and calculates the MD5 checksum again. If the two checksums match the copy is considered to have been successfully completed, otherwise an error will be produced, and that action will be abandoned.

You can restore bins from an archive to any project. The bins will be copied into a new folder named as the name and version of the archive they came from. The bins in the destination folder will not be changed.
Note: Avid cannot open two bins with the same name at the same time, so you will have to close one copy of the bin before opening another.

There are several tools in Workspace Tools which can help you investigate what is going on if you face errors and warnings:
Read messages carefully as they have been written to try to explain the problem as clearly as possible
On the Activity tab in the Console, you can click the down arrow to the left of an error or warning to get more information about it
You can get the additional information in the Console by enabling Verbose logging in the Logging tab of the Configuration dialogue

These media files are not accessible from the workstation running Workspace Tools. On the edit workstation, consolidate the media files onto shared storage and try again, or share the local drive.

The most likely explanation is that your license file does not match the Host ID of the workstation you are using. Check this by comparing the Host ID reported on the Licence Screen with the Host ID in your license file.

Because Avid projects are stored in a directory of the same name, Project Restore looks for Avid project files in directories below the directory you set Project Locations to. Set Project Locations to one directory higher and your projects will appear.

Some configurations of workstation client and Avid ISIS or Unity storage generate an error during file copy or storage analysis of the form:
3/4/2013 8:26:02 PM : (Error) Copying file [\\...mxf]
The semaphore timeout period has expired.
This has sometimes been seen to be caused by particular Network Interface Cards, or other network devices between the workstation and the Avid storage. It can sometimes be cured by moving Workspace Tools to another workstation.
If it is not possible to move Workspace Tools to another workstation, the errors can usually be eliminated by limiting the number of threads Workspace Tools uses to access the Avid storage, or the bandwidth available to it. Both of these parameters are controllable from the Configuration in the Advanced web page. Initially you might try reducing the “Maximum number of concurrent media file scans” to 6 and reducing the “Limit network bandwidth utilisation” to 300. Additional help can be sought from Marquis Broadcast support here.

Workspace Tools stores the logs in the following folder “C:\Users\Public\Documents\Marquis\WebServer”
Also, as part of the Workspace Tools suite, there are two other applications that each has their own log files as follows.
Project Restore stores the logs in the following folder “C:\Users\Public\Documents\Marquis\Project Parking”
Workspace Restore stores the logs in the following folder “C:\Users\Public\Documents\Marquis\Workspace Parking”
The logging detail can be increased by enabling Verbose and/or Debug Logging.

In order to complete Storage Analysis, Workspace Tools must look in every bin of every project and at every media file that is on-line. The speed of network access to the storage from the workstation performing the analysis will be most critical in how long this takes. In tests we have seen 500,000 media files, taking up 100TB of storage and approximately 1,000 projects be analysed in as little as 2.5 hours.

The speed of network access to the storage from the workstation performing the analysis will be most critical in how long this takes. Note that this relates to the shared Avid storage and the destination or source storage. You can test the speed by doing a Windows copy of a large file. You should see speeds similar to this in Workspace Tools. For example, a workstation connected to Avid ISIS over a 1 Gig Ethernet network might achieve 30% utilisation. This would equate to a 1TB project taking 9 hours to archive.