Adobe Premiere Pro CS6 constantly crashes when importing video files

Question

I have not used Premiere Pro in a while, but recently when I tried to import video files (from .m4v, .mp4 and .mov) the program stops working, the "importing" window doesn't progress and I get the rainbow wheel of "death".
I read some other posts where some are having similar situations and some users suggested moving the file from an external hard-drive to an internal one (I have a 1TB external hard-drive) but that didn't do squat either.
Once the program is frozen I'm forced to "force quit" the program.
Does anyone know what I can do?

Answer 1

I am having the same problems, but my program locks up when trying to playback .MTS files that are shot natively on my GH2.  It will not render or export anything & when you try and scrub or playback footage it gets the spinning wheel of death.  To finish my last project, I had to transcode all the .MTS files to .MP4 files and it worked fine.  Also, anytime I shut down PP, I have to force quit the program for it to shut down.  Here are the detailed info you asked for...
What version of Premiere Pro? Include the minor version number (e.g., Premiere Pro CS5.5 with the 5.5.2 update).Premiere Pro CC (trial) 7.1.0 - 141 (because I uninstalled CS5, 5.5, & 6 thinking they may be the problems.
Have you installed the recent updates? (If not, you should. They fix a lot of problems.) YES, up to date
What operating system? This should include specific minor version numbers, like "Mac OSX v10.6.8"---not just "Mac”. OSX 10.9
What kind(s) of source footage? When telling about your source footage, tell us about the codecs, not just the container types. For example, "H.264 in a .mov container", not just "QuickTime”..MTS files from a GH2
If you are getting error message(s), what is the full text of the error message(s)?It tells me that it is an unknown error (I do not have a copy of the original error message)
What were you doing when the problem occurred?Trying to playback (wheel of death), Trying to Render and export (starts rendering, then just sits there and then gives the unknown error)
Has this ever worked before?I have worked on this projects for a few months, then just out of the blue it started with these problems about 1 week ago.
What other software are you running?none
Do you have any third-party effects or codecs installed?some from Video Copilot and Plural eyes 3 (NOT used on this project)
Tell us about your computer hardware. Be especially certain to tell us about third-party I/O hardware (e.g., AJA, Matrox, Blackmagic, MOTU).
iMac 27in Mid 2011 3.4 Intel Core i7 16 GB 1333 Mhz DDR3 AMD Radeon HD6970M 2048 MB OSX 10/9 (13A603)
No external devices, except a external hard drive.  I changed from a Thunderbolt Seagate 1TB (single 7200 RPM) to a Drobo Mini 2 TB RAID 5 in the MIDDLE of this problem, thinking the issue was the drive was to slow to keep up - NOT the case… it still happens with the new drive.
Are you using Mercury Playback Engine GPU Acceleration?I am not completely sure to be honest - I believe it is the factory settings.
Does the problem only happen with your final output, with previews, or both?both!