Crash destroys project file. Why?

Question

Adobe Premiere Pro CS6
OS 10.7.5, running on a 2.3 GHz Mac Mini with 8GB RAM
I'm learning my way around, transitioning from FCP to Premiere.  I've been going into old FCP projects, importing the media files, and re-editing them in Premiere.  It's been very helpful!
One of my projects, shot specifically as a classroom challenge, involves the elements for an entire package captured as a single clip.  For effective editing, one must go through the mega-clip and make subclips.  No big whoop, right?  I begin, and get about 1/3 of the way through that process.  It's annoying, since there doesn't seem to be a keystroke shortcut for "make subclip."  So I look around for a way to try and automate the process.
Now, keep in mind, there's no reason to think it can be automated.  There are no start/stop markers in the file, the metadata has been stripped, the timecode is continuous.  I set this up deliberately so that FCP's scene detection ability would not work.  But this is Premiere, right?  I save the file (named "Whylde", and start looking in menus.
"Analyze Content..." in the Clip Menu looks promising.  I select my big clip and click that.  Media Encoder launches, and Premiere crashes.  I send the error report and reopen Premiere.
"Premiere crashed.  This may have ruined your project file.  We'll try to reopen it, but no promises.  If this succeeds, you should save the file with a new name.  Do not resave with the same name."  I'm paraphrasing, but that's the gist of it.  Weird.  Ok.
The project opens, and immediately prompts me to save it.  I rename it, save it, then take a look.  Everything is there, nothing lost.  Nothing new, but nothing lost.  Well, let's try this again.  Clip Menu, Analyze Content... Crash.  Error report.  Relaunch.  "Resave under a different name" warning.
Crap.  Ok, moving on, not gonna waste more time on that.  But what's with the "don't resave using the same name" deal?  I close the copy of the copy and open the original file.  It gives me the "resave this with a different name" warning, but this time, I click Cancel.  The project opens.  Everything seems to be there.  I save it.  Nothing explodes.
Let's push this, then.  Exit Premiere, delete the "Copy" and the "Copy Copy."  Double click the original file.  Premiere opens, no warning message.  And no content.  Nothing.  No imported media, no subclips. 
How is this possible?  The file as there, and functioning, moments ago.  How can saving it, using the same name, turn a functioning project into an empty project?  What would have happened if I had deleted "Whylde" and renamed "Copy of Whylde" or "Copy of Copy of Whylde" to "Whylde"?
And would "Analyze Content..." have done what I hoped it would do?
Mahalo!
Tom G

Answer 1

Analyze Content is chiefly for processing the audio to transcribe speech to searchable/navigable text. You can also have the video analyzed to find faces. Learn more here. In other words, not what you're looking for.
As for the prompt to save a new project on relaunch after a crash, that's simply a measure to give you the best chance of having a functioning project. The original project might be fine, but it could also be corrupted. Best to leave it be and save a copy of the recovered project rather than overwriting the original with the recovered one.
As to the original project being empty, you say nothing of having saved it between the time you imported content and attempted to analyze content. If you didn't save, then it stands to reason that the project would be empty. Note that you might find an auto-backup of the project in the DefaultProjectBackups folder, which is in the same folder as the project file.