CS3 How to archive finished projects and erase all draft materials without losing final versions.

Question

I have two questions, both related to system management. The first is simple and the second is more complex.
First, I hate that every time I open a Premiere Pro project I have to remember to reset the scratch disc settings because they are carried over from the previous project rather than being project-specific.
Is there a workaround so that the scratch disc settings can be attached to each project so they don’t need to be reset each time one reopens a project?
Second, I presently distribute my work over four (4) 1-TB drives as follows.
Drive D contains my Premiere (prproj and related) files as well as Encore (ncor DVD/BD burn files).
Drive E contains all captured files (transferred from tape).
Drives F and P are scratch drives where all the preview files are stored, both audio and video.
Presently, scratch drives F and P are full, project drive D is nearly full, and I am finished editing the projects which occupy these drives. Drive E, however, still has plenty of unused space.
What I want to do now is to archive the finished projects, along with associated preview files, source clips, and burn files on the E drive, which has plenty of free space remaining. Then I want to delete the project and associated assets from Drive D and erase both scratch drives F & P so that I can reuse those drives for new work.
To do that I have tried using the Project Manager to “collect files and copy to new location” to collect and copy each project to its own folder on the E drive.
The problem is that, having done that, and removed the preview files and project files from their original locations, when attempting to open the now relocated projects from their new locations, the relocated projects continue to look for the associated preview files in the old location (drive F or P), even though all the files associated with each relocated project now reside on the same drive in the same folder. It appears that the Project Manager does not associate the preview files and source clips that it relocates with the project files that it relocates.
Can someone explain this and how best to accomplish my goal of relocating and archiving finished projects along with their associated previews and source materials so that the originals can safely be deleted?
Thanks.

Answer 1

Is there a workaround so that the scratch disc settings can be attached to each project so they don’t need to be reset each time one reopens a project?
Yes.  Upgrade to CS5.5.  (This feature first showed up in CS4.)
What I want to do now is to archive the finished projects
You can safely delete everything on the F and P drives.  Previews can simply be rebuilt.  No need to waste space trying to save them.
Save the project files on the D drive.  Delete the media on E (you can always recapture if you need to rebuild).
Do not use the Project Manager.  Premiere Pro is an NLE.  Use it for it's intended purpose.  Use a real file manager (Windows Explorer on the PC, Finder on the Mac) to execute file operations.