Media Cashe Files & Media Chase Database?

Question

I'm running:
CS4 Production Premium
Vista x64
8Gig RAM
Dell T4300 Workstation
DuoCore 2.6Mhz
1T System 7200rpm SATA HD
4 - 7200rpm SATA HDs dedicated to Video Projects (2- 1.5T & 2- 500Gig)
I started a new project Monday, captured 6 hours of video (3 cameras, 2 hours each of a Musical Performance).   As I was working yesterday, I noticed when I rendered, the 'render progress bar' would move (showing the progress), then pause for several seconds, move some more, then pause again, as if the renders were being written from RAM onto the HD.   "Normally", I see the render bar progress consistently, sometime slower than other times if the clips being rendered have filters, effects, etc., but I've never seen the progress bar simply pause before.
Because I had (a couple weeks ago) changed my Media Cashe Files to "store next to originals when possible", I was thinking this may be the cause.  I've changed that back to the default (unchecked the box) but the condition still exist.   The "Media Cashe Database" is set to: "user\....\Adobe\Common".   As far as I remember, I've never messed with that before.   I also noticed the location for the "Scratch Disk" is listed in "user\....\Adobe\After Effects CS4".     Why would a PremierePro project have the "Scratch Disk" set under the AfterEffects folder?  (I changed this to "Same As Project".
What is the "best" option for the two Project Preference settings for:
1) Media Cashe Files
2) Media Cashe Database
TIA,
jd

Answer 1

No, you'd have to delete them. That's one benefit of storing the media cache files next to the originals, in that you can simply purge the entire directory of files when you're done with it. Splitting them up creates a bit of a file management issue, since Premiere really doesn't have a good way to selectively eliminate generated preview files. The Project Manager works to an extent, but it will still leave the originals behind. So as long as you set things up at the beginning of a project correctly, it'll make finishing and archiving the project a little easier. The good news is that if you delete a cached file that another project needs, it will be recreated automatically. Rendered previews would have to be manually recreated, however.