USB Disk path changes each time connected

When plugging in a USB disk or other USB volume, it is automounted in the /media folder.

If the filesystem on the USB device has no Volume Label, then the automounter just assigns a sequential mount-name. This results in the pathway to the files on that device changing each time it is plugged in. eg;

/media/disk
/media/disk-1
/media/disk-2

This will result in OpenShot being unable to find the files on your archive storage until you have changed the pathways to your clips in the Project Files tab -> clip File Properties dialogue.

To ensure OpenShot can always find your files when you plug in a USB drive, you need to give the USB drive a Volume Label.

There are several ways of giving your USB volume a Volume Label name which is unique to that particular device.

If you have formatted your USB volume with a Linux format (ext2/ext3/ext4 etc) in Ubuntu go to
System->Administration-Partition Editor to edit the partition information on your USB disk.

If your USB disk/stick has a native FAT32 filesystem, You should also be able to label the volume in the same way.

Unmount or unplug the USB device and then launch GParted from
System->Administration-Partition Editor

plug the USB device back in (if done with GParted running, the automounter will not mount it and so it will be editable)

Select GParted->Refresh Devices to load the information on the USB device to GParted.

Select the USB device from the dropdown selector on the right.

Select Partition->Label dialogue for the particular volume.

Type your chosen volume name in the box, and accept it. (only 11 characters allowed in FAT32)

Then click the Apply button in GParted to physically change the partition table on the USB device.

Now the USB disk/stick will be mounted by the automounter with a pathway corresponding to;

/media/<Volume Label>

eg; if given a Volume Label of "Data 007" the resulting pathway will always be

            /media/Data 007

for that particular USB volume.

Helen