Transferring MLT files and raw unedited footage to rotating drive

I currently have my raw unedited footage on my SSD along with my MLT file. What is the best way for me to transfer them to a rotating drive so that the MLT continues to reference my unedited footage except that it now references them to my external drive rather than on my SSD where space is a bit of a premium?

My understanding is that the MLT is a sort of XML file that notes where I make edits to my unedited footage. So if I move my unedited footage to an external rotating drive, the MLT would need to be updated to reference the new path. How do I do that?

Correct, MLT is an XML file. If the MLT and the video files are in the same folder, or if the video files are in a subfolder relative to the MLT file, then Shotcut embeds relative file names in the XML and nothing needs to be done. Move the XML and video files together to your other drive and it will just work.

However, if the MLT references a file outside of its folder or subfolders, then Shotcut embeds an absolute file reference. Edit the XML with a text editor and do a search and replace to change the drive letter. Regular expressions are useful but usually not necessary for this. The (better) alternative is to move the video files into the MLT folder, then edit the XML to strip out the absolute reference and turn it into a relative one.

Example: Look for <producer> elements that represent each clip on the timeline, and inside them should be elements that look like this:

<property name="resource">E:/Projects/Drone Flight/MyVideo1.mp4</property>
<property name="resource">F:/SomeRandomPlace/RAW/MyVideo2.mp4</property>

To make them relative, move the MP4 files to the folder with the MLT file, and change the elements to look like this:

<property name="resource">MyVideo1.mp4</property>
<property name="resource">MyVideo2.mp4</property>

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