Super slow load/open of project vpj file

[agcruise]

Brand new Laptop, Windows 11 home, Intel i9-13905H, 32 GB RAM, 64 bit, NVIDIA GE Force RTX 4050, 82 GB used of 1TB SST.

I started creating a video, then paused and closed it.  Upon re-opening/reloading the load is extremely slow.  So far this video is 5 min of 2.7k video, MP4 files recorded with a DJI Osmo Action 3. The video had been loading for over an hour and it's only up to 2 minutes.  The .vpj and the videos are on a SST external drive. 

Any help out there?

Thanks-

 -Al in Seattle

[borate]

Is the source 4K?  What's the encoding - AVC (H264) or HEVC (H265)?  What VP version is in use?  Look at the bottom-left corner of the window.

Submit a sample file for analysis.  Upload the file/s to a free server, such as Google Drive or MS OneDrive, get a shared (public) link, copy the link and paste it here or to me in a Private Message via the mail envelope in the top-right corner of this forum.  When using Google Drive, if necessary change "restricted" to "anyone with link can view."