Overview
Our typical workflow for Editing classes takes advantage of the Sourcebook server on campus to host all of our media files and pre-made projects. This guide will help you set up these projects remotely. Your download will include bin files that already have media imported (a time consuming step in Avid MC).
Video Tutorial
A video tutorial of this guide is now available on Panopto:
Starting a New Avid Project with Google Drive Media & Bins - Video Tutorial
Setting up your Hard Drive
If you are new to Avid or if you are using a new hard drive, you will need to create a couple of important folders before we can get started. Avid Media Composer is extremely picky about file structure and media storage, so we need to create these folders EXACTLY as Avid expects.
On the root of your external hard drive (the base of your hard drive - NOT inside of any other folders) create a folder named:
Avid MediaFiles
Note that there is no space between “media” and “files”
Inside of your new “Avid MediaFiles” folder, create another folder called:
MXF
It should look exactly like the image below. Now that we have created your Avid file structure, you are ready to download a project.
Download a project
In Google Drive, locate the project you want to download (check the Index document for descriptions and project settings)
You will either see one zip file (top image below) or folders labeled Media and Bins (bottom image below).
Download everything you see in the Google Drive folder.
File Management
Drag your zip file to your external hard drive.
Double click to unzip any zipped files.
You should see a folder that is labeled with only a number (for example, this folder is named 100) contains all the audio and video files for this project.
The other folder contains bins (files ending in .avb) which will become a part of our project.
Drag the numbered folder into your Avid MediaFiles/MXF folder (as shown below). Do not rename this folder or any of its contents. It must live in this location. 
Now you should be left with your bin files from the download - we will need these momentarily. First we need to start a project.
Start a new Project
Start a new Avid Project - make sure you create it using the proper settings. The settings for your chosen project can be found in the “Index” document on Google Drive.
Take note of the location where your Avid Project saves. By default, this is probably set to an “Avid Projects” folder in your documents or the “Shared Avid Projects” folder (which is accessible to any user account on your personal computer)
Once you have started your new project, we can use the bin file(s) to set up the rest of your project.
Copying Bins
Locate the bin(s) you downloaded from Google Drive. Right click and copy them.
Locate your project folder (likely in “Avid Projects” or “Shared Avid Projects”)
Paste the bin files inside of the project folder.
Back inside Avid, you will need to “refresh” the bins visible in your project by right clicking and selecting refresh.
The rest of your bins should appear in the same window.
Tips
If your media is offline after copying your bins, make sure that the numbered folder is inside the “Avid MediaFiles/MXF” folders. The "Avid MediaFiles" folder must also be save to the ROOT of your hard drive - it can not be hidden inside any other folders.