It seems that the issue isn't with the file but in the ability of VEGAS to reliably access this hard drive for some reason.
Not related to this exact issue...
I've also found that sources located on HDD could cause VP crashes.
I used to have 1080p sources for ages (AVC ~30Mbps) and stored then on HDD. Did not have issues.
Not too long time ago I started to record in 4K (AVC 150 Mbps or HEVC 100 Mbps) and when editing them in VP it crashes constantly. Proxies did not help. All these files playes just fine from HDD and the disk utilization was tiny (my HDD can read 220+ MB/s which is 10+ times more than required for 150 Mbps bitrate), so I did not even think that HDD could be an issue.
However, when I tried to move them to SSD, the crashes stopped. So I bought a separate SSD (nvme) for footage and using it since.
@fifonik Since I started moving sources for active video editing to a dedicated nvme ssd (quite a few years back) I do get the impression I experience less crashes. Also increasing the time when a HDD starts to sleep on inactivity to 3 hours seems to help a lot as Vegas seems to dislike a HDD going to sleep, even tough not used (I am guessing the Vegas explorer does not like it).
The first thing I do when I install Windows is change the High Performance Power Plan to never allow the drives to spin down.
Yes. The problem was the HDD. I already bought a 4TB M2, and I also have the 1TB M2 as a backup, so the problem is solved.
Although if someone can't afford to buy a new memory and needs to solve this same problem urgently, the solution that Steve_Rhoden gave me will work.
Thankfully I have a PC that can have 3 x M.2 drives directly installed on the motherboard. So when I bought this PC I got 2 x 2TB M.2 drives (7000MB/s read speed and 5300MB/s write speed) , I have the main C drive with only software & Windows on it, the other is kept for 'Editing Files', It's a bit fuller than normal as I've got a few projects ongoing at the mo, but as they get finalized & uploaded whatever I want to keep gets archived on the other storage drives to keep this editing drive as clear as poss. When editing I'm only using these two M.2 drives, If files that I want to use are somewhere else I copy them to 'Editing Files'.
The first thing I do when I install Windows is change the High Performance Power Plan to never allow the drives to spin down.
@john_dennis Yep, that right there is always a very good idea...