Stop audio moving to 'media' folder

Hey everyone,

I'm currently working on quite large project for an installation which had 3 different abstractions each playing different audio. For example, one abstraction playing backing drones, another playing just high frequency content and so on.
In the project folder I've the audio for each abstraction over 3 folders with each individual abstraction targeting a different folder. One folder of background sounds, one folder of high freq content, and so on.

Every time I open the project all the audio I need is moved from their individual folders and placed in one single media folder.
This is exceptionally frustrating as it means each time I open the project I have to go through hundreds of audio files, and dropping them back in their respective folders.

Is there any way I can stop Max from automatically moving the audio into one single folder and just leave them where I've left them?

Thanks folks :)