Cubase 9 - Issue and Confusion about AUTOMATIC RENAMING of Project Backup Files

Cubase
#1

Hello everyone,

I have a little issue which I am assuming is coming from Cubase’s automatic function to backup saved project files.
Of course I know how to disable it, which I don’t want to, because it’s a useful feature.

The thing is, that once I save a project file, and try to open it in my next work session at another time, Cubase tells me that this exact file does not exist anymore and asks if I want to delete it. Although I haven’t touched the folder nor the files in the meantime.
When investigating a little bit in the actual project folder, I can see the file apparently being renamed automatically to something like “saved_project-01”, which I actually saved as “saved_project”.
The weird thing is, sometimes it’s saved by Cubase in .bak (backup files) and sometimes as usual .cpr files. The original however, as which I saved it, doesn’t exist anymore.

I do want Cubase to back up my files, the naming (-01, -02, -03, etc.) is fine, but I want to keep my original file as well, the name I saved it in.
Also, in the beginning when I experienced this for the first time and pressed “Delete” when Cubase asked me whether to delete the file that doesn’t exist anymore, I hereby deleted the most current version of my project. All other saved backup or renamed files in my project folder were older versions, the latest one was gone. This I think can be a big issue, luckily it was just a minor setback for me.

I wasn’t able to find anything regarding this when searching for a solution.
So does anymore know what is going on here and why my original saves are being deleted after each session, or has anyone experienced the same problem before and knows how to fix it?
I am happy about any replies.

Happy composing and kind regards,
Philipp

Project being saved with a different file name
#2

It’s becoming more and more of an issue to me, so any help or thoughts on this would be much appreciated. :slight_smile:

#3

The issue you’re seeing might be a result of auto save trying to backup the cpr in the project folder that doesn’t have a saved project in it yet? I’m not sure if this is the case but it might have something to do how you initially set up your project folders and files? Try to first create and name and save the project folder and then save the project file (*.cpr) file inside it before you do anything else.

It’s very tempting to open a new project and start working on it and wait for the first save until you actually decide it’s worth saving. In this case you most likely end up with an ‘Untitledxx’ folder with mysong.cpr in it. It’s even more confusing for Cubase if you create, name and save the project folder but start working on an unsaved project. In this case auto save might want to try and create the auto backup files “saved_project” you mentioned in the folder? But this has no reference to the initial saved project you’re working on because you didn’t do that yet? So you can end up with very confusing results and this can take some serious effort to correct afterwards. Especially when you also have audio files in the project folder.

#4

The numbered (i.e. xyz-03.cpr) files are what you get if you do a “save as new version.” I assume you are not doing that from the menu, but maybe you’ve reassigned a Key Command & are doing it by accident.

See C9 OPs Manual pg. 99.

#5

Hey there and thanks for your replies.

@raino
Good point, but I save via “save as new version” and just “save” (ctrl+s) each time.
When looking it up in the key preferences, there was no hotkey assigned. So I believe it cannot happen accidentally.

@Nickeldome
When creating a new project, I firstly create folder, then save my file into it.
However, what I do most of the time is to open a template and save that one with a different name into a new folder location.
Maybe this could cause issues?

Also, currently I save projects into Dropbox, to have it available on different workstations. I haven’t worked, nor opened it on another PC so far, so that can’t cause issues, but maybe just the saving in Dropbox can create sync problems. Although it’s still Cubase that’s creating those backup files/renamings.

I will go ahead now and use Cubase’s “Backup Project” function to move all projects that were in a mutual folder before, and put them in separate project folders. When I remember correctly the issue appeared already when having just the very first project in the folder, not several. But I will see if it makes a difference and post my results.

In the meantime, any further ideas will be most welcome.

#6

Dropbox can cause problems, better use a different folder and copy it over to Dropbox when done.

#7

I tried directly saving some projects on Google drive some time ago and this gave similar issues. So I suspect Dropbox to be no different. If it’s a PC within your own network I suggest you just share the (local!) folder where you save your projects with the other PC? The downside is that you will have to have this PC running when you want to access the files from the other one. If that’s a problem you can consider to install a simple NAS unit.