Hi there.
I was wondering, if it is possible to tell Cubase to save the auto-save (.bak) files into a seperate folder.
I always have about 20 .bak files in my project folder and I don’t really like having a mess like that.
Any possible way? Thank you for your help.
No, Cubase wants the .bak & .cpr files to be in the same folder. A .bak file is really just a .cpr file with the file extension changed. So for example the backup will want to look for its audio files in the Audio sub-folder under the backup’s current location. If you move the backup then it couldn’t find its audio.
It is possible in Pro Tools. When opening a backup file, it asks you to save as it in the project file and then finds all project media.
Would be fine to have this option to keep the project folder nice and clean…
Do you really need 20+ .bak files?
Maybe you can change the backup settings in the CB Preference menu to set a maximum amount of backups to a lower number.
As an example… I have my backups set for every 5 minutes, 5 backups max. I feel that setting covers me for approx the last half hour of editing. I still hit the backup and save button quite often though because Cubase does not perform an automatic backup while it is playing back. This shortfall has been documented and, to be honest, I am not sure if it has been fixed yet as I rarely even look at (or use) the backups. But, they are there if needed.
Regards. 
Hi
I put together these applescripts (by trawling what others had done online) which will hide the .bak files.
Credit is due to someone else for the bulk of the programming, I just modified the code.
I use Keyboard Maestro to trigger the scripts in the Finder when the project folder is in focus.
There are 2 scripts I use. One to hide/show the .bak, and one to hide/show the .csh files.
Works a treat for my OCD, except when there are unusual characters in the file or folder name, such as an apostrophe.
Took ages to get it working and I’m not convinced it’ll work on everyone’s mac, but do let me know if you have success though!
Hide .bak
-- Toggle visibility of files having a chosen extension type in a folder
-- Run script once to hide, and again to show
-- Also includes lines for setting all files visible, or all invisible.
-- BP 2012
--••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
set targetFileExtension to ".bak" -- Set this to the extension you want to hide. ⬅🔲
--••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
tell application "Finder" to set currentDir to (target of front Finder window) as text
-- Get the names of files in folder, hidden or not:
set targpath to quoted form of POSIX path of currentDir
set zed to do shell script "ls " & targpath -- bypassing the Finder
-- Massage shell script data into a proper list:
set oldtid to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "
"
set tlst to every text item of zed -- every file in folder (except UNIX invis)
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldtid
-- Toggle each files hidden status
repeat with n from 1 to count of tlst
if item n of tlst contains targetFileExtension then
set targpath to "'" & POSIX path of currentDir & item n of tlst & "'"
do shell script "chflags hidden " & targpath
--do shell script "chflags nohidden " & targpath
-- Comment out the line above, and uncomment one of the lines below to set
-- the visible status of everything in a folder to the same value
--tell application "System Events" to set visible of disk item targpath to true
--tell application "System Events" to set visible of disk item targpath to false
end if
end repeat
return targpath
Hide .csh
-- Toggle visibility of files having a chosen extension type in a folder
-- Run script once to hide, and again to show
-- Also includes lines for setting all files visible, or all invisible.
-- BP 2012
--••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
set targetFileExtension to ".csh" -- Set this to the extension you want to hide. ⬅🔲
--••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
tell application "Finder" to set currentDir to (target of front Finder window) as text
-- Get the names of files in folder, hidden or not:
set targpath to quoted form of POSIX path of currentDir
set zed to do shell script "ls " & targpath -- bypassing the Finder
-- Massage shell script data into a proper list:
set oldtid to AppleScript's text item delimiters
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to "
"
set tlst to every text item of zed -- every file in folder (except UNIX invis)
set AppleScript's text item delimiters to oldtid
-- Toggle each files hidden status
repeat with n from 1 to count of tlst
if item n of tlst contains targetFileExtension then
set targpath to "'" & POSIX path of currentDir & item n of tlst & "'"
do shell script "chflags hidden " & targpath
--do shell script "chflags nohidden " & targpath
-- Comment out the line above, and uncomment one of the lines below to set
-- the visible status of everything in a folder to the same value
--tell application "System Events" to set visible of disk item targpath to true
--tell application "System Events" to set visible of disk item targpath to false
end if
end repeat
return targpath
I think the easiest way to deal with this is to use an awesome program called “Hazel.” You can set it up to automatically look for .bak files and put them in a subfolder. Here’s the Hazel sorting rules I came up with…
Create and Sort Cubase Backup Files into Subfolder.hazelrules.zip (2.72 KB)
Hello
Here in 2019 still no specific folder for .bak files. Steinberg, please! See your big brothers like Presonus with a specific folder for backups called “HISTORY” How much difficult are for you make this simply folder? thanks.
This is fantastic, is it still working for you because I can’t get it to run on macOS High Sierra 10.13.6. If it’s still working for you would you mind sharing your Keyboard Maestro files, I use that all the time.
Thanks for posting your Hazel Rules. When I get some time I’ll post my Hazel rules which also leaves the latest backup version in the root folder in case Cubendo crashes on you. I worked with the developer for quite a while to make those rules work to sort into a subfolder like that for this very reason.
Thank you for posting a nice explanation. I think it would just take some extra programming from Steinberg to look in it’s back up folder. I’d be down if they just the most recent backup file in the root of the project folder.
I’m pleased you use it, I use it all the time too! I’m actually about to upgrade my system from 10.11.6 to 10.14 and will make it a priority to get this function working correctly. I’ll post my findings here when done.
Thanks, I look forward to hearing from you!
I’ve PM’d you. Got it working, see what you think
At skillet’s suggestion I’m making these applescripts available here. Like I said before, it’s not my code originally - I cobbled it together from stuff I found online a few years ago but it works in Mojave.
The way I use it is in conjuntion with Keyboard Maestro. See screenshots:
Thank you dbwalter these are in the words of Bill and Ted “Most Excellent!”
Thanks! This works great!
