[HOW TO] Backup Hard work put into Mediabay?

I have put waaay too much time into converting over samples and having them cataloged just the way I would like in the Mediabay of Cubase 6. I am paranoid now of a hard drive crash etc that could render all that work a useless waste of time. What is the EXACT and PRECISE way to backup all I have so that God forbid I am forced to format and reinstall I could be brought back to the very stage I am at now without every knowing anything went wrong in terms of my sample organization and cataloging? Thanks!

Good question, but I think there is no worries that media bay will screw things up ,as the actual Metadata (Name/Family/Loop/Follow tempo etc etc…is written into the File…so all you need to do is rescan, (as you would have to do if your drive failed anyways)…

I know what you mean in detail, but for example if there is a new update,and you dont back up your Mediabay.db file…mediabay when scanning will collect and addon all the metadata it finds in the files it scans, so not a major loss,and no need to worry about losing everything, but I do agree that your right in being able to back up certain aspects of cubase, and I do think that Steinberg really need to look at their backup strategies for the program in far more detail than is currently being done.

I for one, would like to be able to name my own genres etc, and delete all the erroneous nonce taht Steinberg feels is the “correct” way to catagorise music…almost 80% of teh genre specific tags are rubbish, and relevant only to generalised msuic content,and does not reflect Contemporary music in any way on detail. :smiley:

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Thanks for the reply, it is greatly appreciated.

So you are telling me there is no files to backup whatsoever? you mentioned a mediabay.db, does this have to be backed up?

Let us say my main drive which contains the Cubase installation goes down for good. I format, install Windows, then Cubase all over again. I have all my samples contained on a secondary hard drive which is still intact. All metadata is stored within the file itself you say. When I load Mediabay from the fresh install it will scan and have everything EXACTLY as I have it now? Follow tempo yes or no? Album name? Category etc?

I sure hope you are right. Unless I am missing something, fill me in. I know with my luck something will go wrong and I will not get thinks back to where I am now in which I will have a screaming tantrum and pretty much quit doing music altogether due to the time lost and having to start all over. :unamused:

In a word YUP! :wink:

The main file you should back up to have it “Exactly” the way you had is mediabay.db (its mediabays data file as 1 large collection, but yes, the Metadata is written into the file, so I only worry about presets & Midi Loops etc that I have made myself…(back up the mediabay.db file so that your not gonna freak out when something untoward happens…but yeah the data you write into the file is stored within the header in the wav.

Go on try it…kick ur drive and see! :wink:

awesome, thanks a ton Discoworx, much appreciated. I am very glad I invested in a blu ray burner this past spring with my new build. Having 25-50gb worth of burning capacity sure beats 4gb found on DVD’s cause all the worry about my boot drive failing will mean nothing if my samples drive goes down instead! :astonished: Can you say royally screwed then?!

I assume for any VST Preset files I have made myself, I will have to back up those separately. I believe they are stored in c:\documents\vst3 presets ??

Hi again Discoworx (or anyone for that matter), one more question regarding this matter.

Does it matter whether the samples stay in their original folder in which they were tagged in, or can they be moved and reorganized to ones liking without an issue of Mediabay still having them tagged and categorized to my liking?

I have some stupid folders with miscellaneous samples that are not organized at all, no rhyme or reason to them whatsoever that are currently tagged in Mediabay that I was thinking of swapping into various other folders within my drive for better organization, but was worried this would throw things off in Mediabay and I have to located and retag all over again!

As well, probably a really stupid question, but can one rename a file and still have the metadata contained, or will that information be lost with the name change?

Thanks a bunch.

I’m all but positive that whereas the metadata is stored in the files … mediabay.db is location dependent. You’d have to rescan anything you moved or if you relabled any directories/ folders.

Como

what he said ^^^^^^^^ is correct! :smiley:

great topic!

can somebody from Steinberg add ALL the details on how we are supposed to save our magic files?
Or is there a knowledge Base article already … :confused:

In either case: IMPORTANT STUFF!

The following concerns track presets and VST3 instrument presets backup.

If you have self made track presets, then copy them from “C:\Users\Your name\AppData\Roaming\Steinberg” anywhere you like for the backup. Should you have to reinstall everything, put them back to the above mentioned location. If you created VST3 instrument presets, copy them from “C:\Users\Your name\Documents\VST3 Presets” to your backup location and again, put them back after reinstall. That’s all.

I suppose various media files of your own do keep their tags (provided they are kept on a different drive than the OS), so there’s no need to back them up, which leaves us Cubase native vst3 and track presets tagging and that of the various media files that come with Cubase (loops, MIDI files etc) which you might have altered. I do not yet know how to back their tags up, but I guess backing up your own track presets and VST3 instrument presets already covers most of your hard work put in the Media Bay.

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