Is it actually possible to do a secure back up of a project?

Cubase
1

I’ve just gone back to an old project and found that 90% is missing…I backed it up from the back up project in the file menu as I always do, I’ve since looked at other old projects and lots of stuff is missing…so p___ed of with this… :frowning: :frowning:

I have moved my main projects folder but how come it effects the project, I thought it had the wav files in the audio folder,

so whats happening please?

cheers, Kevin :slight_smile:

2

can you see the missing files in pool ?

3

Did you archive the pool before saving as a new project?

What settings did you set to back up project?

4

Hi Guy’s and thanks for your reply’s…there is a lot of stuff in the pool so maybe they are there but how do I know whats what and where they go in the project…looks like a big headache… :frowning:

never heard of archiving the pool before backing up the project…is backing up the project the same as saving as a new project?

to back up the project I just selected back up project from the file menu…made a new folder and said ok…

thanks for the help, :slight_smile:

best, Kevin :slight_smile:

5

My first try with Cubase was in 2007 when CB LE4 came out. I used it for years. What I didn’t know was it was set up for one pool for all projects. I moved it and… like you, I had a big mess. I lost many old projects. I was never able to recover those old projects (to be honest, it really didn’t matter to me anyway, but…). After CB LE4 I upgraded to CB 7. That is when I became smarter and started saving each project with it’s own pool.

A thought… maybe you backed up your computer to a different drive (I do that weekly) which maybe you can restore from?

Regards :sunglasses:

6

Hi …I’m not getting this pool thing :blush: are you saying the pool I have in each project is just part of one big pool :question: I thought they were separate…how do I make them exclusive to each project :question:
wish i wasn’t such a dumb ass with this stuff…if you wanna do music nowadays ya gotta be a puter expert… :cry:
cheers, Kevin

7

Hi, when creating a project make sure it’s in it’s own folder (create a folder for it if needed), this way your audio pool is tied to the project and stays within the audio sub folder inside the project folder.

A friend of my refused to work with folder and stuffed all projects into 1 folder, he then did a cleanup of the pool by cleaning all unused files and lost everything. Also asking him to send a project never worked as it was to much work for him this way (at a monent I asked him to create OMF exports and this worked!)

8

The “Pool” is separate for each project, unless you’ve specified a Default Pool in a template.
However, it is only a LIST of files used within that project.

Everything recorded in that project will, by default, be in the Audio folder within the project folder.
But if you imported any files from elsewhere they may NOT be in the Audio folder.
When you import an audio file it asks you if you want to copy it to the Audio folder - and it’s usually a good idea.

References to file locations in the Pool are absolute - including Drive letters and such - so if any of that changes Cubase will not find the files unless they are in that Audio Folder in which case it will just warn you the location has changed.

You can, however, search for the files if you have any idea where they might be. File names - even missing - are listed in the Pool.

You can also Import or Export Pools between projects - like if there’s a bunch of loops or files you use regularly and want them at hand. But, again, this is only Importing or Exporting the LISTS unless you specify to copy to Project directory.

When you backup a Project it will ask to move all files to the New Location - a good idea in most cases. However, it wasn’t always like that. So ancient projects could have lost files by not consolidating properly (Archiving) prior to moving. It’s happened to me.

Hugh

9

I have always created a new folder for each project… :slight_smile:

thanks for your reply… :slight_smile:

10

thanks Hugh…Gonna be much more careful in future… :slight_smile:

11

Looks like the pool question was answered… I’ll just add a bit more for consideration.

When you open the pool from a project you should see only the audio files associated with the project listed in it. If you see other files then you definitely are using a shared pool of some kind. If you are creating a separate folder for each project it’s the audio folder in that project folder where the pool files are stored for that project exclusively. Seems to me that if you were to “move” the project folder to another location (using windows explorer), Cubase would loose the associations for where the audio files are. If I want to move a project, I just use the “save as” function and save the project to wherever I want it. I never used the “Backup Project” function but it seems as though if you did that then you would have a copy of everything in your original project. Although there is something in the op manual that says that it does not copy VST sound archives. That would pose a problem if using your project on a different computer that does does not have the same VSTs installed on it.

Also,
For me, to keep things clean, after I am completely satisfied with the final project, I go into the project’s pool and trash all of the (maybe hundreds) of audio files not used in the project. You know, like the 5 second file where you (or your talented singer) started singing with flem voice. Or your guitar playing started slightly too late. Files that I think I might use in other projects are exported to a central audio file folder location where I can import them back into another project if I want. I don’t normally use files in other projects so for me my typical thing is to open the pool, right click on the “Audio” folder and choose “Remove Unused Media”. Then I right click on the “Trash” folder and click “Empty Trash”. Just make sure you are “really sure” that you want to trash those files because they are deleted from there. Cubase does not use the windows recycle bin and I have never been able to find a secret folder (as some say exists) where these files are sent to.

Regards :sunglasses:

12

Thank you Prock, cleared a few things up for me…

best, Kevin

13

It’s worth noting that "Save As . . " does not move any audio files - or any files at all.
It only saves the Project File under the new name and - if you specify - to the new location.
This means that all the audio files remain in the old location.
If anything happens to those files you will be missing stuff when you try to open the “Saved as” Project.

Generally I use “Save As” to save a new version of the same song - like a new mix or a different arrangement - to the same location (with a new name). These different versions will share many audio files and it’s easier than copying the whole shebang to a new folder every time.

If, at some point, I want to take one of these versions and move it to its own separate folder with no unused audio files there are 2 steps:

  1. Open the Pool for that project and use the function “Remove unused Media” (as Prock mentioned).
    This will move these files to the trash folder in the Pool.
    Then empty the Trash BUT: Specify “Remove from Pool” and NOT “Delete”.
    This will remove the files from that projects Pool/List (like I mentioned earlier) but leave them for other versions that you may want to revisit.

  2. “Backup Project” to a new empty Folder. Everything will get copied. You have a completely new Project with all audio.

As I was writing this I just checked and there’s a “Remove Unused Files” check box on the “Backup” dialog I forgot about - so you may not even have to do all the “Pool Empty” thing I so carefully detailed above . .

Hugh

14

Cheers Hugh… :slight_smile:

15

Hugh, thanks for clarifying that as my explanation/advice may actually contribute to the “pool” sharing/deleting issue that the OP was trying to figure out. “Save As” definitely only creates a new .cpr file. The “pool” stays with the original project and is now shared with the newly saved .cpr. Thanks again. :slight_smile:

Regards :sunglasses:

16

I ALWAYS create a new folder for each project and make sure the pool for that project is contained within, in the early days i made the same mistake many others do by using a ‘shared pool’ before i realised how potentially disastrous it can be… only made THAT mistake once!
Also if you’re creating a new project from the steinberg hub it’s worth making sure ‘prompt for project location’ is checked (bottom right corner) as the nag screen might help as a ‘memory jogger’.
HTH!

17

The only other thing I would add to what others have said is to ensure you save an audio version of any midi/instrument tracks. You never know in the future when your windows/instrument/operating system have been upgraded, whether those instruments will still play.

Dave

18

Absolutely.

And I never do . . .

Maybe with Render in Place I’ll be a little more careful.