PLEASE HELP! Cubase 7.5.20 will not open .bak files

I have searched the forums and found one other person with this issue but no fix was posted.

After a crash, I reopen my cue and is says there is a newer backup. When I choose to open the newer backup it says

—.cpr was created with Cubase 1.x. This program version cannot load it.

I’ve lost quite a bit of work because of this.

ANy ideas greatly appreciated.

THanks!

-A

MacPro Late 2008
10.8.5
16gb RAM

Start using Ctrl + Alt + S every few minutes. Untill a song is done I might have hundreds of .cprs - and a chance to go back to whereever I may need to if something gets messed up by Cubase or myself.

In your case: what about not opening the .bak file but the regular cpr? That much lost? You must have saved it before closing the project or have been prompted to automatically.

tart using Ctrl + Alt + S every few minutes.

All very well, but the whole point of the automatic save and backup system is that it should be doing this for you.

OP how frequently is your autosave set to save? If you get this situation have you tried the next “previous bak” file?
Does that file work or do all of them give the same message?
Is the bak that won’t load smaller in size than the cpr or an earlier working bak??

Thanks for the replies.

The next previous .bak file seems to work ok. But for me, even 10 minutes = a lot of work done!

I have been working with DAW’s for years and so regularly save after most edits/work. But sometimes it takes about 10-20 minutes when creating a new sound or part and then I haven’t saved and then it crashes. That .bak file is supposed to be my saviour! Every time it has happened the most recent .bak file gets corrupted somehow.

I have been using Logic for 22 years and with recent versions it always saves as you crash so you lose absolutely nothing. I’m trying to switch to Cubase so decided to do this cue in 7.5.20.

Not a wise idea so far.

Is there no way to fix the .bak that’s probematic?

You can set the autosave to something a lot smaller, like one minute, of course.

It’s possible there is some type of corruption in your project, or the template the project started out as that might be causing it. If that’s the case and you continue working in the same file it could happen again.

You can try this:
Export tracks (File>Export>Selected Tracks) and import them (File>Import>Track Archive) into an empty project.

Thanks Steve.

If I Export Tracks as you suggest, does that create audio tracks of all the vsti’s?

You should test Cubase for a while with autosave disabled…there is a chance that the bak isn’t opening because it is being created when the crash happens (which is why I asked about the file size) and if that is the case, you might want to consider the possibility that it could even be autosave causing or contributing to the crash.

Hi Grim,

I get what you are saying. The corrupt .bak file is MUCH smaller than the .cpr file.

So if autosave is the problem then I’m not sure how to proceed.

For now, I am delivering this cue as i type then heading back to Logic.

I think I will keep trying Cubase but not for something with a deadline. Perhaps I can figure it out then.

When you do this, the import will repopulate pretty much everything you had. I’ve done this in cases where there was an inexplicable crash and it solved the problem. No way to know if it wold help until you try it.

Grim has it right regarding the crash. I had not thought of that.

Thanks again Steve.

I’ll try it this weekend once the work is delivered.

Do you think a reinstall would help the autosave problem?

Also, I kept having crashes when I save while audio is playing. I figured out the offending plugin ( RP-Delay ) and removed it from the session. Do you think this plugin also corrupted the .bak as it was being created by the crash?

This I don’t know.

I don’t see how a reinstall would help. Cubase can be reinitialized by deleting the prefs folder. Do a google search for Cubase Settings Preferences, one of the top results will be a knowledgebase article about it.

If this is the primary reason for needing auto-save to work, I say rectifying this problem has a much higher priority. I use Cubase daily and I do not experience these crashes. I understand that it does not help you per se, but my point is that Cubase can run without crashing, which is probably more desirable than throwing a lucky dice on auto-save.

If this is the case for you, I would contact Steinberg Support so that they can help you. They’ll look at your crash dump files, whatever. You’ll learn what is causing the problems for you and likely something can be done about it.

Thanks Elektrobolt! That was my next step.

The cue is delivered so for the time being I will let this rest.

I am moving studios next week and will have a new machine that I will be installing everything on from scratch. I’ll put both Logic and Cubase on there and test it all out. I’m hoping it will all work much smoother from fresh installs of everything!

Thanks for the help/comments everyone else who chimed in.

-A