Save Copy in and unexpected project path

[mophilly]

MacOS 10.15.7
PT 2021.3

I used Save Copy In to create a new project in a folder I created for it. The new project folder contained a ptx file, a folder named Fade Presets, and a folder name MacHD.

The folder MacHD surprised me as it contained a set of nested folder that mirror the full path name to the project folder that contains the expected elements, like "Audio Files", etc.. The folder nesting is MacHD/Users/,username>/Documents/Pro Tools/<source project name>/<new project name>/

Did I miss something here?

[albee1952]

Did you click the checkbox to include the audio files? If you missed that, the copy session will refer to the original source of the audio files

[mophilly]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Did you click the checkbox to include the audio files? If you missed that, the copy session will refer to the original source of the audio files

Thank you for the reply.

Yes, I did check that box. To double check I will compare the two directories (source and new). I *assume* the audio files folder content will be the same.

[mophilly]

I check the two directory trees. The content of Audio Files is the same, differing only in last modified date. There some differences in some of the other project directories.

Now, my question is about the deep path. I expected a shorter one. The original project looks like this:

<user>/Documents/Pro Tools/Projects/<project name>/

The one created by Save Copy In created this:

<user>/Documents/Pro Tools/Projects/<new project name>/MacHD/Users/,username>/Documents/Pro Tools/<source project name>/<new project name>/

I am concerned I goofed up somehow.

[albee1952]

Hmmm, I don't think you goofed, but I do think you may want to re-think your file strategy. Is your main hard drive an SSD? If it IS, then maybe all is fine(though it rubs me the wrong way). I prefer to keep all my sessions on a separate hard drive from the OS. Some of this is due to old habits(in the days gone by(with spinning hard drives), Pro Tools systems always recorded to a separate drive(or two) for performance. These days, a good SSD can allow you to have everything on a single drive, BUT, do you really want that? Of course, if your main drive is a spinner, then you absolutely want to have your sessions on a separate drive, for performance

While you think about how to answer that, creating full copies of sessions is a wise thing to do(actually....TWO copies) and these copies should be saved to separate hard drives(regardless of drive type). The idea is to have any session you don't want to lose, exist in at least 3 places(separate drives, certainly. And 1 of those drives should be stored in another building, in case of fire)

I know PT defaults to this location in Preferences, but I always(as in ALWAYS) change that setting to prompt for me to choose where sessions go(and for me, that place is a separate drive).

[Rich Breen]

I don't suppose you've got some cloud-based backup going? Perhaps iCloud "Desktop and Documents Folders" is turned on? Some other Dropbox sync thing going on? If so, turn them off, or record your projects on an external drive.