Organizing folders; files saved to different drives; backing things up better ...

[quaco]

Hello - I appreciate all the help you guys offer. I often have found helpful things on these forums!

**

G4 Mac - PowerPC - AGP Sawtooth
450 MHz - 2 GB SDRAM
OSX 10.3.3

Pro Tools LE 6.4
Digi 001 box
Presonus Digimax 8-channel mic preamp

Hard drives:
- IBM 19 GB internal (shipped with machine)
- Western Digital 128 GB internal (replaced previous 30 GB "Recording" hard drive)
- Western Digital 700 GB MyBook external (connected w/ Firewire)

***

I am in the middle of a project, but I realize I have to clean up my situation before I go any further because the folders on my Recording drive don't totally match the backups I have on my external hard drive. You see, I had been backing things up merely by dragging the folders across. But I have since discovered that some audio was saved originally to the external. So there's some on Recording that aren't on the external, and some on the external that aren't on Recording.

A little history: I was going along happily for years, recording to my Recording drive, making backups on DVD-Rs. When I decided to use an external hard drive, I recorded to the external and dragged the folders to the former Recording drive as a backup. Apparently, I wasn't getting all the files, because when that Recording drive bit the dust, so did some of the files, which had apparently still been recording to the Recording drive. (I'm going to look into data recovery for that old drive, to see if some of the audio files can be retrieved. Would save me some work replaying certain parts. As an initial side question: Do you have any recommendations for the best ways to recover these files from my dead drive?)

I have since replaced the Recording drive, and began recording to it, dragging folders over to the external any time I changed something. But then I started noticing files in one place that weren't in the other, and vice versa. Hence the need to clean it all up before I further send audio files all over the place.

I know one thing I'm doing wrong is that my Digidesign (including the Pro Tools) application is on the new Recording hard drive which I'm also using for audio. I have heard that this can cause problems, so first question is: I should move the Digidesign folder over to my original internal drive, right?

I am thinking that I should use "Save Session Copy In" (clicking "All Audio Files") from the session on the Recording drive, and save it to the external drive, thus making one complete version of each song's folder. Then I can drag that across back to the Recording drive, thus backing up a complete copy. I can't think of any other way to get all the disparate audio files together and then backing them up. My next question is: Is this the best way to go about organizing my hard drive?

It seems the only flaw in "Save Session Copy In" is that it doesn't pick up a) session backup files and b) the files associated with any other sessions in the same folder. Is this true? As to (a), I don't seem to have any session backup files, as the Auto Save box is unclicked in seemingly all of my sessions. I save often and have never had an unexpected crash where I lost anything, so maybe I'm in luck here and don't have to worry about session backup files not being saved by "Save Session Copy In". As to (b): Is there a way to save the entire folder associated with a song (all sessions within the folder, all related audio files and fades) to create a new, complete folder (which I can then backup on the other drive)?

Looking forward to learning about this. I realize it's been a problem for some time, I just didn't realize it. I really want to clear it up so I can move ahead with a better understanding of what the h*** I'm doing!

Cheers, and thank you for whatever light you can shed.

quaco

[Darney]

Originally Posted by quaco

I am thinking that I should use "Save Session Copy In" (clicking "All Audio Files") from the session on the Recording drive, and save it to the external drive, thus making one complete version of each song's folder. Then I can drag that across back to the Recording drive, thus backing up a complete copy. I can't think of any other way to get all the disparate audio files together and then backing them up. My next question is: Is this the best way to go about organizing my hard drive?
[/B]


quaco

Yes.
http://therecordingrevolution.com/20...ession-backup/

[quaco]

Thanks Darney! I figured as much. I wish there were a way to copy any other versions within a session (vocal up mix, mix w drum edit, etc.) as well. Luckily I don't have too many variations within a session folder.

If I really need to back up an additional mix within the same session folder, can I just drag that extra Pro Tools file over as well, or should I redo the "Save Session Copy In" for each version?