- Posts: 16
- Joined: Tue Aug 05, 2014 12:03 pm
Sun Aug 10, 2014 9:42 pm
Can anyone tell me if its possible to make a manual backup of the database in OSX, and if so, where it is located?
There are 2 database types available in Resolve. You can see what type you are using by opening the Resolve Database Manager window, which is accessed from the Resolve user login page, by clicking the Disks icon in the lower right.
By default, on new installations, Resolve uses a Disk database. This is stored as a series of folders in a path that is shown in the Host column in the Database manager window. These folders are view-able in Finder. In the path shown in the Host column, will be a "Resolve Projects" folder. In that will be a "Users" and "Settings" folder. In the "Users" folder will be a folder for each user login on the system. In the individual user folders will be a "Configs" and a "Projects" folder. Each of that users projects will have it's own folder in the Projects folder.
Resolve can also use PostgreSQL databases. If you need to have multiple systems share a database, as in the Collaborative Workflow scenario in Resolve 11, that must use a PostgreSQL database. In the Database Manager Host column, if there is an IP address, instead of a path, that would be a PostgreSQL database.
To backup either type of database, select the database in the Database Manager window, which will make it orange, then click the 3 vertical dots icon in the upper right area of the Database Manager window, and select Backup. This will bring up a window to allow you to name the backup, and select where it is saved.
To restore a backed up database to a Resolve system, click the 3 vertical dots icon in the upper right of the Database Manager window and select Restore. Follow the prompts. Note that you cannot restore a database to an existing database name, you must use a new name.
We recommend you backup your database before installing new Resolve software. Sometimes, new Resolve versions change the database format, and once that's been done, you would not be able to go back to an earlier Resolve version with your existing projects, should you desire to do so for some reason.
If you are using a PostgreSQL database, and you install a new Resolve version that requires database changes, you will be prompted that you need to "Upgrade" the database before it can be used. Again, we would recommend you backup the database before you allow it to be upgraded. Once it's upgraded, it will not work with an earlier Resolve version.
If you are using a Disk database, and a new Resolve version has database changes, you are not prompted to do a database upgrade. Existing projects are automatically upgraded when they are loaded the next time. Such an upgraded project may or may not properly load in an earlier Resolve version. So again, we recommend you backup the Disk database before installing a new Resolve version, to ensure your current projects can still be used with the earlier Resolve version, if needed.
And we recommend periodic backups of your database, even if you are not installing new Resolve software. If anything happens to the database, all of your project data could be lost. Having regular backups will help protect you if something happens to the database.
You can also use Time Machine to backup Disk databases. But this will not work with PostgreSQL databases. Those must be backed up as described above.
Note that Stills are not stored in the database. So if you have a disk failure, and you restore a backup database, that will bring back your users and projects, but not the stills. Thumbnails are stored in the database, so those will come back. But not the full res stills that you can wipe in the Viewer.
For maximum safety regarding backups, you can also use the Resolve application Export Project feature. This is in the File menu for a currently loaded project. Or there is an Export menu in the Project Manager, that will allow you to export projects that are not loaded. Using the Export process, you have the option to also store the Stills, LUTs, Audio and EDLs related to the project. If you export a project, and select all those options, you can take that export .drp file to another Resolve system, or store it as a backup, and use that to fully recover all aspects of a project, except for the actual project media. Note that if you have lots of stills and audio, that could make the export .drp file quite large. And it will take a while to export and load.
