Missing project after crash

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Mark Reedy

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Missing project after crash

PostThu Nov 06, 2014 8:34 am

My computer crashed. Not sure if Davinci did it or not but it rebooted. When I restarted Resolve the project I was working on (which was saved around 2 mins before crash), was not there. I'm using a local database on a PC and the project folder still exists on the hard drive.

A quick search for this problem came up with a fair few hits. None of them seemed to be resolved. I created a new test database on a different drive and copied 2 projects in. One showed up and the other (the missing one) didn't. If I copy in a backup from 2 days ago it shows up fine. So it appears to be a corrupt project.

Any ideas on what to do to restore it?

Thanks

*Edit. Machine is an i7, 32GB, GTX 680, Windows 7 SP1. Disk database on different drive to system. Using Resolve v11.1 full.
Last edited by Mark Reedy on Thu Nov 06, 2014 8:51 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Mark Reedy

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Re: Missing project after crash

PostThu Nov 06, 2014 8:45 am

Also just after the project went missing I opened another one, made a small change, then tried to save it. It said "davinci resolve failed to write to database folder (location).....". I restarted my comp and it now saves. Not sure if that helps.
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Mark Reedy

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Re: Missing project after crash

PostFri Nov 07, 2014 2:10 am

Comparing my crashed project.xml to the backup one a day earlier, I can see the working one has 53,000 lines of code and finishes off with </SM_Project>, while the crashed one only has 23,000 lines and no end tag. Guessing I'm screwed.
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Marc Wielage

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Re: Missing project after crash

PostFri Nov 07, 2014 5:35 am

Not yet screwed. Call BMD support at (408) 954-0500 first thing in the morning and see what they have to say. They get that database structure issues are critical and they may have a way for you to send them the file, have them analyze it, and come up with a possible fix.

I don't back up my database as often as I should, but I do export projects with stills at least twice during the project, once after the first pass or so, and then once at the very end as we're finishing up. Those have saved me on a couple of occasions.
marc wielage, csi • VP/color & workflow • chroma | hollywood
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Mark Reedy

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Re: Missing project after crash

PostFri Nov 07, 2014 10:26 pm

Thanks for infor Marc. Realistically I only lost about 6 hrs of work so I figured with the time it would take to go back and forth with support, it was just easier to do it again. I backup my database every couple of days and this is the first time I've had to use a backup. Now I have the autosave option set to Backup Project so at least if the crash happens again, I will have a version no older than 10 mins!
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Marc Wielage

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Re: Missing project after crash

PostFri Nov 07, 2014 11:37 pm

mark17022 wrote:Thanks for infor Marc. Realistically I only lost about 6 hrs of work so I figured with the time it would take to go back and forth with support, it was just easier to do it again.

That is a drag, but be glad it's just 6 hours. I know of people who've lost days, even weeks of work on many different platforms. The most I ever lost was one day's work switching from one version of daVinci 888 to another version, but it was just one reel of a feature. And as I always say, "redoing it is faster, because you remember what you already did the last time." The redo took half the time.

I think covering your a$$ with session backups, database backups, and still frame backups all will help. And don't forget to backup the media, too. I almost got hammered on a recent session where a client drive failed (this is the known USB3 / OSX 9.4 bug where the drive goes stupid and refuses to eject), and we barely got it back in time to finish the project. No easily-accessed backups in this case.
marc wielage, csi • VP/color & workflow • chroma | hollywood
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Mark Reedy

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Re: Missing project after crash

PostMon Nov 10, 2014 6:36 am

Yeah it sucks any time you lose some work. It's an episode like this that helps to refine workflow and backup procedures!

I think I run for the hills if I lost a week or more of work!
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Marc Wielage

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Re: Missing project after crash

PostMon Nov 10, 2014 7:54 am

mark17022 wrote:Yeah it sucks any time you lose some work. It's an episode like this that helps to refine workflow and backup procedures! I think I run for the hills if I lost a week or more of work!

I had a close friend who lost three weeks of work on a major Hollywood feature because the master tapes were erased (this was in the tape days). He was very philosophical about it, because there was no strict deadline, and he was able to redo all the work in about 10 days... and got paid for it.

But backups can be your friend! Learn from this incident if you can. I never make enough backups, but I try to stay on top of them as much as I can.
marc wielage, csi • VP/color & workflow • chroma | hollywood
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Mark Reedy

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Re: Missing project after crash

PostWed Nov 12, 2014 4:21 am

Wow 3 weeks! Also not a bad effort to redo it in 10 days!

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