Backup best practices question

I just wanted to confirm the recommended procedure for backing up Resolve. I'm running Resolve 17.1 on an M1 Mac Mini OS Big Sur, with all my media stored on an external drive.

So far as I know, my Resolve files are being stored to the default location (and in Preferences, "Media storage" is set to users>username>movies), which I assume means that they are being stored on my system (internal) drive. Therefore, when I choose a location in Preferences for project backups and when I manually export .drp project files, am I correct that I should put them on my external drive? My thinking is that if my internal drive fails the backup will be safe on the external drive, and if the external drive fails I will be able to reload my media and continue working using the original Resolve files on my internal drive.

Please let me know if I am wrong about this! Thanks!

Theoretically, what you suggest should be a good practice, but...

Firstly, auto saving backups for me periodically impacts UI performance in Resolve. I would imagine using an external drive would make these little glitches longer.

Also, I've been caught too many times with auto backup systems of various programs and always do my own manual backups in addition to anything automatic.

In the case of Resolve, I export a DRP each day of any current projects I'm working on, and periodically use the backup button to export a database backup of the current database. Basically, I work on the assumption that at any time the only copy I might have is the most recent DRP. So if I'm doing a lot of work I might save DRPs several times a day.

I don't use the default database and instead create a separate database for each group of related projects.

i'm pretty much the same as what Mike does
i write baks to a mirrored set of internal drives
that drive is swept every night and bak'd on an offsite server
the rest is pretty much what he does

Thanks for the replies! Sorry, my question may not have been entirely clear. I don't rely entirely on auto-backups, and do manually save my project and also regularly export .drp's. What I'm trying to confirm is that by default Resolve stores its files and database on the internal system drive, and that therefore I should NOT store my backups on the internal system drive but rather on my external media drive (with additional copies stored off-site as practical).

In other words, in this scenario am I correct that Resolve is storing all the project files that it needs on my system drive, and therefore if my media drive fails I'll lose my backups but will still be ok so long as I can reload my media? And if my system drive fails, I'll be able to restore my project using the backup files on the Media drive?

We automatically back up the entire database every three hours. The back up is saved to a separate location which is backed up itself among with a ton of other stuff.

We automatically back up the entire database every three hours. The back up is saved to a separate location which is backed up itself among with a ton of other stuff.

Hi Igor, how have you managed to set up an automatic backup ?

We automatically back up the entire database every three hours. The back up is saved to a separate location which is backed up itself among with a ton of other stuff.

Hi Igor, how have you managed to set up an automatic backup ?

We use a modified version of this script https://www.hdhead.com/?p=857.

We use a modified version of this as well.
Thanks @Igor


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nice, will it also work with project server?

nice, will it also work with project server?

I don't even know what Project Server does. I will actually read the user guide entry right now because it keeps coming up. We don't use it.

If you have a PostgreSQL server this backup script will work. It works directly with the server. I'll come back and comment if I see anything of concern in the Project Server documentation.

I see what Project Server does. It doesn't matter whether you used it to set yourself up or use it every now and then. The backup script is completely independent of it.

I guess BMD created Project Server to put a user friendly layer on top of PostgreSQL configuration. I find it confusing because there is overlapping functionality between the Project Server and Project Manager. The name is very confusing. Project Server is not a server at all. It's actually a client. You would think that something called "server" is actively engaged at all times. But that's not the case here. The real server is the PostgreSQL server. The Project Server is just a client with a UI that simplifies some setup and maintenance.

You would think that something called "server" is actively engaged at all times. But that's not the case here. The real server is the PostgreSQL server. The Project Server is just a client with a UI that simplifies some setup and maintenance.

I'm guessing "Resolve Project Client" is not as cool a name.

No, that's equally confusing. Than the word "manager" is already taken for Project Manager. I actually think I'd get rid of project server altogether and just merge the features into the project manager.

nice, will it also work with project server?

I ended up playing a bit with Project Server and I like it. I understand why they called it a "server." The idea is to conceal the fact a database server is involved if that makes sense. I think a lot of users trip over the whole PostgreSQL thing and the Project Server is just a nice sugar coating on top of that. But I still had to edit the pg_hba.conf file for what I needed to do.

To get back to Helge's question, will the backup work with Project Server? Probably not. The one I installed on macOS Monterey did not install psql. Psql is the command line client for PostgreSQL and I use it to make DB dumps.

If you by chance installed PostgreSQL before you installed Project Server (which is not necessary) you could have psql. on the system. You can also install psql separately. To check if you have it open the command line and execute psql --version.