un****ingbelievable

Who is in charge of changes?

Incoming rant:

I downloaded 17.4 and backups no longer seemed necessary. Whenever Davinci would crash it would save my work so I would just load the last version I was working on--no need to load backups. Seems like a good feature to keep! Is it here in 18.1? Apparently not..... So many stupid changes with each version. Audio tracks getting squished by default, keyboard shortcuts being changed (!) (wtf?? seriously, wtf?) who wants to learn a new program every time they download a new version? So idiotic. Probably the stupidest one is defaulting to not backing up one's work. Why would that be the default? Do people prefer losing all their work? I just lost 10 hours of work. I installed Resolve on a new computer and downloaded a new version (18.1). And the program went to beachball of death for no apparent reason so I forced quit. I load it and it didn't save (let me remind you that 17.4 saved my work even when it crashed! and it crashed *all the time*). I just don't understand who and how the types of decisions get made from one version to the next but it makes no f***ing sense. For every improvement they throw in two steps backwards just for kicks (apple and other companies do it too!)

I can't redo work I've already done. I'm not wired that way. It's like trying to repaint a watercolor painting *exactly* like it was before. It's undoable. So I'm completely ******. Someone please tell me why the default setting in the 18th iteration of a cutting edge, industry leading, state of the art piece of software would be to not backup the work. Even once an hour! But never??? Why? Why is that the default?

teh 'live save' is part of the user setting preference, when I sit on a machine, i load the preferences and all is ready.

I will not assume that form a version to the next nothing changes and i will always be wary of a brand new versino of software: if you really did not saame for 10 hours, there should have been a RED indication on the top center that you did not do so.

Why would you not run backups in addition to Live Save? Sure it's a little annoying that you get a brief hang of a few secs when the backup is being performed, but when the alternative is losing 10hrs of work...

Plus it's not like you can revert to a previously saved version when using Live Save alone, which is a huge deal.

Yes some user settings going awol is frustrating, it bothers the hell out of me that custom bin columns, effects & LUTs favourites go missing from time to time, but it seems like you've been the architect of your own downfall here.

Backup everything constantly, it's only hard drive space, it's nothing compared to lost work.

Is it here in 18.1?

Yes. Same place it's always been.

Preferences>User>Project Save and Load>Save Settings>Live Save

Why would you not run backups in addition to Live Save? Sure it's a little annoying that you get a brief hang of a few secs when the backup is being performed, but when the alternative is losing 10hrs of work...

Plus it's not like you can revert to a previously saved version when using Live Save alone, which is a huge deal.

Yes some user settings going awol is frustrating, it bothers the hell out of me that custom bin columns, effects & LUTs favourites go missing from time to time, but it seems like you've been the architect of your own downfall here.

Backup everything constantly, it's only hard drive space, it's nothing compared to lost work.

What I was saying is: why doesn't the program default to running backups? For some reason I didn't think to check if the new install was backing up my work. And so I was complaining that the software doesn't default to backing up. You have to go into settings and tell it to back up your work. That's all. On my old computer I had it set to backing up every ten minutes. I recently got my hands on an M1 Max 32gb machine so I do not even notice the backups anymore. Editing is now a dream.

What I was saying is: why doesn't the program default to running backups?

+1

What I was saying is: why doesn't the program default to running backups?

And on that I agreed with you, it's frustrating when settings for some reason get arbitrarily changed when an update happens. I've had it happen before with Livesave too so now check it every time after an update, but I shouldn't have to.

It was just that you were setting yourself up for a huge setback like the one you had when you were solely using Livesave, that and Livesave doesn't allow you to go back a few hours in the event of a mistake being made.

Yes Resolve should be rock solid on save preferences, but it isn't and until it is users need to build in as much redundancy as they can.

And that's why I export a .drp to a physically separated medium at least once a day.

teh 'live save' is part of the user setting preference, when I sit on a machine, i load the preferences and all is ready.

Live Save or not, when I'm spending a substantial amount of time in Resolve I try to export a .DRP of the project from time to time because you just never know what might happen...

And that's why I export a .drp to a physically separated medium at least once a day.

This is a very wise (and simple) way to protect yourself. I also use it as evidence that I worked 4-5-6 days on a specific job, since I can see the days embedded in the project name:

Project_XYZ_11-15-22
Project_XYZ_11-16-22
Project_XYZ_11-17-22
Project_XYZ_11-18-22
Project_XYZ_11-19-22
Project_XYZ_FINAL_11-20-22

When in doubt, or if I take a long lunch or a long break, I'll export a backup to the "Color" folder of my source file drive. In more than 12 years of using Resolve, I've only had to use these backups 3 times (total), and two of those times it was because of a boot drive/motherboard failure.

When your livelihood depends on software, you owe it to yourself to make backups whenever possible. Never update software in the middle of a project, do tests first, wait for things to settle down, and then export all your settings and use caution. Some previous tips on what to do before updating Resolve are at this link:

viewtopic.php?f=21&t=125045

Totally agree, all this should be happening by default. It should work the same as any security backup system. You do everything to be as secure as possible, as safe as possible as protected as possible out the box. Its then down to the skill of the user to decide what he wants to omit, that way you don't have to keep checking settings and know if you just touch nothing, you're safe.

I am just an amateur but save projects like Marc by day too. I have " live save " turned off I as like the ability to undo. I have saves turned on every 10 mins too. Save the project to the source folder every day so that I can move to my other PC and edit up to date.

I have " live save " turned off I as like the ability to undo.

Live Save doesn't interfere with the ability to undo though (does it?)

You've got your saves at 10mins intervals, Live Save just offers that extra peace of mind because in the event of a crash you've lost nothing. It used to frustrate the hell out of me in Premiere that I would have to retrace any steps at all in the event of an error, you can do a lot of work in between those 10 saves!

No, you can still undo but the option to close without saving is not there. All changes have already been saved so to undo it would be necessary to undo everything again. I am happy to just leave the backup at 10 mins. I have not had a crash on the Studio Max yet and it is years since I had any issues with my PC. Can't remember it was so long ago so not an issue I bother about.

I confirm that live save is ticked ON 17.4.6 by default, but not project backups.

Thanks everyone for the replies.
I have never used livesave and it was defaulted to off when I launched 18.1 for the first time. I use the undo feature in Resolve a lot. Sometimes I realize some clips are missing from the timeline and so I undo until I see them again (it seems I sometimes accidentally delete clips from the timeline). BUT, it's a completely fixable problem! I can undo everything back to the point where I accidentally deleted clips and then *COPY THOSE CLIPS* (omg, what a simple, yet super powerful solution!) and then redo everything back to where I was, and then PASTE said deleted clips. This is an amazing work around for recovering mistakes you realize you made an hour or two later without having to scroll through backups and guess at which one has the most up to date or best version of lost clips. This works because COPYING does not register as an action by Resolve (of course pasting does, so you want to remember not to paste until you've REDO'd to the "present" point on your timeline again). And of course it doesn't work if you close out the program, but I almost never save my work and always exercise caution when I do--usually it's because I need to grab some resource from another project to use in the current project.

Admittedly this trick is pretty stressful, because if I misclick and perform some undesired action at some point deep in undo-land it interrupts the ability to redo and I will lose all my work (well, only up to my last auto-backup) but it's still kinds scary whenever I implement this trick. I've gotten pretty comfortable doing it, though, as I do it a lot and (fingers crossed / wood knocked) I've never messed up doing it. Does anyone else do this?

One more thing about it--it's fun to take the opportunity of being way back in the undo history to record the screen after you've copied the clips you need. Record the screen while you redo everything--it makes a quick, cool video of you cutting in the editor. Maybe one day when I get good at editing I will make How To Davinci videos. I think this would be a great "hack" how-to video.

Just Duplicate the timeline ever now and then in to of Live save.