How to customize a project database location

Here are instructions on how to move your local Project Database to another location:

1. Click the little "Home" button at the bottom left of the main application - its located to the left of the gear settings icon. This will activate the Projects overlay dialog.

2. In the Projects dialog activate the Project Library Shelf by clicking the "Segmented Box" icon located to the left of the Projects heading on the top controls bar. This will expose a list of Project Databases. By default there is a Local Database created and is stored in your user folder in the BlackMagic preferences folder.

3. In the Project Libraries shelf click the "Add Project Library" button at the bottom of the shelf.

4. An Add Project Library dialog will appear. Click the Location "Browse" button to select a location for your new Project Database and then give it a name. The new Project Database will now appear in the Project Libraries shelf. You can even delete the default Local Database now.

That's it. No need to read onwards - the rest of this is covering a new users perspective on why this basic functionality is hidden away.

If you work for BlackMagic or are generally curious why I customized the location of my Project Database read on.

I am a new user, so just getting things setup. When I install a new creative design application, my first inclination is to select a location where my first project will be stored. All Resolve projects are stored in a database so Resolve automatically creates a default location in the application preferences folder which is located here...

On Windows:
C:\Users\[USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\Resolve Disk Database

On Mac:
/Users/[USERNAME]/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/Resolve Disk Database

I find this location is buried and I always worry about losing data on my operating system and application drive. From my experience lots of folks will store their project and media content on other drives from the operating system and application drive. As well these drives are usually backed up by other extra means like Raid or cloud solutions.

From a new user perspective, BMD should add a checkbox in the nice configuration process to select a custom location for the Project Database. It would have saved me 3 hours getting started.

As well I spent about an hour going through google and then this forum where I eventually found the answer buried in a massive thread where folks are arguing about this issue.

Otherwise very excited to dive in!

Don’t move it to any storage that’s not permanently connected!
Even BM is disadvising that. So, on a desktop you can move it to another internal one, but on a laptop keep it on the system disk if you can’t have more than one.
Everything else, like caches, proxies, or optimised media can go where you want. DR will even message you if they are missing.

Jarrett, (Windows) in order to find the file location of any Project Library including the default Local Database which is the Project Library which Blackmagic creates simply click on the "i" icon on the right of any Project Library tab then click on Open File Location; Explorer will open it.

As Uli says you are recommended to use internal drives only. However, I guess - though I haven't tried this - you could specify which external drive letter you require by using Disk Management. Use a drive letter which is unlikely to be identified as such by another external device. Then the same external drive should be recognised by Resolve each time you open it. However you may find other issues if for example the external drive goes to sleep (stop that) or accidentally gets disconnected midstream.

Probably better for you to do regular database backups. I do mine manually because the various automatic methods may do things I do not want to happen such as saving editing mistakes I had made without realising. I save new versions of Projects within each Project Library.

In the Project Library tab click on the "i" icon then click on Backup. Specify the location of choice. I save mine to a separate internal drive which in turn syncs with Google Drive. Also within a Project Library click on one or several existing Projects then click on Export Projects... and save these to your location of choice.

Database folders are of course very small. The actual media can be anywhere else subject to the drive in question being fast enough. If you can't find the media use the Relink Media icon in the top left area of the Media Pool.

If you work for BlackMagic or are generally curious why I customized the location of my Project Database read on.

Blackmagic, and many users here, are familiar with customized Project Database locations, and know why and how to create them. The system creates the default library on the system drive, but you're not obliged to use it. The idea is probably keep it simple during the installation -- and ensure at the outset new users don't install libraries on external drives or other unpromising locations. Besides, project and project library backups to other disks is assumed, as it would be with any important data.

You could have also saved yourself 3 hours of searching youtube and this forum, by consulting the manual, which reads as follow:

library.JPG (43.96 KiB) Viewed 8232 times

[Peter Chamberlain]

Don’t move it to any storage that’s not permanently connected!
Even BM is disadvising that. So, on a desktop you can move it to another internal one, but on a laptop keep it on the system disk if you can’t have more than one.
Everything else, like caches, proxies, or optimised media can go where you want. DR will even message you if they are missing.

All great advice.
When u put the project library on an external drive and the write is interrupted by a drive or connection or some other issue, and then you can’t read the library, you will understand why we say, dont do that.

If you work for BlackMagic or are generally curious why I customized the location of my Project Database read on.

Blackmagic, and many users here, are familiar with customized Project Database locations, and know why and how to create them. The system creates the default library on the system drive, but you're not obliged to use it. The idea is probably keep it simple during the installation -- and ensure at the outset new users don't install libraries on external drives or other unpromising locations. Besides, project and project library backups to other disks is assumed, as it would be with any important data.

You could have also saved yourself 3 hours of searching youtube and this forum, by consulting the manual, which reads as follow:

library.JPG

Sorry mate, I don't want to start a fight here, but that just isn't good enough.

This idea that everyone should just RTFM is not helpful, clever, or insightful. It never has been, it never will be. These are tools that should assist the user, not shoot them in the back. We're not wizards or doctors, we're just techs trying to make things work better so we don't get fired.

We're also not talking about obscure functionality that would reasonably prompt a user to check the manual. This is VERY basic functionality that (and this is the important part) goes against the grain for just about every other program in this industry. Not just in video/creative tech either, but other project-style user experiences e.g. Microsoft Word, AutoCAD, etc... it's fine to do that, a database is clearly superior for this use case, but you cannot just set traps for users like that. It's unprofessional and just downright amateur.

It would hurt absolutely no-one to put a dialog with default locations already set (like literally ever other program on the face of the planet) so that users are at the very least aware this database exists in real space and not some hypothetical nowhere that everyone has to google just to find and it's of course hidden coz extensions are funny.

I actually knew about this and I thought I had backed up by database, but alas I had not. See my previous paragraph. I don't mind taking a hit for doing stupid things, but I will NOT accept this kind of rubbish.

Not to mention that there is another setting which closely resembles this one (media location) which would lead a user to assume they have actually fixed this problem. Don't even get me started on hiding the database option like that behind an "i" ... no offence guys but that is just bombastically stupid UX design.

Anyway, that's my two cents. It would cost **** all to fix this and would mean new users aren't going to be paranoid about messing things up.

Don’t move it to any storage that’s not permanently connected!
Even BM is disadvising that. So, on a desktop you can move it to another internal one, but on a laptop keep it on the system disk if you can’t have more than one.
Everything else, like caches, proxies, or optimised media can go where you want. DR will even message you if they are missing.

All great advice.
When u put the project library on an external drive and the write is interrupted by a drive or connection or some other issue, and then you can’t read the library, you will understand why we say, dont do that.

I wish we could have a real discussion of this here on the boards. If your power plug gets kicked out during a write will it corrupt the library? I sure hope not. If it will then the library isn’t written in a fault tolerant way.

This is like filesystems. FAT isn’t fault tolerant enough to guarantee it won’t be corrupted if the power goes out or the server gets disconnected. NTFS, HFS+, and APFS all are. You can’t corrupt them by yanking the cable or kicking out the power plug.

If Resolve’s libraries aren’t this fault tolerant it means they’re less reliable than a simple file. I don’t think this is the case but if it is it should be addressed.