Loss of project file after sudden exit

[Thomas Grubb]

Hi everyone,

I had a rather serious problem with a large project (2 groups of 18 tracks of 24/96 with many edits). After saving the project, Pyramix (V.5 SP3) suddenly exited to the desktop and the saved file had vanished! I'd kept a backup so not much was lost, but still, it probably should not have happened.

For the most part editing and playing the project is fine (with the occasional hold-up selecting all of the clips for mixdown - I've taken to just mixing between the markers). I hadn't had any exits since upgrading RAM to 3GB a few weeks ago, but perhaps that was just luck!

So, I suppose one should always keep a backup and work on a copy.

Cheers,
Tom

[Bernhard Guettler]

Hi Thomas,
that sounds like the out of memory issue to me. Was there lots of automation tracks/versions in addition to the high edit density in the project? For me it sometimes worked out well to reduce the number of undo steps in general settings, which reduces memory usage big time. But you didn't get the out of memory message? IIRC sometimes this message comes too late. I also once lost a project file that way.

Cheers
Bernhard

[Thomas Grubb]

Hi Bernhard,

There was no memory error-message, and only a little clip-based automation of volume. I'll try reducing the undo steps though - I'd forgotten that that can help.

Thanks!
Tom

[charlienyc]

hi Thomas,
you can also save your project twice, creating an up-to-date copy in the alternate backup folder. this is assuming you use that feature. i've gotten into the habit of doing this when i've completed a large portion of a project, just in case
cheers,
-c

[tim]

As Charlie says, the Auto-save feature can be a great help - but FYI this Out-of-memory (a.k.a."Disappearing projects") syndrome is capable of wiping out BOTH your primary save and your Auto-save files. Best is to manually keep a third copy, which you update from time to time, in a location which Pyramix doesn't know about.

Tim

[charlienyc]

that's a great idea too. sorry it's not the alternate backup, but the auto-backup. my thinking was if you save twice, Pmx creates two backup versions in the project's backup folder. when you have the "poof crash," the latest one will be lost, but the previous backup "project.pmx (backup 2)" file will be unaffected by the crash.

[tim]

No, Charlie...you were right, I was wrong. Auto-save stinks (just wait until you open up an EDL sometime, make a few tweaks, then decide to just close & not save...realizing later that Auto-save has ruined your day). What I was referring to is Alternate-backup, which in my opinion is a must. But as I mentioned, these files (as well as the ones in the Backup folder which Pyramix creates) can still fall prey to the Out-of-Memory issue.

Tim

[Thomas Grubb]

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the replies. I do have both auto-save (5 versions with a save every 10 minutes) and alternate backup going to another drive.

Interestingly, an auto-save version is also saved to the alternate drive location. This file (and the auto-save file in the Backup directory) are the last surviving versions of the project, both created about 8 minutes before "big bang". There is no sign of the original file except one created 2 hours earlier, probably made when I had last closed the project.

I wonder if it has something to do with Windows rather than Pyramix as Cubase used to do exactly the same thing from time to time (including zapping the file!).

I've reduced undo now to 8 levels (down from 16) and will see if that helps.

Cheers,
Tom

[Steve]

Hi folks,

If this is the same problem, the 'sudden exit and disappearing project' bug appeared with v5sp3. I'll post below a thread to a previous discussion of this problem. It seems that staying on v5sp2 or upgrading to v6 are 2 ways around this problem. At my day job management is not very happy about the prospect of being forced to pay for v6 to solve this problem:

http://forum.merging.com/viewtopic.php?t=3194

[Thomas Grubb]

Hi Steve,

Thanks for the link - looks like there is no other choice than to upgrade. Funny though that other users have had a memory error message, but I've never had any warnings.

Rather annoying though having to upgrade for this reason rather than for the wonderful new features

Cheers,
Tom