Hi Robert,

For what it’s worth, here’s something I do in a situation like you described.

Let’s say that there is project I’ve been working on, that is for all intents and purposes completed.
Then a few days or weeks later I get an idea (just as you described), where I think that maybe a different effect here, or different music stab there, might make this otherwise completed project better.
What I do in a situation like this, is to go to the last .pds file I have saved for the project (whether it is a packed project, or saved using other methods that can be used to save a project), and then I make/save a copy of this .pds to say... My Documents.

Then I go to My Documents, and open my project with that .pds “copy”.
That way, while I’m experimenting with some changes to the project that I thought I was done with, I’m just working off the "copy" of my last .pds save. And whatever changes I make, or whatever might go wrong, I have no worries, because I still have the original and untouched .pds to fall back on.
If something does indeed go wrong, I can just go to and open the original saved .pds, and it loads my original edit just as if nothing had ever happened.

I’ve found that if you wear Suspenders, and a Belt, when your editing video in PD, you’ll lessen your chances of “getting caught” (with your pants down), by about 50%.

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Thanks for that Cranston, that is a good tip and maybe something I will do in the future if I want to play with a saved project. I have turned off the auto save now so I shouldn't get caught again. I usually hit "Control S" often by habit during my normal editing so having the auto save turned off is not an inconvenience for me. It is just a bummer getting caught out like this, luckily it was not a major project, just one of my flying videos. My youtube channel====> http://www.youtube.com/user/relate2?feature=mhsn

Hi Robert,

I'm never 100% sure of exactly how PD produces .bak files but if the timings worked right that might also be able to save the day.

I've never done any experiments on how and when it produces backup files, anyone know??

Cheers
Adrian Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated. (see below)
Confucius
AMD Phenom IIX6 1055T, win10, 5 internal drives, 7 usb drives, struggling power supply.

Hi Adrian,

Yes I had a look at the bak file, renamed it pds opened it but it was still the altered video. My youtube channel====> http://www.youtube.com/user/relate2?feature=mhsn

Gents,

Having fallen into this trap too many times in Pinnacle Studio ages ago I changed my process. I do the same now in PD7.

Now when I begin to play about in a project after basic video capture, the first thing I do is rename the project by usually adding something to the title.

If it's named Christmas 2005 I make it Christmas 2005 with transistions (If I'm working on them). Or if it's Christmas 2005 with transistions and I'm working on slides, it becomes Christmas 2005 with transistions and slides. Next it's Menus, then music, etc. I typically build a project in a similar fashion. That way if I want to rework the project I can pick it up at any point before a major change and not lose time consuming detail.

I hope this is helpful. Regards,

Jim

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