There is a setting that will auto backup every 2-120 minutes. You can save whenever you want. I save after every change I make.

Packing the project is usually used to move the project about, though I can see a use for creating a copy in a safe place.

Remember that PowerDirector doesn't import your clips, the PDS file records all the changes and the locations of the clips. You should take the proper precautions of backing up the locations you are keeping your clips and othe media.

Thank you!
Yes I save it very often, too. And of course I have a copy of all used raw material somewhere else.

I meant backup on a second external hard drive - because I don't trust only one hard drive ..
so if I save a copy of the original project folder on a second hard drive - I can't open the project it anymore from there because the file path of the used raw material is of course different then ...

Quote There is a setting that will auto backup every 2-120 minutes. You can save whenever you want. I save after every change I make.

Packing the project is usually used to move the project about, though I can see a use for creating a copy in a safe place.

Remember that PowerDirector doesn't import your clips, the PDS file records all the changes and the locations of the clips. You should take the proper precautions of backing up the locations you are keeping your clips and othe media.

You can open the project, but it will ask you where the clips are.

I have all mine on OneDrive which means I don't worry about this, but I appreciate that isn't for everybody.

There is probably some backup solution that works well for this scenario but PD doesn't have it.

The easiest approach is to use Pack Project Materials, which will create copies of all your source clips to the specified folder and will also "flatten" the PDS project so it will only look in the folder where the copied clips and it are now stored.

Packing a project means that the destination folder (or a copy of that folder) will always contain all the necessary content for editing and producing.

YouTube/optodata

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I think the OP was trying to automate that process. They have stated that they use pack materials but they are looking for a backup that would acheive the same thing.

There is no point in repeatedly backing up all the source material especially as the OP states he already has it backed up. All he needs to do is back up the .pds file and as Philwild has pointed out you can autosave that at time intervals prescribed in Preferences > Project. In there you can also set the destination of the saved file so if the OP wants to back up automatically to an external drive he just needs to set the path there. Regards,
Mike

Home-build system:
Intel Core i5 Quad Core 3.3GHz, 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz,
Asus Nvidia GT440 1GB, 2 x Western Digital WD10EARS 1TB, 1 x Seagate ST1000DM010 1TB,
Windows 7 Prof 64-bit, PD 9 Ultra 64, PD 13 Ultimate 64

Thank you all so much for your advice -and your patience!
So I understand that there is no alternative to packing the project.

But as the film is a project in progress - how can I make a backup on 2 hard drives when I add new footage (which happens often)? I don't want to pack it every time from scratch - it takes hours.
Any tips?

Quote There is no point in repeatedly backing up all the source material especially as the OP states he already has it backed up. All he needs to do is back up the .pds file and as Philwild has pointed out you can autosave that at time intervals prescribed in Preferences > Project. In there you can also set the destination of the saved file so if the OP wants to back up automatically to an external drive he just needs to set the path there.

tonton2, It's really a personal choice, I don't think any answer fits everyone. I organize all my source footage and pics (~15TB) on a particular drive letter in a hierarchal fashion, and then just bring those into PD as needed. My source essentially stays untouched and is always available and in the same place (drive letter wise for easy PD compatibility). If I have old content on a non active drive I just mount the external backup drive in a dock and give it my universal drive letter and then all the pds projects I've created and saved on the drive reload just fine, except for PD anomalies.

The bad part about "Pack Project Materials" is it duplicates all "source" clips in the pack as it's named. So, if you use little bits and pieces of several large source files in multiple projects, you get everything duplicated every time. It's good for sharing an immediate project, in my view a wastey long term retention method. I've also found through the years that it does not necessarily pack everything that was used in a project either so not as good as it sounds.

My video is redundant on another backup drive, one can simply use any sync backup utility or I often simply use Windows robocopy command as it's easy to sync a redundant drive for backup purpose.

Jeff

Quote Hi,

sorry for this beginner's question.
I am working on a 90 min. film (also with subprojects) which will take many weeks to edit.
Is there a possibility fo a daily backup without having to pack the different projects materials everytime?

Would be grateful for any help!

I'm sorry if I misunderstood what you wanted. If you want to back up your work each day to separate external hard drives then as JL_JL says you could use a file synchronisation program. The one I use allows you very detailed control of what is backed up and where. You simply set up what files, or groups/types of files, you want backed up and the source and destination paths then it can be done with a single click. It won't backup to multiple destinations but it's easy to set up multiple profiles which you can quickly select so with two or three clicks you should be able to do what you want. I can give you a link if you would like to PM me. Regards,
Mike

Home-build system:
Intel Core i5 Quad Core 3.3GHz, 2 x 4GB DDR3 1333MHz,
Asus Nvidia GT440 1GB, 2 x Western Digital WD10EARS 1TB, 1 x Seagate ST1000DM010 1TB,
Windows 7 Prof 64-bit, PD 9 Ultra 64, PD 13 Ultimate 64

Quote Thank you all so much for your advice -and your patience!
So I understand that there is no alternative to packing the project.

But as the film is a project in progress - how can I make a backup on 2 hard drives when I add new footage (which happens often)? I don't want to pack it every time from scratch - it takes hours.
Any tips?

As PowerDirector doesn't affect these clips, you only need to "backup" this folder whenever you add new footage.

I think you should investigate a synchronise facility as has been mentioned to ensure these clips are duplicated elsewhere and set PowerDirector to auto backup at a frequent interval.

If these backups are also synchronised to a different location, then you would have a full backup of all your work, should the worst happen.

Quote
thank you

I'm sorry if I misunderstood what you wanted. If you want to back up your work each day to separate external hard drives then as JL_JL says you could use a file synchronisation program. The one I use allows you very detailed control of what is backed up and where. You simply set up what files, or groups/types of files, you want backed up and the source and destination paths then it can be done with a single click. It won't backup to multiple destinations but it's easy to set up multiple profiles which you can quickly select so with two or three clicks you should be able to do what you want. I can give you a link if you would like to PM me.

Thank you all so much!
At the moment I don't have the time to check the solutions right away - but I will soon! (have to finish a rough cut first .. until wednesday)
I hope I will understand everything correctly - and would write here again!

Quote


I'm sorry if I misunderstood what you wanted. If you want to back up your work each day to separate external hard drives then as JL_JL says you could use a file synchronisation program. The one I use allows you very detailed control of what is backed up and where. You simply set up what files, or groups/types of files, you want backed up and the source and destination paths then it can be done with a single click. It won't backup to multiple destinations but it's easy to set up multiple profiles which you can quickly select so with two or three clicks you should be able to do what you want. I can give you a link if you would like to PM me.