Back-up to external drive worry

[Al Marotta]

Hi,
When I back-up a project in VSP 10 to an external drive, it only takes a few seconds and I note that the back-up file is on 48 kb or something like that. I'm used to iMovie, where it took a half hour to get a number of gigabytes of the project to an external drive,This is my first project on VSP and I'm worried that I'm doing something wrong. Does VSP just save something virtual requiring only a small amount kbs (that's all it saves on my computer's hard drive, too) or did I make a mistake somewhere?
Thanks, Al Marotta

[asik1]

How do you back up? what you back up?
If you want to save all the relevant project raw stuff you need to do a smart package and save it to your drive.

[Ken Berry]

If you are just saving the project's .vsp file, that is all you are saving. A vsp file is only a small text-type file which contains no video at all. It tells Video Studio what video and audio is included in the project, where it is stored and what editing has been done to it. As asik has indicated, if you want to save all elements of a project you have to make a SmartPackage and save that.

[Al Marotta]

Thanks to both of you for your response to my question. Does my saving only VSP mean I have to re-edit my project from scratch? To answer asik1, I back up to a Seagate external drive.


Al

[Ken Berry]

Does my saving only VSP mean I have to re-edit my project from scratch?

It depends on what has happened to the other elements included in the project. If, for instance, thinking you had saved the whole thing, including all the video and audio, to an external drive, and you then deleted the original clips on your hard drive, then yes, if you tried to open the saved vsp file, it would try to find video and audio clips which no longer existed and you would not be able to relink and continue editing that project.

If, on the other hand, you had copies of all the video and audio stored on another drive, then when you open the vsp file it would not be able to find those clips but would give you a relink message. You could relink them in this case, and thus be able to continue editing the project with that vsp file.

But creating a SmartPackage means you are creating an entire new folder containing both the vsp file and all the other video, audio and other files involved in the project. And you would be able to open and edit that project on another computer.

[Al Marotta]

Hi Ken and others,

I'm getting a bit frantic. I tried creating a smart package. Upon opening the folder my smart package project was stored in, I found that if I clicked on the icon containing the biggest file, all it would do is open in Movie Maker(VSP is not listing in the "open with" options) and there was none of my edits in it. I don't think I've deleted from my project the original files, so if some kind soul wants to save me from a heart attack, please lie to me and tell me that when I get my editing done (I've spent hours on it already) I can somehow link my VSP files to the original video files and thus complete my project. Is it possible when editing a project to just save the VSP files until you complete the project and get it ready for a DVD or something? Is smart packaging absolutely essential for saving a project as you work along?


Thank you,

Al Marotta

[Ken Berry]

SmartPackaging is meant to be used if you want to give a whole project to someone else, or to open and continue editing a project on another computer, or in another town or country.... It is NOT meant to replace the regular creation and editing of a project on the same computer, even if some or all of the files in the project are on an external drive -- as long as the project file has recorded where all the various files are located and what has been done to them.

So unless you have a created a SmartPackage and then deleted all the files, clips etc from the original computer, you basically just keep the SmartPackage as a sort of back-up, and continue with your original project on your original computer, opening it with the VS File > Open Project command which activates the vsp file.

But given that you have now, for whatever reason, created a SmartPackage, when you open it (on another computer or even your original computer), you can do the same as the above. You don't look for and open the largest file in the Package. You look for and open the vsp file. This should then populate the VS timeline with all the video and audio clips, transitions and FX you have applied. And you can then continue editing from there.

But I can only stress once again that SmartPackage is really only meant to be used where you want to give a copy of a whole project to someone else or continue editing yourself on another computer or in a different location. It is NOT meant to be the way you save a project and later reopen it on the same computer for further editing.

[Davidk]

It also depends on what you mean by "backup". Backup normally means using something like Windows backup, Acronis True Image or any of the other specialist computer backup programs - which do just that: make copies of the data on your computer either wholly, or selectively (eg, by partition or folders/files) for the express future purpose of recovering that information after a system failure of some kind.

Making a copy of (backing up) a VS project basically means doing what Ken has outlined. It's simple, easy to do and the very act of doing it adjusts all the vsp content pointers to match those in the specified folder, so when you start the vsp that's in it, the vsp 'finds' all the material that's in the project. But you normally don't do it for backup reasons, but rather to transfer the project to another computer which also runs VS for the purpose of exhibition.

If your motive for copying or backing up project material (eg, the clips and photos) is to clean up a disk and save some space, then you clearly need something extra, usually external like an SD card/usb hard drive/or an added internal hard drive of suitable capacity, suitably organised to store the material on. And that really isn't Video Studio space at all.

[Al Marotta]

tHANKS to DavidK and Ken Berry for coming to the aid of a frantic soul. Maybe you both have had the same experience.

My reasons for wanting to back-up is to have something on an external drive in case something happened to my computer. If I interpret you gentlemen correctly, a mere VSP file back-up on an external drive is sufficient unless you want to show the project on another device. My intention is to put my project on an mp4 file and have it cable cast over a local access cable station.


Please pardon me if I seem dense and unable to get the point, but as an experiment I went to "share" and exported my project-----this project was not a smart project but a plain vsp file thing--- to an mp4 file that went into my external drive.The rendering of this 30 or 40 minute project took 3 1/2 hours. But when I clicked on it to play, it went to some app in my computer (not CorelVSP10) and played just fine.

I thus have the following question:

Can you edit just using vsp files and then export the project to an mp4 file on an external drive without doing smart package and still have it play on a cable company's computer? Can I just hand the external drive to the cable company--which does not have Corel---and have the mp4 file play?


Thank you, Al Marotta

[Davidk]

Al, a few points.
Rendering means create a single final file with all the edits you applied to the components of it (in the vsp). That file went where you nominated in the render setup page, but playing it (double click the filename) - as an mp4 file (assuming that's what you rendered to)- will be played by whatever program you have set up in windows as the default play for an .mp4 extension file. Specifically, control panel, default programs, and then the page that associates an extension (.mp4) with a specific program name, which on my PC is windows media player. You can change that if you wish by nominating another program on your PC to do the playing.

So, yes, you can copy that rendered file and give it to someone else and it should play on his/her PC. A word of caution tho - some filetypes are not supported by the common players people have on their machines, so a check is always advisable.

However, your expressed motive for 'backup' is the standard one for crash recovery purposes, and in that case, just copying the vsp to an external device isn't going to save you if the internal hard drive crashes or you have a program malware event that erases the source material. You may be able to run the vsp, but without the source material it specifies, you have nothing. So I strongly suggest you:
1. learn about computer backups: the programs that do it, where that program saves the backup/recovery files, and develop a habit of doing backups regularly. how often would depend on how much data changes on your PC - if its heavily used, backup weekly might be a more relevant approach. As an example, I do backups of the main drives - C system and the email/other data drive (separate drives) once a month, and do the whole system (12 drives with a variety of programs and data, sorted by data type per drive, once every 3 months. I save all the backup files on a removable disk drive, and store that separately too. The whole process may take an hour or so, depending on how much data you want to backup and how fast the PC is. I been saved a few times over the last 10 years by this, and once (2 months ago) it was handy when I upgraded a laptop hard drive to an SSD - executed the change immediately after a normal backup cycle and then just recovered the hard drive backup data to the SSD: simples.
2. organise your data: know or decide where you want certain data types (emails, video clips et al) to be in your PC right across the board - capable of use by any program - and then actually move the data around using Explorer until that pattern is satisfied. The most common query my video students have is "where did I put that data?" and if you don't have a habit that's good for you, there will be copies of copies all over your machine.

[Al Marotta]

Thanks David for your thoroughgoing and generous post. I'm making a hard copy of your and Ken's posts and hope I have, with thy help. solved the issue (at least for now!).

Al Marotta

[Ken Berry]

Can you edit just using vsp files and then export the project to an mp4 file on an external drive without doing smart package and still have it play on a cable company's computer? Can I just hand the external drive to the cable company--which does not have Corel---and have the mp4 file play?

Yes -- absolutely Yes! That is precisely the way we have been producing videos for use by others for many years. We edit the project, then go to Share and "export" the project as an mp4 or other format we are after. And the final mp4 can be on your hard disk, an external hard disk or a USB stick drive and passed on for others to watch -- including your cable company!

SmartPackage is a much more recent development made for very specific purposes. There would be no point in giving a SmartPackage to anyone, including your cable company, unless (1) they had Video Studio themselves; and (2) you wanted them to edit the project in the SmartPackage. Only Video Studio can open and edit a SmartPackage -- or at least the .vsp file part of it.

[Al Marotta]

You nailed it, Ken!Thanks Ken for your heart-saving post (and thanks to others!). My whole worry here was over nothing it appears.If someone could just tell me whether exporting a 30 minute project to an mp4 file on a 3tb external drive should take 3 1/2 hours, I'd spend the day happy.


Al Marotta

[lata]

Hi Al

3 ½ hours does seem a little excessive for a 30 min project.
Render times rely on a lot of factors

1 / The type of project and its complexity.
2 / Rendering to same properties will be faster than rendering to another format
So using Share - Same as First Clip would be the best option, provided of course that the first clip is using the correct properties for our render settings.
And if we matched the project settings to our video file, then Same as Project Settings could be used. (top left of Share panel)

3 / of course our pc environment has an impact on speed, i would first consider 2 above

Right click one of your video clips and choose properties, what are they?
When you did Share – what options did you choose?

[Al Marotta]

Hi Trevor,

Thanks for picking up on my sharing problem. I clicked properties on a clip and got for format mpg4, for file size 64.9 mg and for video type H.264 high profile video. The one clip that I checked in itself lasts only a couple of minutes--should that size of clip take up so many megabytes? Please pardon my mild laziness, but I will passionately give you whatever other clip info you think is relevant--there is a lot of it.


Pardon me but I don't know what you mean by "when did you share"? I shared just as a test after doing a lot of editing on the program.
I chose "create preview range only" and "Enable smart render". I did not choose "same as project settings"." Could that be my problem? I was sharing from what I think
are original mpg4 files to an mpg4 file

Could you elucidate further on using "Share as First Clip". I have no clue as to what First Clip is and how to deal with it.


Thanks again for your help==you may be on the way to saving me from a lot of aggravation.


Al Marotta