Saving Project -> Copying Files?

Hello -

 

A particular project I've been working on for a while now, occasionally gets into a mode where every time I save the project, a progress bar appears indicating files being copied. The file names flashing by do indeed refer to audio files in the project. However, no duplicate copies are created in the Finder. Are these just Logic's internal back-ups (project archives and versions)?

 

I wonder if this actually happens for all projects, but normally happens so fast that there is no progress bar, whereas this project is so large that it takes significant time (well, a few seconds, long enough for the progress bar to appear).

 

I compulsively save (Cmd-S) while working on projects. Oddly, even with this project, the copying of files progress bar does not always appear. I haven't been able to discern any causal pattern. Everything seems to work fine, so perhaps it's no reason for concern. Still, I would like to understand what exactly is happening here. Any thoughts?

 

 

Best regards.

It all comes down to how you originally saved the project.

The best way is as follows:

When you create a new project, before you record anything, do a Save As and select the location of the project.

After that, every Command-S should be instantaneous.

It all comes down to how you originally saved the project.

The best way is as follows:

When you create a new project, before you record anything, do a Save As and select the location of the project.

After that, every Command-S should be instantaneous.

 

Thank you for the reply. Yes, I do that with every project.

Yet this still happens, with this large project. Sometimes the saving is instantaneous (almost), other times it shows this copying files dialog.

I have the same intermittent behaviour, and my workflow and organisation for projects has always been as triplets suggests. And 95% of saves are indeed instantaneous, but every now and then I also get this "Copying Audio Files..." popup during a save, a progress bar flashes by, and i recognize a bunch of files, that ARE ALREADY IN THE PROJECT FOLDER. No idea exactly what Logic is doing (yes, its copying, but WHY? they are already THERE?) but also haven't experienced any problems with this either so.... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ yeah wouldn't mind knowing what and why this is happening.

Do you include only Audio Files when you save, or something else?

Do you include only Audio Files when you save, or something else?

 

It's just the regular "Save" command of a project already in progress.

 

In the initial save of the project upon inception, I always save as a "Folder". I set project settings for "Assets" to copy over all assets into the project folder.

 

In the regular "Save" while working on the project, none of those settings change, and there are no new audio files or assets. I'm just editing things in the project.

 

Again, the "copying files" happens intermittently. Once it starts happening though, it will happen with every "Save", until I close and re-open the project, at which point the problem (if it is a problem) typically goes away.

 

Some theories:

- Is this actually a memory management issue, with large projects where memory is full, and Logic is copying files to and from "virtual memory" on the hard drive?

- Is this a backup / archiving issue where Logic is saving files into its own internal backups?

- Is this a way of maintaining snapshots in the Undo history?

You're checking every component of Assets? Including Logic samples?

You're checking every component of Assets? Including Logic samples?

 

I check all the audio-related ones, including EXS, even though I almost never use EXS (and there are zero EXS instances in this project).

I would only check Audio Files, especially if it's a big project with lots of software instruments.

I would only check Audio Files, especially if it's a big project with lots of software instruments.

 

Thank you for the suggestions.

 

However, these are the same settings I use for all my projects, most of which do not exhibit this "copying files" dialogue and behavior. Also, this project usually does not exhibit the behavior either, but sometimes gets into this mode where it is "copying files" with every save. Again, then the issue goes away if I close and re-start the project. So it doesn't seem to have anything to do with my settings. Rather, it's some intermittent behavior of Logic itself under certain conditions (perhaps: low memory?).

 

(It is indeed a big project, almost 60 minutes long, with almost 50GB in the Audio Files folder. However, no EXS samples. All samples are Kontakt, which do not copy or save with the project. The files being copied, at least as far as I can ascertain from the names flashing by, are audio files used in tracks in the project.)

 

Best regards

Maybe it has to do with the fact that the audio files are so long.

Are you doing a lot of edits and chopping up?

Maybe it has to do with the fact that the audio files are so long.

Are you doing a lot of edits and chopping up?

 

That may be the key factor. Yes, a lot of editing and chopping. Many files run the entire length of the project.

The project also includes test mixes and bounces of itself as tracks for comparison.

 

Perhaps this is housekeeping which Logic does for all projects, but with a smaller project, the process happens so fast that a progress bar is not even shown, whereas here the process takes 5-10 seconds so a progress bar shows. Although that theory doesn't quite explain why this behavior is intermittent even with this project.....

Maybe try to reduce the undo steps to a lower number. The default is 100. That can create a huge memory footprints when editing a lot.

Another thing to do is to merge (consolidate) regions that don't need further editing.

Remember that Logic loads all the files into Ram on project launch.