Logic ate my project!!

[memarkiam]

Has anyone else had this. Well, I found a similar sounding issue from 9 years ago, but...

 

I've been working for several weeks on a project, then I did have a few software 'wobblies' (which I'll explain in a moment) and after a reboot my project file was gone! not deleted (eg not in the basket) just disappeared, As if it never existed. And from iCloud as well! And not just 1 file, several.

 

Let me explain what happened:

 

I was working in my project file. No audio, all midi and soft synths

I decided I wanted to copy in a region from another file I had been working on

I opened the other file, not closing the first file, so both were open in Logic.

As I selected the region from the 2nd project, Logic seemed to strain at opening additional soft synths (this is on a 1 month old state of the art 16" MacBookPro with 64GB Ram...)

It then seemed to have trouble pasting the region into my 1st project.

Eventually I got the past to work, but then I got error messages saying I had missing EWQL libraries and it couldn't load the sounds (sounds which had already been successfully loaded just prior to the paste.

I went to the EW Install module, and updated Play one point to the latest version, and reinstalled the supposedly missing library.

Tried the copy and paste again. Same issues.

Decided to reboot.

Opened Logic, went to my recent file menu, and selected my project. Nothing seemed to happen for quite a while. Tried again. Same thing. Eventually Logic came back and said it couldn't load the file.

Went to Finder to see if I could see what was happening. The files weren't there!!!

Back in Logic, the files had now been removed from my Recent File list.

Panic sets in.

I go to iCloud (my folder is part of my iCloud drive, so all file sync'ed automatically). It's gone from there as well!

BTW - I had a few versions of the file, saved under slightly different names. At this point I would have been happy to find one from a few days ago. But these had gone as well!

Final thing - I go to iCloud on my browser, search for deleted files. Takes so long to return any results I am logged out before I get any! So I have no idea if I do have old copies on iCloud or not.

 

If Logic is going to intermittently eat my files what confidence can I have working in it..?

[des99]

I've been using Logic since the early 90s, and I've never once had it delete files. However, I would avoid any iCloud desktop files like the plague, or at least work on my files locally, and put a copy of them to a shared folder if I wanted it available online.

 

I can't trust putting important files to a place where random other server/computer/network issues or other shared users could randomly change or delete them out of my control.

 

Apple's iCloud sharing is better than it used to be, but I still wouldn't put my faith in it as my *only* copy of important stuff.

 

Try working on files locally, and I'm sure they won't randomly start disappearing.

 

Plus, you really should do regular backups of your computer so you can get things back if something bad happens.

[memarkiam]

Plus, you really should do regular backups of your computer so you can get things back if something bad happens.

that's what I thought iCloud was for!!

 

Thanks for your feedback. Will give it some serious thought.

[fisherking]

never have 2 projects open at the same time; all kinds of problems can occur. instead, import the parts (and effects, automation... anything you want) into your current project thru the 'import logic projects' option (think it's under file, am not in front of my logic mac).

 

why are you using icloud? do you run 2 macs, and share data? otherwise, better to store files physically ON your mac, and backup to an external drive (or an online backup service). icloud is a shared space, not a backup.

 

also, have you done a spotlight search? or download an app like 'find any file' (app store); it can do a deeper search than spotlight.

 

files do not just disappear, something causes then to be deleted (IF that's what happened). make sure you're using time machine! the files will be there (even, at least, an earlier save).

Edited July 13, 2020 by fisherking

[David Nahmani]

that's what I thought iCloud was for!!

iCloud is a volume, just like a hard drive is a volume. What you do with it determines what you use it for, but sync'ing your hard drive to another volume does not make a backup, as you have unfortunately discovered the hard way. I personally favor manual backup over automatic solutions, so at the end of a work session (could be several times a day) I make two identical copies, one on an external physical drive and another on a remote FTP server.

 

Oh and yes, never open more than 1 project in Logic. That feature (opening multiple projects simultaneously) should be locked up and forgotten.

[samtrino]

This could very well be a problem with iCloud syncing not necessarily Logic specific. Last year I lost all my calendar entries in iCloud and the support team couldn’t do anything to recover them (I had Time Machine as well as manual backups).

 

You can try a support case with the iCloud team to see if they are able to recover your file. But expect to spent hours on it with support without any guarantee they will be able to recover it. If you can recreate it in a reasonable time i recommend you do that instead. And start backing up regularly to an external drive!

[samtrino]

And it’s highly recommended not to put your work-in-progress files on iCloud. You can bounce it there for sharing with others, and copy it after you’re done, but keep Logic files on a local disk.

 

Just my 2c...

[memarkiam]

Thanks for all your responses. Lessons learnt!

 

I have been thinking of iCloud as my backup. The file is on my local drive, and then it's sync'ed up ('backed up') to the cloud. Same thing with Dropbox or OneDrive.

 

I know Dropbox keeps (or can keep) versions of the file for 30 days, so you can always revert to a previous one if somethings gone wrong. I don't know if iCloud does that as well.

 

But this has been a wakeup call! Think I will get a new external drive for TimeMachine (which I'd stopped using years ago as 'everything was in the cloud'...

 

Thanks all.

[David Nahmani]

then it's sync'ed up ('backed up')

Syncing up and backing up are two different things. That is what I was trying to explain. If you accidentally delete a file on a drive and the drive is sync'ed to a volume, the file will be deleted from the sync'ed volume. It doesn't matter what the volume is (physical drive, iCloud, Google drive, Dropbox etc).

[fisherking]

what david said. apple should really, clearly explain 'documents & desktop' in the cloud; i know people who sign up for that without understanding it.