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Questions about backing up Beatmaker 3 to Google Drive

EstragonEstragon
in General

Hi all,

First post here so apologies if this has been answered but couldn’t find what i was looking for...

I’m working on an ipad with BM3.
I want to be able to save my work including all samples to my google drive.
Essentially this is to create an emergency backup in case my ipad was lost or stolen.
Id like to be able to log in to my google drive on a new ipad and restore all my BM3 projects, arrangements and samples.

  1. If I go to save, and copy samples, will the zip file thats created give me everything i need to restore in case of emergency?

  2. Also do i also need to save banks separately and /or patterns within banks? I dont really understand this part.

  3. When i try and restore, i select the zip file in my google drive and select ‘copy to beatmaker’ it says “unzipped content available in the imports directory” - where is this directory?

Thanks in advance, and happy music making to you all.

🙂

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Comments

  • tk32tk32
    edited March 2020

    Welcome @Estragon

    This is a great question, and I will help you as best I can.

    First of all, you are right to be a little cautious and ask for some guidance. The way BM3's project and file system works can be confusing, especially to new users.

    I'm going to break my advice for you into two sections:
    1. backing up individual projects
    2. backing up all projects and samples

    1. backing up individual projects

    By far the safest way to backup your music in BM3 is by treating each project separately.

    • You start by saving a version of the project with 'save samples' ticked. The goal is to get BM3 to gather all of the samples and audio files (ie external file dependencies) used in the project and place fresh copies of all these referenced files inside the new project folder.
    • Once this is done, you can use BM3's built-in file browser to zip the project folder and then share or export to your file storage system of choice (Dropbox/Google Drive/OneDrive/External storage/Files App/etc.)

    Common questions about backing up individual projects

    • Should I tick 'save banks' when saving the project? No. There is absolutely no need to create extra copies of the banks in your project. All this does is create unnecessary extra copies of samples and banks, and can actually cause you more problems down the line with duplicate files.

    2. Backing up all project and samples

    This is a tricker proposition because, in order to be successful, you need to make sure that every external file dependency in all your active projects not only gets included in the backup, but that it also gets restored to its original location if you ever decide to restore from your BM3 backup (or migrate BM3 from one ipad to another)

    If you've read the warning above and still want to do it.. here's how:

    • individually zip your projects / samples / unsaved sessions folders, plus any other folders you've got imported samples saved in. Hopefully you have enough free space on your ipad to temporarily store zipped versions of the above folders. if not, you may have to complete the backup process in steps, and delete the zip files as you go along.
    • Now you need to export these folder zips to your storage system of choice (eg Google drive)

    The best way to reimport folders from a backup, is actually to do this outside of BeatMaker3, via the iOS Files app.

    You can copy the sessions/samples/unsaved sessions folder zips into the BeatMaker3 folder and then unzip them to the correct locations.

    Just make sure to restart bm3 afterwards and do a database scan from the settings menu so that it rebuilds the database to include all the files you imported via the Files app.

  • tk32tk32

    By the way...

    Here's the official Intua advice about backing up:
    https://intua.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000027994-Making-a-backup-of-your-content-using-iOS-Files-app?mobile_site=true

  • EstragonEstragon

    Thank you so much @tk32 for taking the time to answer my questions so clearly. Thats really useful! Much appreciated!

  • BitterGumsBitterGums

    Let us know how all this goes! @Estragon

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