Hiya!
I don't even know where to start from or how to explain it properly, but my struggling is to know what's the best way to backup projects. Not that kind of stuff like: 2 external hard drives and an online backup. To me that's pretty obvious: other locations, updated. But the real deal to me is to know how to backup the projects themselves and being able to re-open them anytime, without losing the stuff you've done into the project. Lately, since my life last couple of years has been quite uncertain and moving from here to there. Nowadays I'm in the countryside and, besides dealing with some damp in the house, I finally found a place where to have my studio set up. But, again, trying to collect and put everything in order after having used three computers and different software gear (different versions, I mean). I find myself with tracks whose vst's don't load the correct presets, or the sound is not what I actually designed. So the question here is: how to guarantee that what you're saving now will open as it has to be in the future?
I hope I explained it correctly after so many explanations but my inattentive ADHD doesn't help either to be organized neither to focus when explaining...

 

1. Buy a space heater to combat the humidity, otherwise you'll soon have unhealthy, harmful mold.

The formula is: Heat - Ventilate - Heat - Ventilate...

2. If you're having problems with older projects, you should generally consider whether you should just stop updating altogether.

When you have a project, back up the presets (usually *.FXP files) in the individual software synthesizers or effects with the plugin and/or DAW!!!

3. Back up your projects externally to CD, DVD, etc.!

 

Thanks, PulseWave for answering.
Yeah, I have it already (the mold). We're waiting for better weather to get everything dry and back to normal and repaint the house, in and outside.

The truth behind trying to collect everything worthwhile is that there are projects which need to be polished (weak drums, limiting, some tweaks on the compression on master, EQ the highs...). But as you know already, I've been dealing with lost plugin states when re-opening some projects and moving from one computer to another, and as well, vst's which are not loading the sounds I originally designed on them. So it's like a huge mess what I have now. So I wonder how professional artists do this.
I'll try what you suggest about backing up presets in the vst and DAW, too. Both of them, just in case...

 

1. In the studio, there's a rule: don't update while working on a project.
2. Others have a second PC running an older system.

3. Some even install an older 32-bit or 64-bit version of a DAW alongside the new one!
You just need to change the storage location for the old DAW!

The old project has a date; check the sister site to see if you can still download the old plugins. However, you would then have to uninstall the new plugins or specify a different directory; this doesn't always work.

Glad you'll soon be mold-free!

 

Last edited: Mar 12, 2026 at 1:07 PM

what I do is, multiple versions, packed into rar/7z archive so it's a single file (1,2,3 separately of course):
1) whole project folder as it is, with a screenshot of all plugins used and screenshot of whole project screen
2) render individual tracks with plugins disabled, rendered as wav files, all at same length (from start to finish of the project timeline)
3) render instrument groups/busses/tracks (for ex. "drums", "guitars", "vocals") with plugins, rendered as wav files, all at same length

 

Yeah, the point 1 is something I learnt not so long ago, the hard way... Actually, the PC I assembled in january 2019 is still untouched, not the windows version neither components because I wanted it to stay as it is, but I stupidly updated some plugins and there's where problems started. So what I try to do now is to keep this PC as a headquarters, like stuck in time and space.

Regarding the date and old plugins, I have an external drive where I have been collecting all the plugins/software I ever downloaded (it's like a Treasure Chest!). Of course, some few times happened I downloaded something and it never went into that drive so I had to search for it again, but that hardly happened, because in the more of 3 TB of data I have there's all I ever installed.

Sure, I have found that I got some newer plugins so I had to install an older version for some projects to work, so I set a different directory to keep both versions.

I'll take the advice of saving individual states of plugins inside project's folder to be sure all is there, if needed. As well as what @tzzsmk suggests, rendering separately.

Thanks both, again, for your advices.

 

Addition:

So instead of installing the old plugins here:
C:\Program Files\VSTPlugins, you create a new folder: C:\VSTPlugins, for example,
and tell your old installed DAW the location for the Scan plugin!

 

That's what I do, like, for example, recently I had to do it with one of the FabFilter plugins, C:\Program Files\VST\Fabfilter Bundle 2019.03.13 (that was the old version needed I was installing), so the rest of the plugins were not touched/altered. But before I installed it I went to C:\Program Files\Common Files\VST3 and moved all existing plugins into a Folder inside \VST3\ so existing VST3 plugins wouldn't be smashed after installing.

By the way, since I use Bitwig Studio and it allows you to set an undefined number of folders for the library, it's quite easy peasy. Not like Ableton Live, which allows (AFAIK, version 9) only one folder for VST, and it does not even allow you to use different arquitectures (x86, x64) as Bitwig does...

 

I put important information like preset / instrument / patch name into track names.

Other important notes => project markers or similar facilities.

Rename plugins where it makes sense to me, like when using several instances of the same plugin on the same track (Verb Hall, Verb Staircase).

Imported/exported media & other relevant files all go to the project's folder for easy zipping, backing up, portability.

Use the DAW's preset system (if it has one) together with the plugin's preset system to have two sets of backups.

If the plugin can be used portably, I use it portably with a cloud backup. If it can't, I back up the installer.

And most importantly: Before doing any of this, choose consumer friendly plugins for long term viability and independence.

If it requires online activation and there's no fix, SKIP.
If it requires a subscription and there's no fix, SKIP.
If it can't be stopped from updating, SKIP.
If it doesn't support modern plugin formats, SKIP.
If it's only available for one operating system / architecture, SKIP.
If it won't let you back up installers & registration information, SKIP.

Companies go out of business all the time. You and your projects only go out of business when you or the people inheriting your estate die.

 

Last edited: Mar 12, 2026 at 9:19 PM

also forgot one thing - add proper information on which DAW version (exact build) and which OS version (exact build) you had your project final, because often DAWs change some functionality and OS compatibility differs with plugins too (especially on MacOS)