Saving
I am working on a batch of files that I keep on an external USB. Everytime I finish a session, I use my mouse to select the files and copy them to another drive. I can always find my files when I return to the USB, but the backup won't save. I always check to make sure they are copied to the backup drive before closing. Everything looks OK, until I return and find a blank score in backups. Should I be using some other Save option?
Thanx
Joe
Comments
What do you mean "find a blank score in backups"?
Here's my guess: you created these scores recently, are still working on them, and you haven't yet closed or reopened them since creating them. You keep saving snapshots, copying the snapshots you are saving to USB, and you are also copying the backups (the files beginning with a period and ending with a comma). Later, you try opening on of the backup files (by explicitly renaming it to remove the comma) and find it is empty.
If so, this could be entirely normal. The backup file represents the state of the score *when you opened it*, and if you've done all your editing without ever closing and reopening the file, then indeed the backup would have no data.
If that's not what you mean, please explain further.
In reply to What do you mean "find a by Marc Sabatella
What I do is work the USB files which are always there. Then I copy and paste a batch to my backup drive. The USB files always load up. But my edition backups come up blank. The only operations I am perform are the regular ones for copying and pasting any folder or file - just normal. This has been going on for weeks. I do notice that MS has a habit of wanting to save to My Documents. But I am doing this manually to avoid that error.
I just checked everything on my backup and only found a couple of chapters missing. My other 20-some chapters are still there looking alright. Must have just goofed somewhere along the way. Sometimes, you never know what you did wrong. I'll wait and see what happens next.
Thanx
Joe
In reply to What I do is work the USB by Joe H
Well, yes, but does my explanation make sense? These backup files - what makes you think tyhey should be anything but blank? Did you ever close and reopen the fil? if not, again, it's *expected* they would be blank.
Not sure what you mean about saving to My Documents. MuseScore gives *you* the option of choosing the save location. Default for new scores is same folder you last chose, but if you navigate to a different folder, it will save there instead of course. For existing scores, save simply updates the original file in the same location, as with all other programs.
In reply to Well, yes, but does my by Marc Sabatella
Like I said - I save the file to USB, then I select, copy and paste the file to another drive. They are there in the USB without fail. The copies are failing. The drive is not failing because I have no other problems with docs, wav, audacity, etc. I have been scratching my head over this for two weeks. Should the files have the "mscz" extention? I wonder if it could be that I am loading MS from different drives? But still, why should that affect copy and paste? I have been doing this manually to be secure and open the files to be sure. Tomorrow morning, I'm pretty certain to find a problem.
In reply to Like I said - I save the file by Joe H
Here is a theory to check out. You made your scores on computer a, put them on the thumb drive and copied them to the other computer including the backups. Since you started them on computer A the backup was blank. Computer B puts the backup in a different location than you put the backup but you are now copying the same backup back to the thumb drive every time and the new backup is sitting on the other computer - uncopied. Just a theory, check the date on the backup compared to the recent update, that should tell you if this is likely.
In reply to Like I said - I save the file by Joe H
You say the *copies* are failing? You mean, you tested the *original* version of the backup file and those are, for whatever reaosn, not empty, but the copy you made to the USB drive? if so, then this can't be any fault of MuseScore - either your USB drive is failing or your OS is not doing the copy correctly.
But I suspect that's not the case - I suspect the copy of the backup is empty because the *actual* backup is also empty, for the reason I have already explained. If you never closed and reopened your score, then it is normal and correct that the backup would be empty. The backup is only update when you *close* then *reopen* your score (and even then, it isn't actually updated until you save it again - not save as, but regular save)
I am meticulous when saving anything I work on. This is only happening with MS. I am deliberately bypassing any route that MS could be using - that's the purpose for simply copying and pasting the whole files into a backup folder on a separate drive. I am doing the exact same operations that I would for copying and pasting a Word document or an audio file. And I am testing everything afterward by closing and opening. And it's OK. Until I come back for a new session. Then it's gone. And my preferences are not being saved either.
And now there's no sound! I wonder. Is itwrong to save several copies of MS to the same drive? I have some copies of MuseScore-2.0.1 and also some copies of Portable saved here and there on these drives. Could some wires get crossed doing that?
In reply to I am meticulous when saving by Joe H
You still aren't answering my question though. It seems maybe you are not understanding the significance of closing and reopening the file. If you don't do that, the backup won't get update, simple as that. MuseScore does not constantly update the backup; only not on the first save after open. So if you haven't closed and reopened your score lately, then of course the backup hasn't changed. That's just the way backups work in MuseScore.
In reply to You still aren't answering my by Marc Sabatella
But I did answer your question. Of course, I closed and opened them - because I check to see that everything is saved every session. I copy, paste, open and close them. I should not have to do that. I never had to do that in the two years I have been using MS. I do not open and close Word docs or wav files when saving them. I copy and paste and do not need to open, close or check anything because there are never any problems.
This should not have anything to do with routing. It's copy and paste. That is the route. There should be no interference. But I strongly suspect that it does have something to do with routing because something is interfering with my copying and pasting of these files. The MS program thinks that the files are somewhere else. That is the only thing I can imagine. When I copy the file, does MS copy a routing path to refer to? Nope. Because I troubleshooted that this morning. I unplugged one drive while the other was plug just to see if MS was trying to retrieve the file from some other place.
In reply to But I did answer your by Joe H
I am still not understandare you and suspect you are still misunderstanding me. Maybe the thing to do is start over. Can you give *precise* step by step instuuctions to reproduce the problem?
In reply to You still aren't answering my by Marc Sabatella
Marc - Maybe you're right? but I don't know. All of my projects are accurately saved on the USB. When I copy and paste them to my other drive, the things that were saved on the USB should be copied to the backup. So, how can it be? If I save and close any type of file, and make a copy of that file, the file should be there on the next reopen.
In reply to Marc - Maybe you're right? by Joe H
Somehow it seems you are still misunderstabnding me. Forget the USB for the moment. Forget copy and paste. Pretend you are just doing regular saves to your hard drive and never copying the files anywhere else. I'm talking about how MuseScore manages the backup it creates - the file with a name beginning with a period and ending with a comma. I am saying that backup is only updated when you close, reopen, and then save your score. If you don't do those three things, the backup file is never updated. This is normal. It has nothing to do with USB, nothing to do with copy and paste. If the actual backup file created by MuseSciore is empty because you never closed, reopened, and resaved your file - the *only* thing that updates the backup - then of course the backup is still empty, and of course any copy you make of it is also empty.
I am trying to ascertain if you understand that, and whether or not you have checked to see that the backup file *created by MuseScore* - the one in the same folder as the original file, with a period and a comma - is non-empty. If the backup file is non-empty, and you copy that same exact file to a different liocation, I guarantee that copy will also be non-empty.
The sound is out also. I have sound on youtube, not on MS. Got the control pamel up using F11 and have volume up as usual. Volume up on computer too. I have been using MS for over a year, as you may recall that I was online here for about a month doing that Schoenberg transcription. That was October of 2014. Two years ago!
https://musescore.org/en/node/35296#comment-496511
I have been using MS frequently since then and have only recently begun experiencing strange problems. I have also read most of the handbook and am fairly familiar with the basics.
In reply to The sound is out also. I have by Joe H
Volume is out on Audacity too. So it's not a problem with MS. Forget the sound problems. That must be on my computer.
Marc - I'm trying to finish my project and deal with this. I suspect that I just haven't had time to thoroughly read every post and closely examine what is going on. I do know that nothing is being saved to the computer directory because I am periodically opening that folder also. I am using Save As to save copies to backup and that is working, but it's much more labor to do that because I have to call up the Save As dialog box and fetch through all of the folders to get to where I want to be. Then I have to switch back to USB to Save As there also. That's working and that'll have to do for now. Give me a couple of days to look at this again.
In reply to Marc - I'm trying to finish by Joe H
In oder for me to have access to my scores from different computers, I just store them in a cloud strore, box.com in my case.
In reply to In oder for me to have access by Jojo-Schmitz
OK. I tried that with Google Drive. But it does not recognize mscz files.
In reply to OK. I tried that with Google by Joe H
? In what sense does it not? Or, to be more precise, in what sense does Google Drive need to recognize something in order for it to do its job? You can definitely store MSCZ file on Google Drive; I do it all the time.
In reply to ? In what sense does it not? by Marc Sabatella
Well then I am wrong. Let me try it again this morning and see if I can upload. That was the first solution I tried months ago. Best solution for traveling or most situations.
In reply to Well then I am wrong. Let me by Joe H
OK. You're right. It did upload. So how do I download it? When I click on the mscz file in google it says that it contains three files.
In reply to OK. You're right. It did by Joe H
There are zip extractor options but that means that I have to allow a third party app to access my google acct.
In reply to OK. You're right. It did by Joe H
Don't just click on it; download it, if you need to make another copy of it. Personally I never do that. I simply open it directly from MuseScore. That is, I have my Google Drive automatically synced to my local drive as is the default for Google Drive on Windows, then I use File / Open from within MuseScore and browse to that folder. But when accessing it from a shared computer that does not have Google Drive installed, then you can use the download button to save a copy locally.
In reply to OK. I tried that with Google by Joe H
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