{"id":101482,"date":"2022-05-16T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-05-16T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/?p=101482"},"modified":"2022-05-17T14:00:35","modified_gmt":"2022-05-17T19:00:35","slug":"understand-project-files-davinci-resolve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.premiumbeat.com\/blog\/understand-project-files-davinci-resolve\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Guide to Working with Project Files in DaVinci Resolve"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Interested in Resolve’s capability as an NLE? These guidelines will help you navigate working with project files in this renowned app.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

When you initially open Resolve, you’ll see the Project Manager window. Here, you can load an existing project or create a new project from scratch. However, you may notice that you don\u2019t get to choose where the project file will be stored. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even when saving your project through the “Save Copy As” function, you still don\u2019t get to choose the location\u2014only the name. This is because Resolve operates within an industry-standard database system. Any item that isn’t a media file will be stored in the database. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Admittedly, if you haven’t worked with a system like this, it can seem daunting at first. A quick Google search for “DaVinci Resolve save location” will bring up hundreds of frantic search queries from worried users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In hindsight, I can say it makes a lot of sense. All projects are stored in the same place on your system drive, but if you need to back up, transfer, or import a project, you do so within Resolve and not in explorer or finder, as you would with Premiere. Renaming or moving projects outside of Resolve can result in a project becoming corrupted. It’s a big no-no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s look at what you can expect to see when you open up Resolve, then we’ll show how you to execute these tasks. Let’s get to it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Transferring and Restoring<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Right-click<\/strong> on a project and select Export Project Archive<\/strong> in your Project Manager<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Screenshot<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This will copy all<\/em> of the media in your project to the destination folder. Rest assured, the original media will remain untouched in its original location. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It’s important to note that if you’re using hundreds of gigabytes of media, the process is going to take a while, but you’re also going to have to make sure the new drive has enough available space. Because when you create these “.dra (DaVinci Resolve Archive) files,” you’re essentially bringing everything that makes up that project—so that’s “Media Files, Render Cache, and\/or Proxy Media,” hence the significant storage requirement. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you want some more info on the difference between the main types of hard drives, check out our breakdown and guide to picking which one is best for you:<\/p>\n\n\n\n