The Sibelius Forum

Hi there!

After a crash of Sibelius, I opened the program and restored the auto-backup of the file. As set, this is saved in User/Documents/Scores/BackupScores.

I saved "File X" in my documents folder - UNFORTUNATELY UNDER A DIFFERENT FILE NAME "File Y" and confirmed the overwrite of the other file (I got distracted at that moment and mixed up the file names).

I continued working on the file and noticed the mistake later. Now "File Y" is overwritten, and I have no idea how to get it back.
In the BackupScores folder, there are 110 backups of the file, but all from the last 20 minutes - since the overwrite! No backup of "File Y" from the last few days, the last change...!

Overall, there are very few backups in the backup folder, it feels like only those of the files used and changed today.
In the settings, I have set the "Backups" to a maximum of 200. Why aren't there up to 200 backups of all files? Or at least the recently opened ones. If I worked on a file last week - where is its backup?!

Is there another location for backups?
Does anyone have any idea how I can get the file back?

No versions saved in Sibelius.
I haven't connected my TimeMachine drive in the last few days because I've been working on the go and the files are actually stored in a cloud. But of course, the file is also overwritten there...

I wouldn't make such a fuss if it weren't a score for an orchestra with over 300 measures... this has never happened to me before and I am at a loss!

Thanks & always think twice bevor you overwrite... -.-

Felix

Ok. Sorry for the bad news but you're screwed.

The only time you get a copy in the backup folder is when you save the file. If, as I assume, you are relying on sib's version of autosave to save backups, you are going to be very disappointed.

There is no substitute for pressing [ctrl/cmd]a every few minutes.

Also, 200 is nowhere near enough backup files. I have mine set (perhaps excessively) to 30,000.

Thank you very much for your quick response. I press cmd+s every few seconds... that's every Sib-user's quirk, I think . But it doesn't help with the PEBKAC overwriting the file.

You are right, 200 backups is not much. I have now set it to 9999 - that's the maximum in my Sibelius.
Nevertheless, the number is not my problem, it saved only 110...

And still, I wonder: Where are all the backup files? Where are those of the files I worked on yesterday? Bevor two days?
And even today: I spent several hours working on another score this afternoon. 258 bars, constantly saved... but in the backup folder there is one (1!) backup file of this file... I don't quite understand when and for what Sibelius saves backups.

There's a setting (I think it was there in sib 8.x) to allow you to set up where your backup folder is on your machine. It's under File-->saving and exporting(Ithink). It shows the currently set file paths for backing up, saving and exporting files. If you have made any alterations to these paths, then that is where the files are stored. I moved my backup folder to a dedicated drive many years ago.

What version of the MacOS are you using? Sib 8 is not compatible with the latest versions. All sorts of odd issues occur.

Thank you, Mike! I already checked the settings for the backup folder, it's standard and it is the folder I looked up.
I have the newest Sibelius version and the newest MacOS... I think you were right when you said I'm screwed!

I'm not sure if this advice is kosher, but I vaguely remember thatvthe macos can redirect saves to the cloud. I have a niggling feeling that doing this causes sib's backup not to create new numbered backups, but to overwrite the last one. I think this was mentioned a long while ago on the official forum. It might be worth searching the forum - the archive goes back to before I got sibelius!