How to Restore PROJECT.DB backup file in DaVinci Resolve | Quick Tip Tuesday!

You probably know the common way to restore a backup in DaVinci Resolve, but do you know how to Restore a PROJECT.DB Backup file in DaVinci Resolve? It's not straight forward, but it can come in very handy when the typical method doesn't work. Let's jump into this quick tip Tuesday!

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0:00 Typical Method to Restore Project Backups
0:52 How to Find Backup Files (.db files)
1:35 Open Backup Files Location in Finder/Explorer
1:58 What am I looking at?!
2:17 What Project is this Backup For?
3:36 Find the Database Location
4:05 Mac Database Default Path
4:19 PC Default Database Path
4:39 Create New Folder in Database
5:23 MUST Rename .db File LIKE THIS!
5:34 Load the New Backup in DaVinci Resolve
6:16 If it’s Not Working…..

[HikingWithCooper]

Buddy, you just saved months of editing. A project I've been working on for about 16 months went bad I think bc of Fusion overload. I have some backups but restoring this auto backup only lost me part of a day. The process was definitely not intuitive so thank you for explaining it with your normal clarity. You're my go-to when I run into issues like this so thank you for doing what you do.

[IronsideGeorge]

YOU SIR, ARE AN ABSOLUTE FREAKIN LIFE SAVER. I COULD HAVE CRIED AFTER I LOST ALL MY PROJECTS. THANKYOU THANK YOU THANKYOU!!! ❤️❤️❤️

[jeanmarclariviere]

Your videos have saved me upteenth hours but no more so than this one. For those who thought they had lost projects, I dare say it may be the most important Resolve video of all times!

[theWilburM]

You saved my life, thank you. I realized when following your instructions that I had an old user.db and that made everything recovered. Sometimes it just helps to have someone go through the step by step to see things you didn't see on the wrong path. Cheers.

[nDnD]

You are a life saver, Jason! This was exactly what I needed. My old hard drive died, and I had to start fresh on a new one. So all the project info got "lost". This trick allowed me to restore ALL my projects by just copying ALL the backup folders (which, luckily, were on an external drive!) to the project folder and viola! Everything restored with just a few clicks. I'm so grateful!

[ChaseArrington]

You are an incredible human. You literally saved me. We moved in the middle of a large project and somehow these files just went away. I was literally putting things back together piece by piece off of our draft. Followed every step here and BAM it worked like a charm. Wow, I'm so ecstatic. I owe you one man. Thank you!!!

[thmallik]

This morning I was very pist off with your long boring detailed narration, as I was wondering how I am going to retrieve my old project. Right now I am so happy and want to give a big hug for your life-saving tip to retrieve the project

[The_soundaddict]

I was about to call it quits and start my project all over again with a huge POUT. Thank you so much! You mentioned it was going to be difficult to do this but I think you made it very easy. You're a life saver!!

[olusolaadeaga]

you really saved me hours of work. I formatted the drive where the project was, so the only solution is to use your technique and it worked perfectly. I got the rushes back and connected everything. Thanks again

[parichehrazahib]

Thank you. This saved me. My project got lost from the project list after i tried to access my NAS from remote location. Months of work just before the client deadline. I managed to restore it using this method.

[JvdeNeve]

Thank you for this!
Saved me about a weeks worth of reconstructing ongoing projects after an unexpected forced hard drive wipe!
Never had to transfer/backup databases before since I'm a relatively new DR user and I wasn't sure I had the project.db on an external hard drive.

Very clear steps & easy to follow. I have everything back <3

THANK YOU !

[augustogomes_photo]

You really saved my day with this tip, Jason! Thank you A LOT! I'm learning so much about DaVinci Resolve with you, and for many times you were the only one who could answer to my questions. Keep up this great work! And again, THANK YOU!

[dskaterkid]

There's already so many comments saying the same thing but you just saved me from a mental breakdown and possible flesh/electic shock wounds from putting my fist through my monitor. Bless your sould you sweet inteligent man

[RandamHajile]

I've been watching your content for over a year now and you literally just saved me about 100 hours of work. I'm so grateful for you, Jason! Keep up the good work. 😁

[samihansawant]

You have earned my Sub, and my Respect.
Thank you for saving days worth of work.
Had lost all my .drp files.
Luckily had .db files backed up but didn't know how to use those.
Thank you for this clear and awesome tutorial!

[warrenpickering]

It was an even bigger issue for me in that I'd lost 18 months of videos, but this process has worked for the first of 30 videos, slow, but nowhere near as slow as rebuilding each edited video from scratch, so a huge thanks from me!

[tiraimarksel]

This is such a BIG HELP! My davinci crashed right after I clicked render, and I hadn't saved the project. Thank you soooo much, Jason! ☕

[Puppa]

I thought all my work of yesterday is where the sun never shines in - but your tutorial kept me from a complete breakdown. Thanks a lot!

[Chesslyfe]

YOU JUST SAVED MY OMG!!! I tried to restore this from the back up list in the project manager and kept getting a "critical error" 7 hours worth of work GONE!!! Until I saw this video!!! If I were to have more kids, I'd definitely give you one...since that won't be happening, all I can do is say thanks and purchase some of your merch!

[wazupshaggy]

Mate you're a bloody lifesaver. Had a project I'd been working on and saving, had done a heap of edits and exported, but for whatever reason none of the work saved in DVR itself. I have the backups, but couldn't work out how to restore them. Your instructions to locate them, create a new Project folder, copy the back DB into the folder, rename the file to remove the date worked an absolute treat. I have all my edits once again and seriously relieved to not have to re-edit everything! Thank you so much!