#011 – Properly Backing Up Songs in FL Studio

In this video of our FL Studio Beginner’s Series, we look into properly backing up our songs in FL Studio.

This is a bit of a sticky subject because even though it doesn’t fully relate to music, it can be the difference between having your music for the rest of your life, or experiencing a very painful moment if you didn’t backup 🙁

What We Cover:

• Hardware Recommended to Backup
• Software Recommended to Backup
• How to Backup a Song in FL Studio

Hardware Recommended to Backup

As mentioned in the video, a USB 3.0 hard drive is what you’re looking for (no duh.. right?)

Well, in my experience, I thought just buying any USB 3.0 external hard drive was good enough.. and yes, for the most part, it will work.

But here’s what I’ve learned over the years:

• Make sure your hard drive is at least 2x your current hard drives storage space. (If your hard drive is 1TB, get 2TB at least as you back up!)
• Make sure it’s USB powered, and that it doesn’t have to be plugged into a receptacle, too!)

Software Recommended to Backup

Before I chose my preferred back up software, I was in between a couple commercial products.

It was actually only a couple of years after I first started producing music that I was introduced to a term called Incremental Backups.

This is when you do one full backup, then do little backups only of the files that have changed.

This makes your backup time a lot faster, as you’re not always waiting for the full backup of your computer all the time!

I typically do a full backup every week, then do incremental backups in between that!

This software is pretty flexible, too! – I have to external backup drives (just in case one fails..) – And it allows me to set up two different incremental backup schedules so I have two backups at all times of my data.

I use Acronis True Image; I first started with 2013, which lasted me 5 years! I didn’t even have to upgrade, but Windows 10 kept giving me a ‘not compatible with Windows 10’, even though it still worked fine!

Since I just put together a new computer build, I thought why not upgrade my backup software, too. (It was only like $30ish to upgrade, and programs like these can have a lot of updates in 5 years time; especially with technology these days!)

How to Backup a Song in FL Studio

FL Studio makes backing up extremely easy.

As I mentioned in a previous video from this beginner’s series, it’s best practice to create a music folder for everything music production related.

With that said, I’d recommend creating a folder for the specific song you’re working in – that way you have a place to back up the sounds/files of your song 🙂

Backing up – Step 1

Open your music folder and go to File.

Hover your mouse over Export, and at the very bottom, you will select Project data files.

Selecting Folder Location – Step 2

Now all you have to do is find the folder location where you want to backup your song to. (It will save the individual sounds.)

I recommend creating a separate folder inside this song’s folder regarding the backup of these sounds. (I show you this stuff step-by-step in my $5 music folder course!)

In this case, I selected my desktop. (Make sure not to do this, as you’ll have TONS of sound files added to your desktop 🙂 – Make sure to choose your song’s sound folder which I suggested.)

Seeing the Results – Step 3

It’s always best practice to make sure your backup is actually working. (Never assume anything!)

With that said, your song’s backup folder would similarly look like this:

Alright!?

So that’s my process of backing up in FL Studio.

Again, I highly suggest you check out my $5 music production folder course.

I explain to you my music production folder set up, and why over the years I’ve configured it the way I have.

See you in the next video of our beginner’s series 🙂

For the whole series, you can join:
FL Studio Beginner’s Series.