Transferring projects to another computer

dainbramage

dainbramage

New member
I would like to transfer some of the projects I've started on the laptop to my recently aquired DAW computer. I suppose I need to transfer the peak-files, the wavs and the project files from the "Reaper Media" folder, but how do I know which files goes with which project? There are about 2800 files in that folder. A few of them have easily recognizable names, but they're mostly numbers. I guess I could just copy the whole thing but I want to start fresh now that I've finally got a dedicated room and computer.

Once I've managed this, I'll also need to transfer the MIDI drums from Addictive Drums to Steven Slate, but that's a completely different story (they're both MIDI format I reckon so I guess I'll just have to move stuff around in the MIDI editor) :o
 
There is a way to do this mate and it's easy.

1. Create a New Folder somewhere (e.g Desktop) and name it the name it something like Projects.

2. Create another New Folder inside that ^^^ folder and rename it the name of your project/song.

3. Open the Project in Reaper. Click File and then Save Project As. Navigate to the file you created in step 2. Then name the Reaper file you want to save it as (e.g. the song name in step 2) and then tick the box Move All Media Into Project Directory and then click Save.

This will save your song Project into that new file and shift all the files over for it and they will load up straight from that folder in future.

Repeat the steps above for each Project/Song. Done!

I got into a mess like that once but I found it good practice to start a session by creating a new project folder, saving my project and getting my files saved into one place right off the bat.

Hope this helps. :thumbs up:
 
Mr Clean said:
There is a way to do this mate and it's easy.

1. Create a New Folder somewhere (e.g Desktop) and name it the name it something like Projects.

2. Create another New Folder inside that ^^^ folder and rename it the name of your project/song.

3. Open the Project in Reaper. Click File and then Save Project As. Navigate to the file you created in step 2. Then name the Reaper file you want to save it as (e.g. the song name in step 2) and then tick the box Move All Media Into Project Directory and then click Save.

This will save your song Project into that new file and shift all the files over for it and they will load up straight from that folder in future.

Repeat the steps above for each Project/Song. Done!

I got into a mess like that once but I found it good practice to start a session by creating a new project folder, saving my project and getting my files saved into one place right off the bat.

Hope this helps. :thumbs up:
Click to expand...

Sounds like a winter project for me! thanks for this, I've always been too lazy to sort out my reaper files this way.
 
mjbphotos said:
Sounds like a winter project for me! thanks for this, I've always been too lazy to sort out my reaper files this way.
Click to expand...

You're welcome. It's real easy to do. (Another beauty of Reaper)

I had about 30 Projects in the Reaper Media folder before I finally got around to sorting them out and moving them to an external drive. Using the method above took about 10 minutes, if that. The first thing I do now when i open Reaper is File>Save Projects As and make a new folder for it. It's good practice.

:thumbs up:
 
Mr Clean said:
There is a way to do this mate and it's easy.

1. Create a New Folder somewhere (e.g Desktop) and name it the name it something like Projects.

2. Create another New Folder inside that ^^^ folder and rename it the name of your project/song.

3. Open the Project in Reaper. Click File and then Save Project As. Navigate to the file you created in step 2. Then name the Reaper file you want to save it as (e.g. the song name in step 2) and then tick the box Move All Media Into Project Directory and then click Save.

This will save your song Project into that new file and shift all the files over for it and they will load up straight from that folder in future.

Repeat the steps above for each Project/Song. Done!

I got into a mess like that once but I found it good practice to start a session by creating a new project folder, saving my project and getting my files saved into one place right off the bat.

Hope this helps. :thumbs up:
Click to expand...

A potential secret step that you missed:

0. Open project settings (alt+enter) and verify that the project settings are relative to the project file (e.g. "media/" rather than "/home/me/reaper/media")

So the full break down would be:


1. Create a New Folder somewhere (e.g Desktop) and name it the name it something like Projects.

2. Create another New Folder inside that ^^^ folder and rename it the name of your project/song.

3. Open the Project in Reaper.

4. Check your media path: Open project settings (alt+enter). Click the Media tab. Make sure your Path to save media files is relative (e.g. blank, "media/", etc. NOT "/home/me/media" or "C:\Users\Me\Documents\REAPER")

5. Click File and then Save Project As. Navigate to the file you created in step 2. Then name the Reaper file you want to save it as (e.g. the song name in step 2) and then tick the box Move All Media Into Project Directory. Click Save.
 
That step isn't required mate as Reaper will automatically move the existing files and extra media folders, if used. :thumbs up:
 
TBH, I don't recall what Reaper's defaults are these days, but when I first installed it (back in 2.x land), it defaulted to storing all media files in a single folder. :(
 
Still does by default. In My Documents/Reaper Media.

If you move one project at a time to another folder using the method I wrote out, Reaper will only move the media files associated with that project and ignore everything else in the folder. There's no danger of a mix up.
 
So it creates a new sub-folder separate from the default one when a user toggles the "move files" checkbox on save? That's kind of weird UX.
 
Yeah it does, I tested it just to make sure. It move the files, stems, backups, (anything else you might of saved with the project) and folders and the project associated files but leaves the a copy of the original folder intact with any other project files still in there.

It basically just copies/moves the project exactly as it is at present without disturbing anything else, if there is anything else in the folders.

:thumbs up:
 
From now on stop using that Reaper Media folder altogether! I didn't think that I had to change any settings to get it to keep the audio in a subfolder with the project file, but if you do, go do that. Then all your projects are already bundled up and ready to move or copy at any time.

Keep in mind that the plugins themselves don't go with any of these things. All the settings and everything will transfer as long as you have the same plugins installed on both machines, but you will need to make sure that all of that matches on both machines.
 
ashcat_lt said:
From now on stop using that Reaper Media folder altogether! I didn't think that I had to change any settings to get it to keep the audio in a subfolder with the project file, but if you do, go do that. Then all your projects are already bundled up and ready to move or copy at any time.

Keep in mind that the plugins themselves don't go with any of these things. All the settings and everything will transfer as long as you have the same plugins installed on both machines, but you will need to make sure that all of that matches on both machines.
Click to expand...

This 100%. I've lost too many tracks to not be completely aware and in control of where all of my raws are when I start a project.
 
Yeah, me too. Too much unsaved stuff lost in the past. Luckily for me, none of it was anything I'd consider a serious recording. Now I save everything, right from the start, auto save is on and my fingers are always hitting CTRL+S. I also back everything up to another external drive now. I won't be losing again!
 
Ok.....I got lost somewhere in this thread and I know it's me. I began reading through it just so I could know the exact file(s) I need to copy to make a backup of my Reaper projects and settings.........minus the plug-ins and the program. In other words........what file(s) do I copy for instance if I was going to move all projects from one pc to another with identical copies of Reaper and all my plug-ins on each pc? Thanks for your help.
 
Which files you need to move depends on how you've saved your various projects.

For me it is very simple.

I have a folder called "music". And if need to back up or transfer my projects, this is the only folder I need to move (or copy).

That's because when I start a new project, within the folder called "music", I create a folder for the artist, and within that folder I create a folder for the song.

If you don't explicitly start this way, Reaper will store files in a default folder (Reaper Media), but though the files will be date-stamped and labelled according to however you've named them during tracking, you won't easily be able to tell which file belongs to which project. So you will have to copy this folder across as well as any others that you may have created.

If you have started off by using the default, you can still categorise the projects relatively easily (though somewhat tediously).

save-as.jpg

Load up each, then do a "project save as", create a new folder for the artist, then tick the box for "create subdirectory" and tick the box for "move all files". This will shift all the files for that project into the new folder. If you check "copy", it will leave copies in the default folder.
 
Thanks gecko zzed. I have not changed a thing in Reaper as far as creating any new folders or the like. It's still set up to save the same way it was when I downloaded it. And now I assume that....basically......if I copy the Reaper Media folder I'm good to go right? Thanks again for your help. Much appreciated.
 
If you copy the entire reaper media folder, it will bring over all of your files from all projects (including files that aren't in use). That will get the job done, but it's not the most effective way.
 
Mr Clean said:
There is a way to do this mate and it's easy.

1. Create a New Folder somewhere (e.g Desktop) and name it the name it something like Projects.

2. Create another New Folder inside that ^^^ folder and rename it the name of your project/song.

3. Open the Project in Reaper. Click File and then Save Project As. Navigate to the file you created in step 2. Then name the Reaper file you want to save it as (e.g. the song name in step 2) and then tick the box Move All Media Into Project Directory and then click Save.

This will save your song Project into that new file and shift all the files over for it and they will load up straight from that folder in future.

Repeat the steps above for each Project/Song. Done!

I got into a mess like that once but I found it good practice to start a session by creating a new project folder, saving my project and getting my files saved into one place right off the bat.

Hope this helps. :thumbs up:
Click to expand...

Good Job man! Very helpful.
 
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