project file bloat

[Jim]

I noticed that some of my older DP projects are getting larger and larger over time.

I expect them to get a little larger as I add automation and effects, but some of these sizes seem out of scale.

One project started as a 5 MB file, and over time grew to 24 MB.

I just started a New Project, Loaded the 24 MB Sequence into it, Saved, and looked at the new Project size - 7.2 MB.

I was having issues with the 24 MB file, and the Load routine fixed them. Yay.

Apparently, junk data is accumulating in projects that go on over time. This particular project was started in 2017.

[cuttime]

I'd start by looking at your undo history, and flush them if you feel comfortable doing so.

[HCMarkus]

And Auto Save

One reason I use BackBlaze for backups... no worry about project size. And drive space is so cheap nowadays.

[bayswater]

Is this about the project file or the project folder? I have a project I've been going back to for years started in DP4. The file is at 674K but the folder is 390M, of which 360 is audio files, and 15 is analysis files and the rest is autosaves and undos. I've never seen a project file itself get very large.

[Jim]

IINM, Undo Entries don't get imported with the Load function.

cuttime, I opened the old Project (before I did the Load routine), flushed all the Undo Entries, and Saved As. That indeed brought the Project file back down to 7 MB. I think you've solved my mystery. Thank you!

HCMarkus / Mark, yes the Auto-Saved projects should be as large as the Projects. That's something I would expect.

And, yes file sizes are trivialities in light of massive RAIDs and other storage. I have RAIDs for backup to my main RAIDs, and I also have an LTO system. Currently, I'm working off an 8 TB (2) NVRAM RAID 0 with a TB3 interface (2000+ MB/s) I put together, and backing up to my 128 TB NAS. One of the huge benefits is that the NVRAM RAID is completely silent. Not so with the 8-spinning SAS drive RAID.

I was more concerned about the reason why my Project file was getting exponentially larger, and thought it may have been filled with junk. But, the History record sure seems to explain it.

bayswater, the Project file. We can delete the Analysis Files folder. They will regenerate.

THANKS TO EVERYBODY FOR YOUR HELP!