My Procreate file got corrupted last night and I lost 8 hours of work on a commissioned portrait

Was about to export the final version of a portrait I've been working on for this client from Portland. The file just... stopped opening. Would crash Procreate every time I tried. Tried restoring from the auto-save backup but that was corrupted too. Had to go back to the last manual save from the day before which was basically just the sketch and rough colors. Reached out to the client to explain the situation and pushed the deadline back by 3 days. Has anyone found a reliable way to backup Procreate files mid project without having to remember to export every 30 minutes?

2 comments

2 Comments

webb.val24d ago

Drop the procreate files into a Dropbox folder on your ipad... it backs up automatically when you close out. I've been doing that since I lost a week long project to a corrupt file last year. You can also set procreate to auto backup to the cloud every hour or so in the settings menu, not just the app crash saves. I do both just to be safe because man, that sick feeling of opening a file and getting the spinning wheel of death is the worst.

wyatt_ross2724d ago

I dunno, I've had pretty bad luck with auto-backups. The Dropbox folder method sounds good in theory but Procreate files can get huge and it hogs bandwidth if you're working on multiple pieces. I just manually export to my desktop every session now, takes 10 seconds and I know it's actually there. Better safe than sorry I guess but cloud stuff has let me down more than it's helped.