Davinci Resolve 16 Database

H

Hugh DiMauro

Well-known member
I cannot get the Davinci Resolve support team to explain why they want all databases saved to the C: operating system drive. Every NLE I've ever used always suggest saving projects to any other drive but the drive holding the operating system and video editing software. Won't saving Davinci Resolve databases clog up and slow down the operating system drive as you add more databases? Won't it cause a bottleneck on the C: drive? Wouldn't it be better to just save your databases to another fast drive besides the C: drive? Does anyone here have any input?

Regards,
Hugh
 
I understand what you are saying but in reality each project database only takes up a few MB's. Whenever I upgrade Resolve to be on the safe side I just copy the entire database folder out to an external safety archive. Maybe being overly cautious but have been bitten in the backside before with other software. With a new PC build and a fresh install of OS and Resolve I've had no problem copying my database folder back into Resolve and all worked fine. Even with a re-link media if you have new drive letters. In fact when I first started doing this I was just experimenting with one project only. After that I started to copy more projects back into the C: drive and really couldn't pick any performance hit. As a matter of practice for my mental peace I just keep copying out my database every day or so just in case or a catastrophic drive or OS failure. Touch wood that hasn't happened... yet!

As a work around I guess if you have an inordinate number of projects and you are noticing a performance hit I can't see why you couldn't back up the database to an external archive or two and then delete the projects in the C: drive Resolve database that you aren't currently working on. As I said I have not had any problem dropping projects back into the C: drive database from my safety archive. You have to bury down deep in the 'USER' then the hidden 'APPDATA' folder to find the database on Windows.

Chris Young
 
What Chris said but to add that Project media files are large but database files small, and because you could be filling up drive letters with project media or off-loading them to external drives, you wouldn't want to have your database file on a drive letter that possibly gets disconnected, moved, reassigned or shuffled where Resolve loses track of it.
 
A side note. I export my projects all the time into the directory/folder where the footage and other assets from the shoot are as Ive had some problems during version upgrade in the past. This also creates a backup of the edit/colour which is off the c drive.
 
There is a way to put it on shared storage so that other people can use it in other edit rooms, the process would be much the same to just move it to external. I can't go into detail because I'm not up on the process, but it might require an external database engine to be running. Pretty sure if you search on the BMD forums the answer is there, I only skimmed over it and don't remember all the details.
 
I may be wrong, but as I recall, if you create your own database (instead of using the default) you can store it anywhere. I don't see why any additional server software would be required if you put it on a shared drive/partition. Given it's small size, I always just thought of the Resolve database as being nothing more than a proprietary .XML or fancy project file (which is basically just a fancy EDL).
 
I'm pretty sure you will need to run an SQL based DB engine for network access, but could be wrong. Anyway, there is some info out there, I just don't have it at hand.
 
A heartfelt thanks to all who stepped up to address my inquiry. If I understand your responses, databases are miniscule and won't affect C: drive performance. Now, onward to question #2: My setup is private and no one else has access to any projects or databases. All of my projects are localized on my hard drive only. My system is as follows: C: drive has Windows 10 and Davinci Resolve 16.1. My D: drive has three (3) 10 terrabyte HDD drives in a Windows RAID 0 configuration. E: drive is a 4 terrabyte SSD. I set up my databases on the D: drive along with my captured video files. I store the gallery and auto save files on the E: drive. My question is: Should I make a separate database for each different project I work on or just one database named, say, "Hugh," filled with a bunch of different projects I work on? By the way, I always copy all databases to a flash drive in case my RAID craps out. Should that occur, would recopying the database back to the repaired drive allow me to resume editing as normal or must I perform some kind of archive? Thank you and sorry for what probably seems like simple minded questions. I am trying to unlearn Premiere Pro and learn Davinci which, by the way, I love.
 
Personally I operate off of one database and just have a deep folder tree. However, if you have one or two clients that you do excessive amounts of work for having different databases may not be an awful thing.

In the event of a loss, yes you should be able to copy it back though you may have to relink the database, not unlike when you have to relink your footage. It's not really an issue at all. Personally I have my database save to a local copy of my dropbox so that way every project and every change I make automatically gets backed up to the cloud. Then for an extra dose of paranoia I make daily backups and XMLs to the project archive as I work.
 
It depends on your workflow. One way is to create a database for each client and list the projects relating to that client in each database. Resolve makes it easy to create and keep track of databases, both local and PostgreSQL.
 
Thank you, gentlemen. I feel I have a better understanding about databases. Databases are like Premiere Pro project folders in that databases just save the project name and all of the edit decisions made in that project. Correct?
 
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