2.2GB BAK file??

flicktease wrote on 5/23/2003, 9:01 PM
I understand that BAK files are created automatically when Windows shuts down incorrectly. If one has to use them what do you do? Is it just a case of clicking on them & having your project open?

I had assumed that they were really just another VEG file but with another extension but this apparently isn't the case since I have one BAK file that is 2.2GB. Clicking on the file in Explorer does nothing.

Comments

kameronj wrote on 5/23/2003, 9:52 PM
If you are going to use any backup file that window creates, you would have to change the exention from "BAK" to whatever the extension is of the program the file was originally.

For example, if it were a backup file of a vegas file "VEG"....rename the backup file changing the "BAK" extention to "VEG". In explorer you can just right click the file - choose "Rename" and simply rename the file.

Hope that helps.
mikkie wrote on 5/24/2003, 9:44 AM
The file extension .bak is in no way limited to vegas use - could have been created by anything. If you right click on a file, then select properties, you might get some info under the version tab -> windows includes sniffer programs built in that determine a file's type, and if it recognizes yours...

Otherwise, might want to search your hard drive (s) for anything aproximately the same size, or try renameing the file to avi etc. and see what happens.
kameronj wrote on 5/24/2003, 9:53 AM
MIkke brings up a great poing. Backup files are very general in the PC world - and a bunch of different applications could have made that file.

I highly doubt that the file in that size is a veg file. My guess would be AVI (first), then maybe a WAV. I would be surprised if it is not a multimedia file (being a large as it is).

Hope that helps
BillyBoy wrote on 5/24/2003, 11:53 AM
Pay CLOSE attention...

Vegas automatically creates "backups" in the background. If you suffer a system crash or hang the next time Vegas starts up it will ask if you want to use the backup file it created. If you say yes then that's what gets loaded. This is a temp file. If Vegas shuts down normally, the temp file gets deleted since you have a normally saved project file. In other words you normally don't get an option to load this file. Its really a safety net to prevent you losing your whole project.

On top of doing that Vegas can be set to make a 'backup' file which is just a duplicate. This file is a carbon copy of the VEG file, it just a different file extension and a different looking icon. This is always created IF in preferences you elect the backup option and you can access this file anytime.

When you do a "save" you are constantly overwriting the previous file with the same name. So your project called 'mygreatvideo.veg" saved today under that name replaces the file called 'mygreatvideo.veg' you saved yesterday.

For complex projects you may wish to do generation saves. So you can restore your project to yesterday's state. This is what I always do, mainly to protect me from myself and me making a bone headed mistake. Undo only works for the current session. It can't undo what you yourself done by overwriting yesterday's file with today's verson.

So I suggest you try this on longer projects you know you're not going to finish in one session.

Use "save as" and name mygreatvideo-1 (first session) followed by mygreatvideo-2 for your second session, followed by mygreatvideo-3 for your third session and so on. This way regardless what happens you never lose more that one session's worth of changes. Since the VEG files are so small compared to the videos you're making usually only a few K in size, a good extra safety net.

Also remember Muphy's Law... If it can happen it will, usually at the worst time. So get in the habit of saving as... at predefined times, like every ten or twenty minutes. It only takes a few seconds to save your project. If you ever need to use the emergency backup, (the one Vegas asks if you want to use when it recovers from a system crash) do check the time stamp in Windows Explorer. If you follow what I just said, one of your generation saves may have a later time stamp depending if it was Vegas, Windows or some other application that crashed and thus a more current version of your project.

Finally if you suffer any kind of crash where Vegas does not shut down properly (rare) but you know Windows can screw up anytime like when you may have Vegas open but inactive to be safe always rename the project you're working on, since even if it appear to load correctly the file may have been corrupted, which could lead to surprises, so make a fresh copy under a different name.

Remember... the backup files made by Vegas are ALWAYS very samll since it is only saving the VEG files, not any video files.



flicktease wrote on 5/24/2003, 10:36 PM
The 2. GB file I have has the yellow Vegas icon. Windows shows file type as BAK. The extension on the file is .MPG. Normally a MPG file would open & play in Windows Media Player if you just clicked it. Instead if I click the icon a box opens up & says that 'this action is only valid for products that are currently installed.' I can't imagine what product it might think isn't installed because I can click on other MPG files & they will play.

The way this file is named is also strange since the file type doesn't ususally appear at the end of the file name in Explorer & this one does at a time when all other MPG files are listed instead under the file typle colum.
Chienworks wrote on 5/25/2003, 8:13 AM
The file name actually ends with .mpg.bak . Explorer sees the .bak and calls it a .bak file, removes the .bak extension, and then shows you what's left of the file name including the .mpg part. Try renaming this file to remove the .bak from the end. Then it should show up as a .mpg file and open in Media Player.

Just a side note, i have never understood Microsoft's default explorer mode of hiding file extensions. I've seen it cause enormous confusion for power users and newbs alike. I always suggest that everyone turn off the "Hide extensions" option in explorer. It's a little thing, but the world is a happier place when extensions are visible. :)
kameronj wrote on 5/25/2003, 9:05 AM
Actually....there is a valid reason why the default state is to have the extensions turned off. It's for newbies (actually).

Being that Windows is a GUI - people like to be able to right click and rename - drag and drop - the works...ya know. Anyway...a lot of times people like to rename stuff and totally forget that you have to take into consideration the associated extension name - so they leave that off and then the file won't open.

When the extension is hidden - you can change the name all you want and never change the extension. So it is for someone who knows what they are doing to turn on the extensions and change them.

All that said...yes....the file you are looking at is named with a (.mpg) - but the extension of ".bak" is hidden - it is feasible to name a file with dots in them (.mpg.bak)....some people don't know this so they like to put version numbers or the like in the title (like - Version 1.1.mpg). But if they forget and don't put the last ".mpg" - then windows sees the file type as a ".1" file.

That can get a little confussing for folks.

So...with that said, that's all I have ta say about that.

:-)
Chienworks wrote on 5/25/2003, 9:50 AM
Hmmm. Maybe this renaming behavior has changed in newer versions of Windows. Under 98SE if you renamed a file with extensions turned off and didn't type in an extension, you ended up with no extension on the name. So, you still had to type the extension anyway.
mikkie wrote on 5/25/2003, 11:09 AM
"The 2. GB file I have has the yellow Vegas icon. Windows shows file type as BAK. The extension on the file is .MPG. "

Whatever windows has associated with the file type listed (ie: mpg.bak) - not a huge concern, but probably pointing out it is a media file that Vegas will usually handle.

"Normally a MPG file would open & play in Windows Media Player if you just clicked it. Instead if I click the icon a box opens up & says that 'this action is only valid for products that are currently installed.' I can't imagine what product it might think isn't installed because I can click on other MPG files & they will play."

This mpg could be broken (if it was the result of a crash, then the header info probably didn't get written or finished) - though it is worth trying to rename it, remove the .bak. If it is broken, and IF you need it, might try using one of the mpg repair utilities out there on a COPY. If you're not missing anything important, if say you crashed halfway through rendering an mpg2, then I'd just delete it and move on.

"Under 98SE if you renamed a file with extensions turned off and didn't type in an extension, you ended up with no extension on the name. So, you still had to type the extension anyway. "

trivia, Far as I know, and could be wrong as always... Windows normally requires an extension for every file at it's core level. It may hide it, or it may use a routine to get around this default, but with good ol' DOS underlying windows (pre XP I think), this is still the rule. When I say routine, you can save a file with no extension but if you play with that file in DOS, you'll find it actually does append an extension to it -> been *quite* a while, but I think spaces and zeros where used, or at least something similar, and windows translates this in a way that doesn't show a file extension in windows explorer.


kameronj wrote on 5/25/2003, 6:47 PM
"trivia, Far as I know, and could be wrong as always... Windows normally requires an extension for every file at it's core level. It may hide it, or it may use a routine to get around this default, but with good ol' DOS underlying windows (pre XP I think), this is still the rule. When I say routine, you can save a file with no extension but if you play with that file in DOS, you'll find it actually does append an extension to it -> been *quite* a while, but I think spaces and zeros where used, or at least something similar, and windows translates this in a way that doesn't show a file extension in windows explorer."

Let me help bring ya up ta speed. Not entirely true. You can quite possibly have a file with no extension to it (even reading in DOS). It just won't associate itself with any program. While it is true that in Windows you can hide the extension of known files - windows is still based on the eight dot three rule (or 256 characters post Win98).

Naming files with Win98SE worked the same with pre SE and post - but what could have happened was the file of type that was being named/renamed was not recognized by windows - thus needing an extension. The actual command to hide (or switch) is "Hide File Extension for Known File Types". There are a gabillion unknown file types to Windows (they typically get added/updated with applications that get installed) - so these may not have been hidden in its entirety.

The *.MPG.BAK file is most likely just a backup of a different file. Although you see the ".MPG" it is not an MPG file (directly). It is a backup file (BAK). And when you go to 2xclick it to open it - unless your OS associated BAK files to open with a particular application - it will pop up the window asking "What Program Do You Want Me To Open this With".

The most important thing to do in a situation like this is to NEVER click the "Always use this program" box. You may mess around and associate a program with an application that you don't want to and other applications may not work properly.

You can just rename it by taking off the ".BAK" and see if it opens as an MPEG. If it does not, you could go the route of checking to see if it is 'broke' (as suggested)...but I would, at that point, 2xcheck to see if I have all my other files and if everything seems to be working - and if so...just delete it.

Or, if you have the space - move the file to some new locatiion and have it sit there for a bit. If you don't seem to need it after about a week or continued PC use - then I would just delete it.