# Backups & Data Recovery How the hourly snapshots, a backup folder and Time Machine protect MusicLaunch data, and how to restore it. MusicLaunch keeps your data only on this Mac: your database, plus your media folder with photos, videos, Studio recordings, Spark Plug ideas and documents. There is no MusicLaunch cloud copy, and we can't recover your data if your Mac is lost, broken or erased. So keep your own backups. Two habits cover you. ## The short version - Turn on Time Machine. It backs up your whole Mac to an external drive, automatically. - Also keep a copy away from this Mac: Settings → Data Backup → Back Up Now, to an external drive or a cloud folder. - Leave "Back up automatically once a day" on, so you don't have to remember. ## Back up to a folder In Settings → Data Backup, click Choose Folder and pick where your backups go. Pick an external drive, or a folder in iCloud Drive, Google Drive or Dropbox if you're comfortable keeping your data with that service. MusicLaunch starts the first backup right away. It copies every profile's database and every file in its media folder, Spark Plug ideas included, with no size limit. After the first time it copies only new and changed files, so later backups are quick. Inside the folder you chose, MusicLaunch makes a "MusicLaunch Backups" folder with one folder per artist profile. MusicLaunch doesn't remove files from your backup folder, even ones you delete in the app. It replaces only its own database copies and files that changed. Files you delete in MusicLaunch stay in the backup folder until you delete them there. It keeps the latest database, the one before it, and one database copy per month. After your first backup, MusicLaunch backs up once a day while it's open and the folder is available. If the drive isn't connected, it waits and tries again later. You can turn this off in Settings → Data Backup. While Spark Plug is recording, the daily backup waits until you stop, and Back Up Now asks you to stop recording first. > **Tip: Cloud folders** > > iCloud Drive, Google Drive and Dropbox upload the backup in the background, so leave your Mac online for a while after a big first backup. Make sure your cloud storage has room: MusicLaunch can't see your cloud storage plan. If older backup files show as stored only in the cloud, that's fine. > **Warning: What a backup doesn't include** > > Logic or GarageBand project folders you linked stay where they are, so back those up yourself (Time Machine covers them). Social account connections and your Gmail sign-in need connecting again after a restore on another Mac. Your license isn't part of a backup either. And your backup folder isn't protected by your MusicLaunch password, so keep it somewhere you trust. ## Time Machine Time Machine is the backup built into macOS. It copies your whole Mac, MusicLaunch included, to an external drive automatically (every hour by default) while the drive is connected. Set it up in System Settings → General → Time Machine (System Preferences on older macOS). Settings → Data Backup shows when Time Machine last backed up, if MusicLaunch can tell. If it can't, tick "I back up this Mac with Time Machine". A Time Machine drive usually sits next to your Mac, so a fire or a theft can take both. That's why a second copy somewhere else is worth having. ## Backup reminders If MusicLaunch hasn't been backed up away from this Mac for a while, a reminder appears at the top of the window. That's about once a month, or every three months if you use Time Machine. It never blocks your work. Click Back Up Now, Remind Me Later, or Don't Remind Me for a While. You can turn reminders off in Settings → Data Backup. ## Snapshots on this Mac MusicLaunch also snapshots your database every hour while it's open and keeps the last 100. The Save icon in the top-right header takes an extra snapshot whenever you like, and the last 25 are kept. These snapshots stay on this Mac, next to your data. They're for undoing a mistake, not for a lost or broken Mac, and they cover the database only, not your media files. Find them under Settings → Data Backup → Auto-Backups. They live in ~/Library/Application Support/MusicLaunch/profiles/\/backups/. ## Backup files for moving to a new Mac Export Backup (Settings → Data Backup) puts the open profile in one .mlbackup file, and Settings → Profiles → Export All Profiles puts every profile in one file. They're handy for moving to a new Mac. They leave out any single media file over 1 GB and anything beyond about 1.5 GB of media in total, and MusicLaunch tells you which files it skipped. A Spark Plug idea longer than about an hour in stereo is over 1 GB, so it is left out too. To keep every file, ideas included, use Back Up Now instead. ## Restoring 1. **Restore from a backup folder** Settings → Data Backup → Restore from Folder. Choose the profile's backup folder, or the "MusicLaunch Backups" folder above it. If it holds more than one profile, pick the one you want. 2. **Click Replace** The backup replaces everything in the profile that's open now, and MusicLaunch restarts. Your current database is snapshotted first (see Auto-Backups), and none of your current files are deleted, so you can go back. If Spark Plug is recording, MusicLaunch asks you to stop it first. 3. **More than one profile?** A restore replaces the open profile. To bring back several, create or switch to a profile, restore it, and repeat. To undo a recent mistake, use the Auto-Backups list instead: click Restore next to a snapshot, then Replace. To restore a .mlbackup file, use Import Backup. On a new Mac, Migration Assistant can also bring everything over from your Time Machine backup, MusicLaunch data included. After you restore from a backup folder on a new Mac, MusicLaunch keeps backing up into that same folder, so the files already there aren't copied again. > **Note: Scheduled posts after a restore** > > A restore brings back your data as it was when that backup was made, so a post or follow-up email that went out after the backup looks unsent again. After any restore, MusicLaunch pauses the posts and follow-up emails that were due before it instead of sending them. Check the Calendar and Contacts → Sequences → Active Runs, then post or resume what still needs to go out. > **Warning: Restoring a backup doesn't move your license** > > Your license works on one Mac at a time and isn't part of your backup. When you move, deactivate on the old Mac (Settings → License → Deactivate), then enter your key on the new Mac and import your backup there. ## Related articles - [Settings & Preferences](https://www.musiclaunchapp.com/help/settings-overview.md): License, profiles, theme, fonts, backups, Gmail, and security. - [License & Activation](https://www.musiclaunchapp.com/help/license-activation.md): How to activate your license, move it to a new Mac, and find a lost key. --- - From the MusicLaunch Help Center (Settings & Account). The same guide is built into the app under Help. - Web page: https://www.musiclaunchapp.com/help/backups/ - All guides: https://www.musiclaunchapp.com/llms.txt - Support: hello@musiclaunchapp.com