Backup

How to back up Ableton projects

A Live Set is more than its .als file. It points at samples, recordings, and freezes that may live outside the project folder. Backing up only the .als leaves you with a Set that opens to missing media. Here is how to back up a project so it restores intact.

Collect everything into the project first

Live can reference samples from anywhere on your drive. Before you back up, pull those references inside the project folder so the backup is self-contained.

  1. Open the Set you want to back up.
  2. Open the File menu and choose Collect All and Save.
  3. In the dialog, decide what to copy in: files outside the project, files from your User Library, and files from factory packs. For a portable backup, include files outside the project at minimum.
  4. Confirm. Live copies the referenced media into a Samples folder inside the project and rewrites the Set to point at the local copies.

Back up the whole project folder

The project folder is the unit to back up, not the .als alone. It holds the Set, the Samples folder, the Ableton Project Info folder, and any recordings or freezes.

Copy the entire folder to a second location. Do not cherry-pick files out of it, because the .als stores relative paths to the media beside it.

Keep more than one copy

One backup on the same drive as the original is not a backup. A common rule is three copies, on two kinds of storage, with one off-site.

  1. Keep the working copy on your main drive.
  2. Sync a copy to an external drive on a schedule.
  3. Sync a copy to cloud storage so a stolen or dead drive does not take the project with it.

Use versions, not just one overwrite

Live writes a timestamped copy of the Set into a Backup folder inside the project every time you save, so you can step back to an earlier state. For milestones, save a named copy as well with Save a Copy, so a good arrangement is never overwritten by a later edit.

Know what you have before you back it up

Crate scans the folder where you keep your projects and reads every .als in place, so you can see tempo, key, plugins, and last-modified date across your whole library at a glance. Files are read-only and nothing is uploaded.

That makes it easy to spot the projects worth backing up first and to confirm which ones you have already collected and saved.

Get Crate · See how it works