Publika Team

Archive a finished project so you can check it and restore it later

When a job is delivered, a Verified Archive puts the project and every media file it uses in one folder, with a checksum for each file. Later, cinemaOS can prove nothing has changed and restore the project from it.

Written against Build 7, the current public build.

Make the archive

1. Save the project with File ▸ Save Project (⌘S). Create Verified Archive stays greyed out until the project has been saved to a file.
2. Choose File ▸ Verified Archive ▸ Create Verified Archive….
3. Pick where it should go. A different drive from your working media is the point. cinemaOS makes a new folder there, named after the project and ending in Verified Archive.
4. Read the confirmation. It says how many media files will be copied and how much space they take. Every file is copied, checksummed and reopened before the archive folder appears, and an existing folder is never replaced.
5. Choose Create Verified Archive. It runs as a job in the queue. When it's done, the status line reads Verified archive complete and Finder shows the folder.

Check it later

1. Choose File ▸ Verified Archive ▸ Verify Archive… and pick the archive folder.
2. cinemaOS checks every file against its SHA-256 checksum and reopens the project. It changes nothing. A pass reads Archive verified, with the number of files.

Restore it

1. Choose File ▸ Verified Archive ▸ Restore Archive… and pick the archive folder.
2. Pick where the restored project should go. cinemaOS creates a new folder named after the project and ending in Restored, checks every restored file against its checksum, and leaves the archive untouched.
3. The restored project is added to your recent projects and shown in Finder.

Worth knowing

• Don't add anything to an archive folder. Verify treats any file that isn't in the archive's manifest as a failure. Finder's own .DS_Store file is the one exception.
• If the destination already holds a folder with the same name, nothing is replaced. Choose another destination.

Tried it on a real project? Reply with how big it was, what drive you used and how long it took. If a step didn't match what you saw, tell us which one.