You Deleted Your Edit — Here's How to Get It Back

Recovering deleted editing project files — whether a Premiere Pro .prproj, a DaVinci Resolve .drp, or a Final Cut Pro .fcpbundle — is often possible without recovery software. Every major non-linear editor creates automatic backups; the fastest recovery path is always to check that auto-save folder first. Only when those backups don't exist should you turn to drive recovery tools.

Part 1. Check Auto-Save FIRST — It's Always Faster Than Recovery Software

Running file recovery software on a large editing drive can take hours. Auto-save folders, by contrast, can be reached in under a minute. All five of the major NLEs covered in this guide create backup copies on a schedule, and those copies survive even if you delete, corrupt, or accidentally overwrite the main project file.

The critical rule: stop writing to the drive immediately after you notice a project is missing. Every new file you save reduces the chance that deleted project files can be recovered from disk sectors. Check auto-save first, and only mount recovery software if the backups are outdated or missing.

⚠️ Important: On SSDs with TRIM enabled, deleted files can be permanently erased within seconds of deletion. If your project lives on an SSD and is not in an auto-save folder, start recovery software immediately — do not wait.

Part 2. Premiere Pro Auto-Save: Exact Folder Paths and Restore Steps

Adobe Premiere Pro saves automatic backup copies of every open project at a configurable interval (default: every 15 minutes, up to 20 copies).

Auto-save folder locations:

The [version] folder is the Premiere version number, e.g., 24.0 for Premiere Pro 2024.

How to restore:

1. Open File Explorer (Windows) or Finder (macOS) and navigate to the path above.
2. Sort files by Date Modified — the most recent .prproj backup is at the top.
3. Double-click to open in Premiere, then immediately File → Save As to a new location.

💡 Tip: If the auto-save folder is empty, check the project's own folder — Premiere Pro also saves auto-saves inside a subfolder named Adobe Premiere Pro Auto-Save next to the original .prproj file.

🗣️ r/premiere user: "Find the folder of your project and locate the Auto-save project files, sort by date, then open the most recent one."

Creative Cloud version history: If you have Creative Cloud Files sync enabled, open the Creative Cloud desktop app, right-click the project file, and choose View on Web → Version History. Adobe retains up to 30 days of versions.

Part 3. DaVinci Resolve Project Backup Location and Restore Workflow

DaVinci Resolve by Blackmagic Design stores projects in an internal database, which makes recovery different from Premiere Pro. There is no single .drp file to find on disk unless you have previously exported your project.

Database backup folder locations:

Project Backups folder (if enabled):

💡 Tip: In Resolve, go to Preferences → Project Save and Load and enable both Live Save and Project Backups. Set the backup interval to every 5 minutes and keep at least 20 backups. Many editors only discover this setting after their first data loss.

🗣️ r/davinciresolve user: "Enable Live Save and Project Backups in Preferences — this tip comes up repeatedly after data loss incidents. Don't wait until it happens to you."

How to restore from Project Backups:

1. Open DaVinci Resolve and go to Project Manager.
2. Right-click in the project manager and choose Restore Project Backup.
3. Navigate to the Backups folder, select the most recent .drp backup, and confirm.

How to restore from a manually exported .drp file:

1. In DaVinci Resolve, go to Project Manager → Import Project.
2. Select the .drp file and Resolve will import it as a new project.

Part 4. Final Cut Pro Library Auto-Save and Time Machine Recovery

Final Cut Pro on macOS stores everything inside a Library bundle (.fcpbundle), which is a folder disguised as a single file. Final Cut Pro does not maintain a traditional auto-save folder; instead, it saves continuously to the library bundle.

Default library location: ~/Movies/[LibraryName].fcpbundle

Recovery options:

💡 Tip: Final Cut Pro saves automatically on every action — the most common cause of "deleted" libraries is accidentally dragging the .fcpbundle to Trash. Always check Trash before anything else.

Time Machine is the most reliable recovery path for Final Cut Pro users. If Time Machine backups exist, the library can be restored to any point in its backup history.

Part 5. Avid Media Composer Auto-Save Bins

Avid Media Composer auto-saves project bins to a designated folder inside the project structure.

Auto-save bin folder locations:

The Attic folder contains numbered backup copies of every bin file (.avb). Avid keeps up to 30 copies by default.

How to restore an Attic backup:

1. Close Avid Media Composer.
2. Navigate to the Attic folder and sort by date.
3. Copy the most recent backup of the affected bin file into the main project folder.
4. Reopen Avid — the restored bin will appear in the project.

Part 6. Audacity Recovery Files (.aup3-recovery)

Audacity (version 3.x and later) uses a single .aup3 SQLite database file per project. When Audacity crashes or closes unexpectedly, it creates a recovery file.

Recovery file location:

Recovery files are named with a .aup3-recovery extension. To restore:

1. Open Audacity — it may prompt you to recover the session automatically on launch.
2. If not, go to File → Open and navigate to the SessionData folder, then open the .aup3-recovery file directly.

Part 7. Drive Recovery When Auto-Save Doesn't Exist

If auto-save backups are missing, outdated, or were on a drive that has been reformatted, drive-level file recovery may still be able to retrieve the project file. This approach scans the raw sectors of the drive for file signatures matching .prproj, .drp, .aup3, and other NLE formats.

Project file extensions to search for:

Ritridata can scan Windows and macOS drives for deleted NLE project files. After scanning, you can preview found files and selectively recover only the .prproj or .drp files you need without recovering the entire drive contents.

Recovery success factors:

💡 Tip: When using recovery software on a drive, always recover files to a different drive than the one being scanned. Writing recovery output back to the source drive can overwrite the sectors you are trying to recover.

Part 8. After Project Recovery: Relinking Media

Recovering the project file restores your edit timeline, sequences, and settings — but the project still needs to find its media files (footage, audio, graphics). If media files were on the same drive and also deleted, you will need to recover those separately and then relink them inside the NLE.

Relinking media in Premiere Pro: Right-click an offline clip in the Project panel → Link Media → navigate to the recovered footage file.

Relinking media in DaVinci Resolve: In the Media Pool, right-click offline clips → Relink Selected Clips → navigate to the recovered folder.

Relinking media in Final Cut Pro: Final Cut Pro typically relinks automatically when media files are restored to the same path. If not, go to File → Relink Files.

Recovering media files follows the same drive-recovery process described in Part 7. Ritridata can scan for common footage formats (.mp4, .mov, .mxf, .r3d, .braw) in the same scan pass as project files.

Part 9. Recover Deleted Editing Project Files with Ritridata

When NLE auto-save backups are missing or too outdated, Ritridata provides drive-level recovery for NLE project files on Windows and macOS.

Ritridata scans your drive for deleted file signatures, including .prproj, .drp, .aup3, .aep, and common footage formats. The preview feature lets you verify a project file is intact before committing to recovery — useful when multiple versions of the same project were deleted at different times.

Download Ritridata

Step 1 — Install Ritridata and select the drive where the project was stored.

[IMAGE: Ritridata — drive selection screen showing internal and external drives]

Step 2 — Run a deep scan and filter results by file type (.prproj, .drp, .aup3).

[IMAGE: Ritridata — scan results filtered for NLE project file extensions]

Step 3 — Preview and recover the project file to a different drive, then open it in your NLE.

[IMAGE: Ritridata — file preview and recovery destination selection]

FAQ

Q: Where is the Premiere Pro auto-save folder on Windows? Documents\Adobe\Premiere Pro\[version]\Adobe Premiere Pro Auto-Save — the [version] folder corresponds to your installed Premiere Pro version number. Auto-saves are stored as standard .prproj files and can be opened directly.

Q: How do I recover a DaVinci Resolve project I accidentally deleted? First check the Project Backups folder in AppData\Roaming\Blackmagic Design\DaVinci Resolve\Support\Backups on Windows or ~/Library/Application Support/Blackmagic Design/DaVinci Resolve/Backups on macOS. If backups are not enabled, use drive recovery software to scan for exported .drp files.

Q: Can I recover a Final Cut Pro library I deleted? Check Trash immediately — Final Cut Pro .fcpbundle libraries are sent to Trash when deleted from Finder. If Trash has been emptied, restore from Time Machine if available, or use drive recovery software.

Q: What is the Avid Media Composer Attic folder? The Attic is Avid's auto-save folder, located inside each project folder at [ProjectName]/Attic. It stores up to 30 numbered copies of each bin file. Close Avid, copy the desired Attic backup back into the project folder, and reopen.

Q: How do I recover an Audacity project after a crash? Audacity typically prompts you to recover unsaved session data on next launch. If not, check AppData\Local\Audacity\SessionData on Windows or ~/Library/Application Support/Audacity/SessionData on macOS for .aup3-recovery files.

Q: Can recovery software find .prproj and .drp files? Yes — both formats have recognizable file signatures that recovery tools can search for on disk. Success depends on whether the file's sectors have been overwritten since deletion. HDDs have higher recovery rates than SSDs with TRIM active.

Q: What should I do immediately after deleting a project file? Stop using the drive immediately — do not save new files, do not install software, do not empty Trash. Every write operation can overwrite the deleted file's sectors. Check auto-save folders first, then run recovery software if needed.

Q: How do I relink media after recovering a Premiere Pro project? Open the recovered .prproj file in Premiere Pro — offline clips will appear with a red "media offline" state. Right-click any offline clip in the Project panel, choose Link Media, and point Premiere to the recovered footage file. Premiere can often automatically locate other clips in the same folder.

References

• Adobe Help: Auto Save in Premiere Pro
• Blackmagic Design: DaVinci Resolve Project Backup Settings
• Audacity Manual: Recovering Crashes and Lost Projects
• Apple Support: Back up and restore Final Cut Pro libraries
• Avid Knowledge Base: Understanding the Attic Folder