On Apr 5, 2005, chris_ahrens commented:

I had to add .pts to the session files to get them
to open, and after looking at the audio files it looks like they are
all labeled as .BAK files. Is anyone familiar with these files and do
you have any suggestions as to what to do? I really don't want to have
to rename all of the files as .aif so that they open.
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Is this a Windows session or Mac?

Are you trying to open these files on a Mac or a PC?

When you open the session (assuming ProTools 6.4 or higher), do you get an
error message that says it can't find the audio files? If so, what happens
when you click the button and have it search for the files and re-link to
them?

Assuming you're trying to do this on a Mac, there's a chance the files were
created or changed on a Windows machine, and that might have damaged (or
eliminated) the resource fork, which can confuse a Mac program. Or, if
you're doing this on a Windows machine, it's possible the audio file headers
have gotten changed or damaged in some way, so ProTools may not know what
kind of files they are (or what format in which they're recorded).

In the 8 or 9 years I've been using ProTools TDM, I've never seen it save an
audio file and give it a BAK extension. Are you positive these are audio
files? Can you at least tell by file size that these are audio files, as
opposed to something else?

Lastly, when all else fails, my advice would be to pick the phone up and call
the guy who made the files, and tell them what you want is a complete Session
Backup. Make sure they check off "Enforce Mac/PC compatibility," and that
copies of all audio files are saved. Unless it's a massive session, all the
files should fit one (or more) DVD-R's, which will allow you to restore the
session with that. I've never had this process fail, except possibly in
cases where the client's session used plug-ins I don't have (or vice-versa),
or you have a very early version of the program. Of course, you'll run into
trouble if you try to open, a version 6.x session with ProTools 5.x.

And be sure to check in with the Digi user group, which is he

http://duc.digidesign.com/

Lotsa great, knowledgeable experienced ProTools people there. I've never
found a problem they couldn't answer there, usually in just a few hours.

--MFW