Hi Lydiot, you understood everything correctly, and it is true that I’m not using the backup function to make an actual true mirror backup of my .final project but this is the fastest and easiest way I’ve found so far to make a bounced/consolidated version of huge and complex projects for archiving/exchange with other Daws/Studios.
To answer your question, when I open my .final original project that has obviously been overwritten without prompting (it should NOT according to the manual), it shows the bounced files in the .final project folder (the ones I used to delete automatically by not saving the .final project after performing the backup function) and all other files have dissapeared from the pool, exactly as my “real” backup project saved in my “archive” HDD but on my normal "Audio’ drive.