Saving Projects to Rework in Later Versions

Wondering what some of your thoughts are on this.
 
I have been saving projects in backups for every project I've created since 2009.  I save MIDI files and audio files and everything I can think of.  I put everything in a folder with the name of the project.  In 2009 I started using Sampilitude Music Studio and Mixcraft 4.  I've created many projects in them (mostly Samplitude).  I only started using Sonar in 2014 because I wanted to work with a "real" DAW for a change.  Every format is different so I know that I cannot, for example, open a project created in Samp in Sonar, or vice versa.  Last month, because I have so many projects created in Samp, I bought their Samp 2015 version.  I was shocked when I went to open a project I created just last year (in Samp 2013) and found it could not be opened in 2015.  All of the elements (plug ins) were flashing error messages saying they cannot be opened.  I asked their tech support and was told that there is no guarantee that a project created in an earlier version will be able to be opened in a newer version, which kind of defeated my purpose for buying the new version.
 
So, I'm re thinking the project storage issue.  I know people who do this who, after they get the mix they want, will destroy all of the project data, burning their bridges so they can never add anything new later or try a different approach.   I've always approached my music with the attitude of working like the old analogue tape days when you can dig up the masters and remix the songs and/or add to them.  Maybe I should rethink this and destroy my masters too, as the Samplitude issue has more or less proved to me that such an approach is really no longer doable.
 
Your thoughts???
 
John B
 
 
 

Do dry track exports of all audio (from the beginning to the end of the project even if it means large swaths of silence on the tracks). Export the MIDI in a similar manner. Maybe do an OMF export as well (but those are supposedly hit or miss).
 
That way if all else fails you can just import the raw audio and MIDI files into whatever DAW you happen to be running at the time. Futureproof.

Samp Pro is real.  Music Studio is a cheap toy, IMHO, but SMS 2008 ran very stable on my old XP machine.
Yes, I keep MIDI data and audio files.  If worse come to worst I can always re do the mix with these.
 
JB