diff --git a/rdmo/projects/utils.py b/rdmo/projects/utils.py
index b0edaf068..f9a4ec2c0 100644
--- a/rdmo/projects/utils.py
+++ b/rdmo/projects/utils.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 
 from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib.sites.models import Site
+from django.db import connection
 from django.template.loader import render_to_string
 from django.urls import reverse
 from django.utils.timezone import now
@@ -110,7 +111,23 @@ def copy_project(project, site, owners):
         Value.objects.bulk_create(project_snapshot_values)
 
     for value, file_name, file_content in file_values:
-        value.copy_file(file_name, file_content)
+        if connection.vendor == 'postgres':
+            # bulk_create will only set the primary key on cool databases
+            # https://docs.djangoproject.com/en/4.2/ref/models/querysets/#bulk-create
+            value.copy_file(file_name, file_content)
+        else:
+            # refetch the value from the database, we use filter and first here to be more
+            # stable against weird cases, where collection_index is not unique
+            db_value = Value.objects.filter(
+                project=value.project,
+                snapshot=value.snapshot,
+                attribute=value.attribute,
+                set_prefix=value.set_prefix,
+                set_index=value.set_index,
+                collection_index=value.collection_index
+            ).first()
+            if db_value and db_value.file_name == file_name:
+                db_value.copy_file(file_name, file_content)
 
     for owner in owners:
         membership = Membership(project=project, user=owner, role='owner')