A Horror Story for You-don't let it happen to you

Was always wondering why the clean audio folder took so long to find all the files. Anyway, I experimented and changed the main folder where it searches (audio path) to my D drive on my computer instead of C:Cakewalk, never thinking that it would search outside of the song folders. Now I have lost years of mixes because it deleted every .wav file in the folder. (yes, 100's and 100's of files). It does not send them to the recycle bin, or maybe because there were so many files it deleted them. 
 
I don't even know what this means yet. Yes, probably most  are backed up on another drive or have been published and I can rip off the CD's into Soundforge. Hmm... Now will go through everything and see what is not backed up--like my Simon Philips multi wav library which I know I didn't back up-duh! (but never used it at least.) (good news-it's a forever download-can retrieve them now. I hate to pay for things and not be able to have them-even if I don't use them. Ha.)
 
I would have never imagined this could happen.

Yes, a feature that should be removed probably.

If you haven't done too many changes since the files were deleted.  Try Recuva (the free version) to see if they might still be able to be recovered.  I've used it successfully to recover other deleted files.
 
Here's a link https://www.piriform.com/recuva
 
Hope this helps,
Paul

Wow, thanks everybody.
 
Here's what he did.
I have used this tool (Clean Audio Folder) so many times in the last however many years with great success. I did hit delete all without really looking.  I used to check years ago, but after the first 30 times (which was about 500 times ago) I stopped looking because all was always well. I must have never really understood how all recurse and folder thing worked. It seems to scan all my folders. Thank God it didn't scan my backup folder and delete those (external.) I am now in the throes of a 70 song project for a long standing client and the sheer amount of work can cause a soul to try shortcuts to save time. Ha! I lost so much time. Only 6 mixes out the 70 songs has to be re-rendered sop that wasn't so bad. But I am not sure if I lost anything that is hard to recover. I will definitely run the recovery tool.
 
WHAT I DID that time that was different is for the first time I changed the drive letter to a different place, and toggled the recurse. The combination must have given the program permission to delete every .wav file that was in that folder that was not part of a Sonar project. Fun!
 
I am very thankful for all your comments. Of course, system restore won't work as someone suggested as it doesn't touch your files.
 
Will be putting a some mixes up for the first time in probably 10 years in the song forum-not that I stopped music, but just stopped doing that. Looking forward to hear some of your mixes.
 
Best, Michael
 

there is software that can recover deleted files from a hard drive... as long as you haven't over written the drive... you may get lucky. you can try some hard drive recovery software for free, it will show you the deleted files before you buy... goodluck :)
 

I like the idea of getting a dedicated back-up soft. Please recommend.

Piriform seems to be working-thank you.

QUESTION: what is the default setting for the Clean audio folder? Somehow changing the drive letter and the recurse toggle gave it permission to delete all the wav data in the drive I switched it to. I switched the normal c:cakewalk drive to D: Production where my audio is saved, streamed, etc.

Why after 1000 times did it decide it had the power to do that? Because those .wav are not being used in.a Sonar Project folder somehow I gave Sonar Platinum the power to delete every .wav file on my D : drive. It also deleted a backup of my Play Libraries I kept on my C drive it seems.

I guess I can look on my laptop DAW and see what the default folder and to check or uncheck the recurse.

Really I can not think that you never back up your project files, saved using per project audio folders.  on an external drive at least once a month.

why would one even need this tool?
 
when I delete a clip from a project, i notice it deletes the file wav file associated with it in the project audio folder.  why are there people with so many orphaned wav files?

michael japan
Gentlemen, please read the thread again (Fred and Iapasoa.) I do use per project folders and I didn't lose any of my project files or .wav data from any Sonar Projects. I lost my mixes. I do have back-ups of everything. That is why its so weird.

So, you had exported mixes to the project folder of the songs, and now the wav file mixes are gone?
Is that correct? Curious.

Everybody does this at least once.
It should be brought into the 21st century or removed.
 
It was designed when hard drives were much smaller and networks didn't exit at home.
It is so old, it doesn't even know what the recycling bin is and merrily scans that, too!
 
When it happened to me, a kind soul recommended CWAF and gave me step-by-step instructions.
A bug in CWAF then proceeded to ignore the path and deleted files elsewhere.
The kind soul was mortified to confirm CWAF also was buggy.
 
I never touched these two tools again.
 
Sound-Rehab has the best workaround.
Sonar often needs a workaround (sigh)

jpetersen
 
When it happened to me, a kind soul recommended CWAF and gave me step-by-step instructions.
A bug in CWAF then proceeded to ignore the path and deleted files elsewhere.
The kind soul was mortified to confirm CWAF also was buggy.
 
I never touched these two tools again.

 
The CWAF doesn't delete anything on its own. You need to delete it. and the path is listed right there so not sure what you mean by that.
 
CWAF lists the project and its associated files. I have never once had a problem with either tool to be honest.
Do they needed to be updated ? sure they do. they are slow as all H. but buggy ? come on.
Even the op admitted he didn't look at the list of files he was deleting (basically admitted it was his fault).
 
CWAF tool does what it should. Which is "Show you the files that are orphaned". its your choice to delete them.
 
 

timidi
What I'm curious about is how the CWAF utility works.
Does it scan and document any and all wavs?
Or, is there something embedded in Cakewalk wavs that it can recognize that they are or are not tied to a cwp or wrk file and deal with accordingly?

Yes sir to both Tim.
It Scan the projects and the associated files that belong to that project. The CWAF doesn't delete anything. it only lists the files (With their path) its up to the user to choose which file to delete.
 
The clean audio folder is a bit different. that scans per project files that belong to that loaded project.
It then opens a sub menu with a list of files that are no longer needed in the project.
Then you can delete 1 by 1 or delete all at once.
 
What the OP did was hit "delete all" without checking the list. I've done it before so I don't blame him. we get complacent sometimes and take for granite the tool found what it should. in his case he changed the drive letter. which listed every back up file on his back up HD.
 
Hope that helps man

By checking the box "Recurse" you told the Clean Audio Folder tool that any wav file it found on your D: drive belonged to a SONAR project. So it listed all those mixes and sample files as orphaned, which is logical.
 
Does anybody know what happens if you uncheck the box? Would it return an empty list ...?