Archiving?

Not sure how to do it. Would I be able to archive an entire project?

Sounds like you mean archive in the sense of a backup. To do so you will need to save all audio and midi files. It's simple with a bundle file save.

from the help file:
Bundle Files - "*.cwb "
Contains all project data, including all audio data. Bundle files are large.
Bundle files are useful for backing up projects or for transporting a project to another computer (to bring it to a friend's house, for example).


Note: Due to Windows limitations, bundle files (.cwb) are limited to a size of 2 GB.

To Create a Bundle File
Choose File-Save As to display the Save As dialog box.
Choose Bundle from the Save as Type list.
Enter a file name and click OK.
Music Creator compacts all the audio and merges it with the remaining project data in a bundle file.

To Unpack a Bundle File
Choose File-Open to display the Open dialog box.
Choose a file with a .cwb extension.
Click Open
If you have the Per-project Audio Folders option enabled in the Global Options dialog, the Unpack Bundle dialog appears. If this option is not enabled, the bundle file opens and all audio data is stored in the Global Audio Folder.
If you want to store the project in its own folder do the following in the Unpack Bundle dialog:
Enter a project filename in the Project Name field.
Use the browse button to the right of the Location field to select a destination folder for the project, or to create a new folder, enter a new folder pathname in the Location field.
Use the browse button to the right of the Audio Path field to select a destination folder for the project's audio data, or to create a new folder, enter a new folder pathname in the Audio Path field.
OR
If you want to store the project in the Cakewalk Projects folder, and its audio in the Global Audio Folder, uncheck the Store Project Audio in its Own Folder option.
Click OK.

ORIGINAL: Rickenbacker

I was told archiving keeps it w/o using space(?)

No, no, no, no......

Archiving (in the Cakewalk sense) does not save any space on your HD. In fact, if used for reasons I explained in your other post, archiving tracks will increase the space a project uses because you will be creating addtional tracks (more audio) and archiving the original track - essentially almost duplicating audio files.

If you saved and burned your project as a .bun file, there should be no problem deleting the project from your HD. Before you delete it though, you might want to give Miller's method a shot.

Rob4all. Learn from my mistake: memory sticks are far from secure, they are much more at risk than a HDD, for example, knocks, dramatic temperature and moisture changes, magnetic and static. Also you will get a much faster and stable session if you have the project resident on your hard drive, special if you have auto save on (I do, set to every 10 changes and 1 minute and it proves a life saver time and time again).

You are always going to have big project files, my last finished project bundle was 1.2Gb, far too big for CD-R. My advice is to get a stable mid speed, mid capacity HDD (about $40 or £30, I think) and add it to your computer and store your finished projects on that. XP will configure everything for you (well mine did anyway) and all you have to do is plug 2 cables in and adjust the jumpers (again thats what I did).

The only way to truly keep everything safe is to have three identical copies in three different places and then use comparing software to remove errors that occur over time on all digital and analogy (even more on analogy) mediums.

When I have finished a project I place it on my storage hard drive as a bundle. I do not compress it because that can easily lead to error and unrecoverable data. I should back them up but have not found a cost effective method to do this yet.

If they are not bundles (e.g. just a normal saved file) then all you have to do it "click and drag" to the desired location on your hard drive. You can do this because the source data (the .wav files that are used in the project) are stored on your HD as seperate files and are not resident in the saved file.

thanks guys. Nevertheless I don't want to rely on one source to retrieve files. Not to change the subject completely (but I probably am) I have sonar 3 and 5 sharing my orignal mc projects and I don't know if I can delete mc and sonar 3 without loosing data. can I do this?