How to clean up a project's audio folder (delete unused)?

Using Sonar 7 Studio, each project has it's own audio folder, which I like. I've deleted audio on some tracks and recorded audio over the same tracks- I don't want those old audio tracks that I deleted in Sonar. However when I look in the audio folder of the project the old audio tracks are still there. How do I know which audio files in the audio folder are no longer used in my project that I can delete? thanks

ORIGINAL: Laserich

Right, and Sonar doesn't delete anything without instructions, like from the Audio Finder tool, or the Clean Audio folder tool, which you can use to do what you want.

What I do is a quick and easy way to purge unwanted files, those that aren't referenced in the project. Just save the file to a brand new audio folder, delete the original folder and CWP, then resave back to its original folder with original file name.

Of course, it only works if you've decided on a single CWP to use as your project keeper. That means any versioning files from AutoSave, or ones saved manually (MyProject1.cwp, MyProject2.cwp, etc.) have to be deemed unwanted and then deleted.

Anyway, just some food for thought.

I have a bunch of mixes I'm going to archive over the next few weeks. I think I'm going to try this method first, and see how much space I reclaim. Thansk for the suggestion!

Corey

I think that the CWAF_Tool (Cakewalk Audio Finder Tool) works great for this even if you save different versions of the project (like I do). It is also very easy to use:


1- Save any projects you are currently working on. Just have Sonar open and select the CAWF Tool from the Tools menu.

2- Click "OK" on the warning message that appears. Then configure the CWAF as needed by selecting the File Extensions (CWP for project files) and Drives that you want to search. Click "OK" when you're done.

3- Next, hit the "Find" button and wait until it shows you the Status of the .wav files on the bottom half of the window (Referenced, Orphan, or Missing).

4- Click on "Status" to group similar files together. This will make it easy to select a bunch of Orphaned files in one go by draging with the mouse while holding the Ctrl key (alternatively, select the first orphaned file, scroll down and click on the last orphaned file while holding down the SHIFT key).

5- Once all orphaned files are selected (make sure you've only selected orphaned files by looking at the bold writting found at the bottom right corner of the window), click the "Move Wave" button. "Move to" should already be set to "Recycle Bin" so just click "OK". Confirm the file delete by clicking "OK" once more.

6- Another window will appear asking you to re-search drives, so go ahead and do that to make sure there are no missing files.


Don't worry about deleting these files since they will remain inside the Recycle Bin until you permanently delete them, so you can go back and restore them if needed. In case the CWAF Tool finds any missing files after re-scanning, make a note of the project files they belong to and open them. You will see a message telling you that some files that belong to the project are missing and you'll be given different search options. Before you continue, select the option to reference files from their present location, then go to the Audio folder and search for the file it's asking you. Once you select this file all other missing files from this project should automatically be found (but sometimes you have to find a couple of them). Repeat as needed.

If no missing files were found then you're good to go. The CWAF Tool might seem hard to use but it's actually really easy and a blessing if you know how to use it. For more info, read the manual or hit F1 while having the CWAF Tool open.


HTH

Thanks jose

Hi Mike-

I recommend using Tools > Consolidate Project Audio. See the documentation for details, but I find this very helpful for cleaning things up.

-Susan

thanks Laserich, exactly what I was looking for

Cool, my pleasure.

Good idea!

And also except for when AudioSnap's in use.

Hi Scott-

Glad you've never had a problem with .cwb files, but I did just once a couple of years ago, and that was enough! If the bundle file gets corrupted you lose everything. I would never trust a .cwb as my backup. I use Project Folders, then Consolidate Project Audio to get everything I need (no unused audio clips) into one folder and then burn that folder to CD/DVD instead.

-Susan

Hi Scott-

I figure if my 3 strikes are up I'm out anyway!!!

Probably a clear vision!

OTOH, why not do one backup using PPF, just to be on the safe side? Worst case, your bundle file is corrupted and you've made multiple copies of it...

Sorry to meddle-

-Susan

Well, I hate per-project audio folders, I love managing my assets, and I use the CWAF tool.

I did a massive re-org where I opened ALL my files, used the "copy audio to folder" option and set a manual audio folder in a heirarchy that worked for me. After doing this for everything I nuked hte original repository and now I'm golden. I use CWAF once a month or so to clean up dead wood.

Backing up, I just copy all my project files and folders to an external drive. I do a softer backup more frequently of just the project files to a partition.

The are good reasons why you might want to know the correspondence between tracks, their names and the names of wav files in your audio directory.
 
I am working on a project for an iPhone app in which I have a combination of voice-over and backing music in multiple track folders. I want to take all of the voice-over wav files to a mastering engineer who will EQ, compress and level-balance all of these using far better tools, ears and monitoring environment than I have access to.
 
Therefore, I need to know how to reach into the Audio directory where there are some 800 or so files and take out only the 'VOX' ones. Once they have been processed, I will bring them back drop them into the Audio project folder and re-open the project with clean balanced VOX files.
 
It has been frustrating trying to work out how to do this but I have developed the following method.
 
1. name the track with the first VOX file in it that I want to export with a 'VOX' prefix, and a unique name that clearly identifies it
2. use the 'Copy track name(s) to clip names(s)' function in Track View>Tracks
3. select and then Bounce the track
4. go to the audio file, sort on 'last modified' and check that the a new wav with the track name has appeared.
At the end of this process I will sort by name in the Audio directory and select all files with the 'VOX' prefix, copy them and take them to the mastering engineer.
Just in case I lose the time-stamping on the clips in the processes at the master studio, I will make sure all of the clips go right back to the zero point of the project. 
 
I realise that I could use the 'Export' function to do all but this would mean that I would definitely lose the time-stamping.
 
If any one can figure out an easier way to do this, I'd love to hear it.
 
S
 
 
 
 
 
 

ya BJ has the right approach here. its not that hard really.
you can do an Export and only choose the Vox files. with the save as function you have a whole new folder you could compress and send to the producer who is doing the work.
it might even be possibly to copy/overwrite the wave files with the new ones once they come back to you.
 
make a back up of the project. just incase you need to start from point A again.