Andrew - is your system just as slow to open consecutive projects  as it is the first one? In other words, open sonar, then open a project. Let that play for a minute. If you then close that project (not sonar), then open another similar sized project, is it just as slow to open as the first?

tenfoot
Andrew - is your system just as slow to open consecutive projects  as it is the first one? In other words, open sonar, then open a project. Let that play for a minute. If you then close that project (not sonar), then open another similar sized project, is it just as slow to open as the first?

Now you say it I think that might be the case sometimes although I had opened and closed a few projects by the time I did my test.

Just reading your last test post,  25 seconds to open  a project with 30 tracks with 41 plugins seems pretty normal in my experience.

21 seconds with 31 tracks and no plugins seems a bit long. Are you sure you had no plugins? You can save a version of the project with no plugins by loading in safe mode and skipping all plugins and then resaving the project under a new name. Does it still take long to load? 
You can also check if there is any audiosnap data in the project since that can take time. Try clearing all audio snap data and resaving, then test the load time again...

In my experience it's all about plugins. In bigger projects where I have 10, 20, 30 plugins, it might take 20 or 30 seconds to load, even if none of them are samplers. In projects where it's just audio and no plugins at all, it loads up in about 2 seconds.
 
Another thing to consider is that it's common for hard disks to go to sleep to conserve power if they're not in use. This adds a 5 to 10 second delay when you first try to access them as they wake up. You can usually hear the whirring sound when this is the case, but not always, so try browsing the drive prior to opening the project in Sonar to verify that it's awake before measuring how long opening a project from that drive takes.

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
21 seconds with 31 tracks and no plugins seems a bit long. Are you sure you had no plugins? You can save a version of the project with no plugins by loading in safe mode and skipping all plugins and then resaving the project under a new name. Does it still take long to load? 
You can also check if there is any audiosnap data in the project since that can take time. Try clearing all audio snap data and resaving, then test the load time again...

Hi Noel, Yes I have the project saved with all my mix prep done as in edits, colour coding and routing. But basically the 'board' is zeroed. That takes 23 seconds. ( I start each mix version from this saved file) So in a songs folder I will have " 'title' to mix " then " 'title' mix 1, etc. If I open up the one where I have most of the mix done it takes 25 secs.
I'm unclear how to check audio snap data, but will look that up now. I know that I haven't used audio snap in the project.
Thanks for your help,
Andrew

Actually... I'd kind of like to know how "clear all Audiosnap Data"... or at least be able to tell if I have open AS changes in action.
 
Is there a special place to see this info/clear it across a whole project?
 
Sorry for possible threadjack but sausy asked as well.