Sorry for the truncated headline but wanted to get the whole question in. Just reading the manual and it seems to be implying that if I go to Edit > Preferences > File - Folder Locations and change the path (say to a second hardrive) that if I am the using Per Project Audio Folders option that only NEWLY created projects will write and read from that new location.
 
Am I to assume that if I did that all my older projects will continue working properly without screaming at me about missing audio? Would it depend on whether the projects were set up Per Project Audio (as in projects using the Global Audio Folder would get borked but PPAF projects would be fine)?
 
The reason I'm asking is because I have been procrastinating far too long at properly setting up my file paths to make use of my second drive (everything reads/writes from/to the C drive... because I'm a bumblefart). The whole subject of moving crap around, making weird "links" or having things potentially screw up was kind of intimidating me BUT if I can just make it so all my NEW projects have their Project and Audio files on my E drive by just changing that one entry WITHOUT messing up the old projects... well that's a lot easier. I don't care if the old projects stay where they are because they are either done, about to be scrapped or if they are indeed improtant enough moving a couple projects is no big deal.
 
Hopefully scook or some other similarly hyper smart dude and/or dudette can chime in. I should probably have figured this out by now (seems so simple) but I was basing my assumptions around having to actually move everything just to make new projects be set up how I want.
 
Oh and when doing this what all needs to be done?
 
I was going to just create a folder on my E drive (named BeepsCakeProjects or something) and point the Project Files section of Edit > Prefs > File - Folder Locations.
 
Is that enough? I notice an entry in that Prefs window for Wave Files which is currently pointing toward "Cakewalk Content/Audio Library". I'm assuming that's just for samples... not project audio and would not need to be moved for this... right?
 
 
Thanks.
 

Beeps, I believe each project maintains the file locations for that project. Changing preferences will apply to new projects. I have changed prefs and Old projects were not affected.
 

As jatoth says.  The cwp uses a relative path for the audio so as long as the project folder structure isn't changed, Sonar doesn't lose track.
 
Making the change is as easy as you described above.
 
 

Beep I quite often access old projects from my backup drive with no issue whatsoever.
But I have been using PPF's since the dawn of time (or sonar 6 as I called it)
 
Obviously, the audio from the project must be in the relevant Audio Folder or Sonar won't find it.
 
If you want to make doubly sure, open up your old projects, do a "Save As" to your new location and make sure "Copy audio with Project" is ticked.
You'll have to do this one at a time.

I move stuff from computer to computer all the time. I have never lost any data. 
That is mainly because I have always kept the audio folder for each project inside the projects folder.Each project has always had a folder. I originally just did it that way and didn't know about "per project folders" . I managed Sonar files like I managed all my computer files. Folders. And like most software you need to control where stuff is going and not just blindly hit save. 
If you use Sonars default system you have a mess. I always change the file paths the minute I install a new copy of Sonar. Same as Bristol since Version 6. To me it is mandatory to make full copies of all project files at least once a week if not daily if your working on a clients album. I keep 3 or 4 copies of everything. Storage is cheap.  

No need to do that one-x-one process.  Project folders can be copy/pasted via file explorer.  Entire folder trees can be pruned, grafted, flattened, etc.
 
The key is that each project's files all stay in the same place relative to each other.
 
The only caution is that if a project is in the MRU list when it gets moved, opening via the recent list won't work until a regular open is done in the new location.
 
Specific to Beep's question though, everything will continue to work fine with older projects left in their original locations.
 
 

Thanks, guys. Just wanted to double check it worked the way my wee little brain was interpreting it.
 
Now that I think about it I'm guessing that even projects created without PPAF would just reach out to the Global Folder anyway because that was the path defined when the project was created.
 
I think what tripped me up was many moons ago I tried to set up my projects manually by pointing to the E drive in the Audio paths which was all well and good until I went to do a Save As. At that point I would have figured that it would save to the original location defined at the start of the project but what I believe happened was it would revert to the default C drive location (without me noticing). This bended my brain so much that I just started letting everything save where it wanted to. I had tried to force the issue a couple times and ended up screwing up data paths so became very afraid of it all.
 
Anyway... I'm a little smarter now (very little) so this actually makes sense. I don't really intend to actually move any existing projects except maybe the one I'm currently working on.
 
Now I'm kind of thinking that after I change the default path the next time I do a Save As on that project it may want to create a new folder in the new default location and copy all the audio/project files into the new location... which I'm fine with if it doesn't get all weird and whiny. I'll have to see what happens.
 
BTW, I think maybe my BIGGEST problem originally was at first I thought Project files were supposed to stay on the C drive and that the audio was supposed to go on the secondary drive. So attempting separate them using PPAF like that caused issues.
 
Just thinking out loud. If anyone has anything else to tickle my brain bone I'm always interested in hearing people's insight, logic and reasoning.
 
Cheers and thanks again.

Here too...

I move my folders many times fir backup and the likes. Sonar doesn't care where the folder is as long as the audio files are in their proper daughter folder. I can open songs moved to different drives with no adverse effects...

The only thing that is an issue at all is that trying to load from the recent files list will generate an error as that path has been changed. Simply navigating to the folder's location and opening the song file solves the issue.

BTW Beepster... Having your doing/audio files on a separate drive will radically improve your system's performance! You're gonna be very happy you decided to do this!

Keni

As the others wrote, use the default per-project folder layout (IOW nested audio folder under cwp) and projects are portable. They don't even need to be in the folder location defined in Preferences. This folder location is the default where the open projects dialog will open.
 
The wave folder is the default for the import/export dialog will open. Since I use the media browser for importing, I set the wave folder to my export folder.
 
In the past it was a good idea to have the "Global Audio Folder" in Preferences > File > Audio Data on the same drive as your projects and the "Picture Folder" on a different drive. Doubt that recommendation has changed.

Hi, scook. Ah... that is one question I forgot to ask. Since I won't be using the Global Audio Folder (because I'm using PPAF) I figured I'd leave it. In the Prefs Audio Data window it is showing that the Picture folder is in the default C drive location.
 
So if I am understanding you correctly, if I leave the Picture folder on the C drive after changing my Project File path that would garner the "best" result?
 
And if I ever decided to move/use the Global Audio Folder (unlikely) then I do NOT want to move the Picture folder as well?
 
Essentially, Projects and Audio on E drive. Picture folder on C. Roight?
 
Thanks.