I had a project I was working on and had exports of it. The exported files are still there, but the entire project folder and it's contents are gone. No one has access to this computer and I am positive I didn't delete it.
 
Has this happened to any of you guys?

No, I've never experienced such.
What methods have you used to find the lost project? Is it cwp or cwb?
If files disappear, why not also other than SONAR files...?
Do you have other versions of SONAR in your system, and are you sure you haven't saved it
under some other name or renamed it? Do you have it on your backup drive?

That entire folder is gone, no trace that ever existed other than the fact I know it did and I had some saved exports from it. No other projects have disappeared. So, I have tried to locate it.
 
I don't save projects to different locations, just the default "cakewalk projects" folder. I have X3 only installed.
 
I was actually backing up the project folder when I noticed it was gone... It's got me baffled. I have never had this happen with Sonar or any other program.

I see you have no mention of ever saving the project. You just say you exported it. That is your problem, as you never saved it.... So you never saved it, you just exported it..
 
If you did save it: Someone else either deleted the project, you have a virus that deletes things or you moved it to a folder location that you forgot about.
 
Projects do not disappear. This is not a Sonar issue as the projects are not a part of the sonar program after you have saved them onto your hard drive. 
 
Did you look at your back up location? 
 
CJ

First not to insult you with the obvious use Windows search. 
You have most likely saved it to a different location then what your normally using. 
Sonar does not automatically put you files in your default location. 
 
SAVE- saves the currant open project to exactly where it was opened from.  
SAVE AS - will give you the option to save the project to a different location. You should always check the Copy Audio box too. 

Problem solved guys. I appreciate the replies as always, but I found it. Of course I always save my work though.
 
Here's what happened. Normally, when I start a project I name it (duh), that name is then the folder name in the cakewalk projects folder. When I open Sonar and in the dialog box with the list of projects to open I would select that one if I want to work on it. All of a sudden it quit showing up. I am sure it's because newer projects replaced it in the list. Anyway, I looked for it and there was no folder. A search would only find related files, but NOT the actual Sonar file, which by the way has the same name as the files it did find.
 
I decided to just look through every folder and that's how I found it. It was somehow in a completely unrelated folder instead of it's own.

When you create a new project, Sonar will save it by default to the folder specified in Preferences for Cakewalk Projects.
 
You are, of course, allowed to save anywhere you choose, so you could/can override Sonar's default project folder location and put it anywhere on your computer you wish.
 
I don't know how it would have ended up anywhere else, other than by you either altering the path during the initial creation of the project, or by manually moving or copying the project after the initial save of it.  Wherever you opened it from is what gets placed in the history list (quick access) displayed when you first launch Sonar.
 
If what you wanted to open does not appear in that list, and you click Open, then Sonar will open the folder path listed in Preferences for Cakewalk Projects.
 
If you routinely use a folder that is different from what is listed in Preferences for Cakewalk Projects, I would suggest you update the folder listed in Preferences to be that of the one you are routinely using, so that it makes the process of opening and saving projects simpler, as they intended.
 
Anyways, good luck, 
 
Bob Bone
 

Sonar is just like all PC and Mac software. Most software will have a default folder. Some like MS Word use the default Windows Documents folder. Music files and Picture software use the Windows default folders too. 
 
That doesn't always make for good file management once 100's of files and sub folders have been created. If one does not keep tabs on things you can quickly have a big mess. 
I like that they have chosen to name our data storage after standard office storage. 
I have a Administrators Assistant Basic Level Diploma. 
 
So if your office had a couple of three drawer filing cabinets and you were in the habit of putting all you Documents in one drawer without using folders and dates this would create the same mess. Your boss asks for a document from 3 months ago you need to know where it will be. 
Are you starting to get it? 

johnnyV
So if your office had a couple of three drawer filing cabinets and you were in the habit of putting all you Documents in one drawer without using folders and dates this would create the same mess. Your boss asks for a document from 3 months ago you need to know where it will be. 
Are you starting to get it?

does my office have an intern living in that filing cabinet who indexes and timestamps all the files i throw into that single drawer? best practice of document housekeeping has been superseded by the search paradigm (did you try searching for it?)

best practice of document housekeeping has been superseded by the search paradigm 
 
We each have our methods. 
 
I was also going to mention that you need to be careful of the practice of opening your projects from the drop down list. If you only have one version and copy of each project ( real bad idea) then this is not so much an issue. 
But if you are doing a good job of backing up, you will have more than one copy and most likely on a different drive.   
You could end up opening and working on a project that is not the original, but the back up file.
I always OPEN and browse to the correct folder and working copy of the project for this reason.
I have Sonar set to OPEN at the root of my Project Data drive.