Saving problem - audio files diappear

This is a similar problem I had before - and as a result I started saving more carefully: created a new folder just for a given project, and carefully saved everything for that in the same place - all on my desktop - all simply saved as "Normal". After a couple months when I tried to open the project, the Audio file folder was empty. Fortunately I had saved it in an external hard drive, and was able to retrieve it. But WHY do these Audio folders keep emptying or disappearing? I do nothing exotic or different that I'm aware of...just your basic "save", and often have then been able to go there several times and get the project in tact - until one time (often after a couple months or more) I go there and the file is empty. Thanks

Do you have Preferences-File-Audio Data - "Use Per-Project Audio Folders" checked?
 
Or is Sonar saving all projects' audio to one folder?

Veeeery odd.
This must be David Copperfield-magic. Statue of Liberty did not really disappear. Files don't disappear unless a malware is cutting off the path data (I've seen it happen).

If you keep Per Project Audio Folder temporarily on your desktop (why???), where do you move them later?
Have you checked all the save-path settings in the Preferences? IIRC as default the audio is saved in the project file in the Cakewalk Projects-folder. Are 100% sure you don't accidentally jump between two different folders?

happened to me once in x1 when sonar crashed. no malware and no trace of files via 3 different hard disk recovery programs. hate the feeling when others report this issue.

Same thing happened to me (I think). I just started using Sonar, so I don't have a bunch of projects, but I've got 7 songs I've recorded so far, all pertaining to one band. I tried to keep things organized by creating a folder named for the band, then moved everything to that folder.
When I opened a project in Sonar, I got some sort of message sayign that my audio files were gone and asking would I like to search for them. In a panic I answered 'yes', but the search yielded nothing! Now I started freaking out, thinking of all the work I had put into those 7 songs/projects. I went back to my folders and put everything back the way they were before I got 'organized' and thank heavens everything seems to be working fine now.
I learned my lesson - leave well enough alone!

never had a saving issue unless it was a crash.
I've even saved to an external HD at one point.

your projects should be saved by default in C/cakewalk projects.
inside that folder you should have your projects files.

each project file should consist of a sonar x2.EXE and another folder with all your (.WAV) audio files in it.

As I said, this is what I have done all along - standard, nothing exotic: ".cwp" Key word here is "should". The problem is sometimes - having saved them within Cakewalk (.cwp) or in that Desktop folder (also ".cwp"), they none the less sometimes disappear. I agree they "should" be there, but why do the Audio files sometimes disappear? It seems to me that something is emptying just those Audio files. The folder is still there together with the framework of the project (all the tracs and their names, any automation editing, etc.), but the Audio file with all the sounds of those tracs is empty.

I just mean I save my project as a normal cwp file, and of course Cakewalk then creates the Audio folder. In any case, they are together in the file that I created on my desktop. They are also together when simply saving them normally within Cakewalk. But also in both cases, the folder sometimes gets emptied (I have checked and it wasn't empty at first - not until later).