clean audio folder function - what can and what can't I do?

Sonar's project file clean audio folder function has always made me paranoid about moving projects from one directory to another. I have a "production" directory for project folders for work in progress. Whenever I finish a project I move it to another folder in a "completed" directory by opening the project in the production directory and saving it in the completed directory. This essentially make a duplicate copy. I then "think" I have to open the project again in the production directory, remove all of the audio tracks so they are no longer asociated with any project - rather than deleting them manually - then I delete the project .CWP file. THEN I run the cleanup function to remove the audio files in the production directory.
There's got to be an easier way then this. I'm afraid to test alternative ways.

Thanks for the response. Actually I think what I described I do is the same thing you are doing, except I;m using the clean audio folder function, whic I see now I don;t have to.
I guess as long as you save through Sonar and don't just move the folders then you can remove the original folder and files. 

Yea, what's the deal here. It always goes through every dam audio folder on my computer! I just don't think it works like it's suppose to! Any ideas on this?

Ronboy, I've no idea why CAF doesn't restrict itself to the current project's folder, so I think we'll have to learn to live with it. I don't know if X1 has addressed that particular bugette, maybe Beagle knows?

joba51


Thanks for the response. Actually I think what I described I do is the same thing you are doing, except I;m using the clean audio folder function, whic I see now I don;t have to.
I guess as long as you save through Sonar and don't just move the folders then you can remove the original folder and files. 

AFAIK, The crucial thing in this resave-operation is that you must save under a new name. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if you don't change the name, don't all the audio, also deleted clips, follow to the new folder?

I roll my own song and project data folders as well (instead of cake's 'per project function but the end is the same.
Yeah one massive folder would be pretty scarry.
- To the earlier question, the only time you get a chance to even see these save options is with save as'. Then there's the copy audio option box. So what happens if you don't change the name? I... guess you'll get the typical are you sure' response. Try it.

Ancient thread alert! But to answer your question, Clean Audio Folder searches the whole system for projects that might reference the audio in the folder you're cleaning in case a project was moved without its audio or vice versa. Clean Audio Folder is just trying to save users from themselves.
 
I recommend you try using the Cakewalk Audio Finder (CWAF) utility instead. It's no marvel of modern software development, either, but it's far more flexible and powerful - and provides more info about how projects and audio are related - than CAF. The main difference is that it searches only one drive, and you can exclude folders from the search. Depending on how your file system is structured, it can be pretty easy to restrict it to just your per-project and Global audio folders.