Although I am an obsessive saver (both just CTRL-S and Save As to new version every so many changes) I would still like to be able to have "versioning" auto-save turned on. Unfortunately due to saving causing audio-glitching in Sonar in large projects, (and sometimes even crashes) I stopped using auto-save in Sonar many versions ago.

UnderTow

(EDIT: Formatting)

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I use it set at every 15 minutes, 100 changes (because they seem to add up quick) and 10 versions.

I am unaware that it had ever caused a problem or a crash, I also save and save as often.

The versions have saved my neck a number of times!

Once I get close to a final version I will often save as to a new folder with the copy audio function checked, make backups, then delete all those auto save/ versions to get rid of the clutter.

I am nearing 59 years and just broke a bone. My first. (Third time down the ladder the soil was soft enough to give-way, and shatter my heal-bone.)

I have not had a car crash for nearly 35 years.

Should I stop being safe?  Stop buying insurance?

If the versioning feature functioned correctly, all of our concerns would be answered. Versioning is a form of SAVE-AS. If it could be set as the AUTO-SAVE function can, multiple copies of the project would be saved without having to SAVE or SAVE-AS. Data loss, and changes loss,  and attention to this function, would be reduced significantly for all and every.

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This would be most useful with the ability to EXPORT/IMPORT portions of a project.

Example: I have a project that is now in three versions with respect to the percussion. I would like to import some of the midi tracks from the first 2 versions into the 3rd. If I could export/import a trackfolder with the 10+ tracks, with all data, I would be very happy.

If I would have only saved during recording I would have lost the changes and the potential to be as annoyed as I am about the lack of a project export/import feature.

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Both SAVE and AUTO-SAVE are destructive. Both erase the current file.

Having a bunch of relatively small files in a project folder should be the least of concerns.

Word,... erase the auto-save data when the file is closed.  I do not want Sonar to do this.

J

mike_mccue


It seems like if SONAR is working great than Autosave probably works pretty good.

If your SONAR situation isn't working great... and getting *glitchy*... than the auto save might get *glitchy* too.

Hi Mike,

Just to be clear, it isn't an issue with my system. Sonar's audio engine becomes glitchy the bigger and more complex projects become. When projects have many live softsynths and/or pass the hundred track mark, the gapping audio engine rears it's head (well before really but at this point it becomes really annoying). Saving is just one of the things that can trigger this. (But by far not the only thing). I have noticed this behavior on various of my own systems with different hardware, different interfaces, different OS even... and also on other people's systems. 
The crashing during auto-save only happens very rarely, in very large projects and usually only if the last change/edit is still being calculated by Sonar when it auto-saves. It seems like the software gets into a race condition that never occurs when it is less stressed. But that is just a guess.

Other DAWs don't exhibit this behavior on the same systems!


UnderTow

manually, after edits.

Is it possible that people experience different characteristics of how their systems act during a automatically initiated save?

Going from the replies here I would say most definitely. I have no problems with auto save glitching no matter what the size of the project and I have an 'underpowered' system. But I will repeat again that I don't use a lot of soft synths in any projects - 90% of my MIDI stuff is all external hardware so that may have a bearing on why mine behaves.

+1 for auto save... no experience of glitches with it and was surprised to read that it happens for people. With the 'save' button on the 700R, it's now pretty easy to also do an extra save any time on top of the auto save which I have set to 5 changes as you (me) can sometimes get pretty focused with a player when they are doing multiple takes, and having a temp setup right now, the UPS isn't up and running yet! One power outage without the UPS is enough to make you consider all forms of insurance I reckon. Auto save certainly 'saved' the day that time with 4 customers in the room starting blankly as the lights went out. Cheers all. This thread has been a useful read.

I've been experiencing glitches upon autosave, and it's a bit frustrating.  I love X3 for it's functionality, but it seems to not work all that well with my Windows 7 x64 OS.  

Like so many others, I do Ctrl-S often and "Save As" for major changes. These are the "real" saves and are always the most current. (If an Auto-saved file is more current, I know it's just a safety.) 
 
HOWEVER, I also have Auto-Save enabled because it gives me the "right to be careless and sloppy." I try to work really fast in the studio because I believe inspiration is fleeting (check out my blog post re: songwriting with Sonar). So if I nuke something by accident or whatever, I always have a fallback. Auto-save has saved me enough times that I keep it enabled. When a project is complete, I "Save As" the entire project and delete the original...although I sometimes copy over some previously-saved files just in case.
 
Enabling auto-save does not impact the manual saving process at all. It's a supplement, not a substitute.