It seems to me that my audio always defaults to the C: drive, even though I have the global audio folder set up to separate HD "D". When you use per project audio folders do they not go to the global audio drive? If not, can they? I like the way per project organizes and names your audio data, but I want to reap the benefits of having the audio being read from a separate drive. It is my understanding that having the audio on it's own drive keeps the disk from reading and writing other program data while it is streaming the audio. Am I missing something here? Am I telling Sonar to place the audio on the C drive by checking the per project audio folders option? What's the point of even assigning a Global Audio Drive if that is the case? Is this something simple that I have just overlooked, left checked or unchecked, or simply don't grasp the concept? So ,what I aim to do is have Sonar set up a per project audio folder on the D drive for each project. The other stuff (picture data ,etc. ) can live in C under that same project name. Can someone set me straight here?

The per project audio folders will go to whatever drive you specify in your settings. 
 
Is the drive you are selecting as your default drive an external one ? If it is and it isn't powered up when you open Sonar it will reset the default to C as it can't find the drive it is looking for.
 
 

so you did set your preference in edit/prefs/file/folder locations?
 

Per-project folders may be placed anywhere. The Global Audio folder acts as a temporary folder for some operations. If I used the D: drive for audio, here is how I would set it up (Note: this assumes D: is not a removable media):

1. Create "D:\Cakewalk Projects"
2. Move any existing data from "C:\Cakewalk Projects" to "D:\Cakewalk Projects"
3. Delete "C:\Cakewalk Projects"
4. At the command prompt type mklink /j "C:\Cakewalk Projects" "D:\Cakewalk Projects"
5. Update SONAR Preferences > File > Folder Locations "Project Files" to "D:\Cakewalk Projects"
6. Update SONAR Preferences > File > Audio Data "Global Audio Folder" to "D:\Cakewalk Projects"

Thanks scook for the step by step. Is there a way to set up project files and project audio into separate locations? I was trying to make my D drive my "audio and ONLY audio" drive. i'm sure it can be accomplished manually, but that's half of my problem to begin with. start recording on the fly, then "woops, where is this all ending up? Or am I missing the point of simultaneous drives? Is it most preferable,from strictly a performance view, to have your audio on one drive and your projects AND programs on another, or just the main program on one and projects and audio on the other? If there is little or almost no benefit from keeping the projects and audio separate, that changes the whole game, cuz if there is no benefit, it certainly is a pain in the ass to manage that way.

Lots of folks keep the OS and applications on their primary drive, and have one or more additional drives, on which they distribute their data (normal libraries, like documents/pictures/downloads/etc, as well as Sonar stuff - sample libraries, projects, and audio).
 
I have a primary drive, and a secondary drive, with OS/applications on the primary, and all else on the 2nd drive.  So, my sample libraries, projects, and audio data are all on the 2nd drive, and my performance is fine.
 
Others split things up in all kinds of different ways - through additional drives, and some also use bunches of partitions - though I do not recommend setting up partitions.
 
My per-project audio places the audio clips for each project in a sub-folder to the project folder - and called Audio.  This makes it very easy for me to move things around and back things up - I just have to copy/move a given project's folder around as needed, and there's no thinking required.  :)
 
You can set it up in whatever level of granularity you wish - I don't find any issues the way I run, with the data transfer speed of a 7,200 rpm SATA III drive.
 
I have 4 other drives I could install into the PC, but since everything works plenty fast enough I don't bother.  (I DO have an internal drive for backups as well as a USB 3 external drive for even more backups, but backups aren't part of the discussion at the moment).
 
I wouldn't lose any sleep over it, 
 
Bob Bone
 

orangesporanges
Is there a way to set up project files and project audio into separate locations?
...
Is it most preferable,from strictly a performance view, to have your audio on one drive and your projects AND programs on another, or just the main program on one and projects and audio on the other?

Yes, when the project is created. the New Project dialog provides for different locations for project and audio data. BUT, I have never specified separate paths for project and audio data (except to test the function) and do not recommend it.


No, the performance advantage comes from moving the audio off the system drive. The location of the projects is not a performance issue. Projects are relatively small and written infrequently. I would recommend taking the New Project per-project audio folder defaults (after fixing up your preferences using #4 above as a guide) which keep the project data in a folder immediately above the audio folder for the project.

Thanks to all for the insight. The nod goes to moving the projects and associated audio to the D drive via per project folders.This seems to be the easiest way to get the performance boost, keep everything well organized and also seems to be the way that Sonar has it broken down.

I wish there was more options for this. Per project wants to keep the project file as well.
 
I keep my projects on a D Drive, my audio on a E Drive, in a "global" audio folder BUT broken out by project inside of it. Prior to X3 all seemed fine, now X3 dumps everything into the global folder. I didn't even realize it until I went looking for something.
 

I don't think I understand.
 
I have all of my active projects in D:\Cakewalk Projects, each project having its own project folder within Cakewalk Projects, and within each project folder there is a folder called Audio that contains all of the audio clips associated with that particular project.
 
Sooooo, for a project called "Hits - Bob's Big Number 2", it would have a sub-folder, called Audio, and all of the project's audio clips would be there.  The project file itself would be in the Hits... folder. 
 
Bob Bone