This same error happened to me years ago.. it was odd and it was pre X1 for sure.  I forgot what caused it or what damage it created by losing recent work sounds like the deal.

Sorry to hear this and I know how it feels (I lost a hard drive with alot of work on it recently and it prompted me to get one of those portable external hard drives for backing up my work).

Jim

CoteRotie

StepD


I think it's a Windows temp file problem. It can happen in Word and other Windows programs too.

I guess it could be, but I haven't seen anything like this outside of SONAR in Windows 7.  Win 7 seems pretty solid as far as data retention goes.
 
John

I don't buy that this is a Windows bug either. Only ever happened to me in Sonar, and that bug may have been there as far back as Pro Audio 9, or at least the very early versions of Sonar. It's annoying that Cakewalk has been unable to fix it in the decade + since this first started happening.


I think the issue with Autosaves being extra sensitive is something new. Prior to upgrading to X2, I don't think I ever had an Autosave fail. Now I have (happened last week). 


I'd consider the autosaving  bugs, though intermittent, critical. Corrupt projects are unacceptable. 

When this happened to me, I had to remember the tempo of the song, the drum patterns, track effects, etc., but I was at least able to recreate the project manually by importing the audio tracks and recreating all the other parts. This shouldn't be something any user should have to do. Also, maybe it's time Sonar start saving MIDI takes as MIDI files in the project folder same as it does for audio takes. You know...since they can't make saving work consistently.

And I'm sorry, the whole "oh corrupt projects happen, it's your fault for not making backups as you're working" or any other suggested workaround, is not an acceptable answer. Saving should simply work, and an error during save shouldn't corrupt a project. This is "pro" software we're supposed to be talking about, not freeware.

Search out some file recovery software. It may be able to retreive a more recent version of the oroject file.

just keep in mind if your work is so important(I know you don't want to hear it) but back it up man.  :)
I have 3 back ups at all times on working projects.
not be of sonar, but windows, power failure, hard drive failure, all the above.
I cant afford to lose 6 months worth of work, I would be out of business.

the thing I hate is backing to disk, but I do it, usually at ends day, I have almost 300 dvd's worth of material that I will probably never, ever use but I will not succumb to what just happen to you.
sorry to hear man, but when you said F-to sonar, you should have replaced that with your own name.
I know your venting and its much easier to vent on a product rather than beat yourself up over it but really, think about it.... who' fault is this ?

I only wished you had learned your lesson on one song and not 6 months worth.
this is hard to swallow.
but you live and learn, look in to recovery software, I think its worth a shot, some freeware can do this, ive done it for customers recovering photos before, it works.
have you tried a system restore?
not sure if that would do it, but it might bring something back worth salvaging.

Yeah, I'm not saying it's a Windows OS bug. I'm saying that error can be related to temp files and how the application interacts with them. If you do a search for that error, you'll see it's not that uncommon. It probably is some kind of Sonar coding problem that could be avoided. It's definitely been happening every so often for a really long time.

Funkybot

And I'm sorry, the whole "oh corrupt projects happen, it's your fault for not making backups as you're working" or any other suggested workaround, is not an acceptable answer. Saving should simply work, and an error during save shouldn't corrupt a project. This is "pro" software...
 

+1.  Sonar file management should be robust enough to overcome file I/O issues with the OS without damaging project files.  Basic stuff.
 
I don't use the .CWP versioning feature but I believe that opens and writes a new .CWP with each auto-save?  That might be a strategy for damage control.

Funkybot : " Also, maybe it's time Sonar start saving MIDI takes as MIDI files in the project folder same as it does for audio takes. You know...since they can't make saving work consistently. "

I second this proposal. I dislike programs that keep all their data in an unreadable, unrecoverable form and was surprised when I found out that all midi data is stored in the project file, especially since midi files exist for other programs and plugins.

Like Outlook that keeps all your mail in a single huge unreadable file (my wife's is 300 mb).
I'd never use Outlook for just this one reason.

chuckebaby

s h

just keep in mind if your work is so important(I know you don't want to hear it) but back it up man.  :) 

Question: how do I backup a project I just started working on? How does one backup work they're in the middle of doing?


1. Create a new project
2. Get a good flow happening
3. Stop & Save
4. Burn DVD's
5. Launch my online backup, upload the file
6. Now, what was I doing? Oh yeah, I was working on a song at some point. 
7. Make a change
8. Repeat steps 3-7?

Backups will happen after I'm done working, not during.

And sorry, saving should NEVER corrupt files. I've never had it happen in any other software. I've had saves fail in other software for various reasons, but only Sonar has corrupted files during failed saves. 

I like Cakewalk too, but I refuse to apologize for their critical bugs nor do I try and pin the blame on the end-users.

The save mechanism is a call to a Windows function.  Standard programming practice is to have error-catching logic, so that some sort of processing options are presented in a controlled manner, rather than just letting an error fall through.

I guess they chose to display the message box indicating the potential failure, but did not build in any other processing options.

I would suggest submitting a feature request for more robust options following this sort of detected error.

And if have a project that is critical, I always make sure I have a good recent backup prior to opening it up for further session work.  A simple copy/paste to a temporary backup folder would suffice, preferably to a separate physical drive.

Bob Bone

Living in terror of such a catastrophe is not exactly conducive to the creative process...