I've got every version of SONAR from version 8.x to X3c on my current DAW.  In order to recover disk space I'd like to dump the earlier versions.  I've been hesitant to uninstall previous version because of shared files.  What is the easiest and SAFEST way to get rid of the earlier versions?

Removing the Producer versions of 8, 8.5, x1 and x2 will recover less than 1GB of disk space. The uninstall process provided by the application is the easiest, most thorough method. If you don't mind leaving the install data in the the windows program registry, you could manually delete the program directories, Cakewalk Content, ProgramData and user directories.
 
The worst that could happen using the uninstall process would be having to reinstall the current version to get the shared utilities back and advanced installs of the older versions to get plug-ins back for older projects.

http://forum.cakewalk.com/HELP-My-C-drive-free-space-keeps-decreasing-and-I-wont-be-able-to-install-X3d-m2948862.aspx
 

amiller,
 
I did that once. Never again. Weird things happened.
 
Right now I have X1, X2 and X3 on two machines. If I considered not wanting the others around I do a clean install of X4 and cherry pick what I wanted from the old releases.
 

bapu
 
Right now I have X1, X2 and X3 on two machines. If I considered not wanting the others around I do a clean install of X4 and cherry pick what I wanted from the old releases.
 

Definitely the best approach, if one must delete older versions...at least until X5.

scook

bapu
 
Right now I have X1, X2 and X3 on two machines. If I considered not wanting the others around I do a clean install of X4 and cherry pick what I wanted from the old releases.
 

Definitely the best approach, if one must delete older versions...at least until X5.

Oh *that* is the release that will change everything.

Just go to program files/cakewalk and delete the folders pertaining to the versions you don't want (Sonar X1, Sonar X2 etc). This will delete the programs while leaving all of the goodies you installed with each version intact.

EDIT: oh wait that's not necessarily true is it. That's the problem with offering technical advice about something when you're not in front of your computer...

sharke
Just go to program files/cakewalk and delete the folders pertaining to the versions you don't want (Sonar X1, Sonar X2 etc). This will delete the programs while leaving all of the goodies you installed with each version intact.

EDIT: oh wait that's not necessarily true is it. That's the problem with offering technical advice about something when you're not in front of your computer...

Sure, it will work but leaves a lot of the data related to the older versions still on disk. There are files in c:\ProgramData, "Cakewalk Content" and the user config (which is a copy of the programData files). It also does not clean up the Windows registry of installed programs. When I had to manage a very small system disk years ago running XP, I used to zip up all the directories involved with a version of SONAR and move them to an external drive. I could manage a couple of versions live and unzip any other version on demand.

Unless you think (as I actually do) that you will need the older versions, I would uninstall everything, clean out the registry, and do a defrag first, then install the latest version.
 
Personally I still use the older versions for older projects because I find I have a lot of hassles with plugins and such when opening a project in a different version than the one it was created in. Especially when the difference includes 32 vs. 64 bit programs.
 
Also, I have found that installing the new version beside the older ones can sometimes very subtly change how the older ones look and operate. Like changing a "0" value to "0.0". And if I notice these visual changes I wonder what might be changed behind the scenes.
 
Steve