Excessive audio folder size

[mark skinner]

Hello to all , I'm backing up some older projects and moving them off of my pc to gain some space on my small ssd. I found one project that's about 5 min long , but only has 6 audio and 2 midi tracks. "Lots" of comping on this one. The audio folder is over 7 gigs. My track count usually stays below 16 and project size normally stays below 500 mb. The folder is too large to go thru and Leary of doing a Clean audio folder for this one. I bundled it exported it out and deleted it. Anyone have any ideas how this could happen.  I don't auto save and don't check  create new file for each clip ..  Thanks ..  mark

[bitflipper]

7 GB is indeed quite large, but not outside the realm of possibility. CbB's design philosophy of non-destructive editing means nothing ever gets deleted. Lots of comps means lots of unneeded bytes languishing on disk.

I understand your reluctance to start deleting files. I'd feel the same way. But if you're short on drive space on your backup disk, you may have no choice but to do some purging. Fortunately, there is a safe way to do it. Use "Save As" to make a copy of the project. The new project will contain only those files that are actually referenced in the project, less the redundant files. You can then open and play the copy to reassure yourself that it really does contain everything you need. If it does, you can then safely delete the original project, or keep it on disk but back up the trimmed-down copy instead.

[mark skinner]

Is the "save as" a better way to go than using bundle files ? Right now I'm I'm just saving on flash drive and had a problem with one of them. When you choose save as what do you define for the "as" option.  Thanks   mark

[scook]

Bundling is fine for stripping out unused audio clips from the project but not for long term storage.

For long term storage projects should be saved either using a backup utility, copying the project to backup media or using "Save As" to the backup media.

As mentioned above "Save As" copies only audio clips referenced in the project.

Make sure "Copy All Audio with Project" is enabled in the "Save As" dialog.

Another thing that may reduce the footprint of the audio folder is Apply Trimming in the Track View Clips menu. This destructively applies edits to selected clips. If one uses slip edit a lot this can be significant.

 

[John Vere]

Instead of a Flash drive I would invest in a nice 1 or 2 TB external drive. They go on sale for around $100 and then you need not delete or compress anything. I have 4 external drives and 2 of them are only for Cakewalk back ups. I date the whole folder which will have the sub folders of each project in it. Drag and drop to the external drive and carry on. 

[mark skinner]

Thanks great suggestions and help. Been looking at externals for a few hours. Two weeks ago I put jeans in the washer with 32 gig flash in a pocket. I really need to get better at backing up. I've looked for projects that are now gone .. but I guess it's not as bad as doing it right @bitflipper and having it stolen ...      mark  

[Craig Anderton]

There's a third way to backup projects in Cakewalk, yet few people seem to be aware of it. Here's an excerpt from my book The Huge Book of Cakewalk by BandLab Tips. If you have the book, the section starts on page 48 (and includes the images).

There’s a third way to save files that splits the difference between the two approaches [save and save as] in terms of size. It’s also excellent for backing up projects. First, you need to have saved the project using a Per-Project folder. Then, choose Utilities > Consolidate Project Audio. The original intention of this function was to gather together all files used in a project, including those referenced on other media (e.g., CD-ROMs). But starting many versions ago, SONAR saved files you brought in from other media anyway, and then stored them in the Audio folder in your Per-Project folder.  Cakewalk by BandLab works the same way.

What remains relevant about Consolidate Project Audio is that is saves the entire file referenced by various Clips into a sub-folder within the Per-Project’s Audio folder. The subfolder is named automatically with the project name and “backup.” For example, if you’ve removed all Clips that reference a file, that file will not be saved. But if any Clip references a file, unlike the “Create One File Per Clip” option, the entire file will be saved into the sub-folder, not just the portion referenced by the Clip.

Note that the .cwp file will not be saved into this sub-folder. But if you Save As into the subfolder and don’t check “Copy All Audio with Project,” you can save the .cwp file in with the audio. Back up this folder, and now you’ve backed up the project—move it to your storage media of choice, and you can rest a little easier knowing that your project is safe from something like a hard-drive crash. Or if you’re running out of space where you store your songs, delete the files in the Per-Project Audio folder, and replace them with the audio from the subfolder (which should take up less space).