Need help recovering Sonar project file.

[SonicExplorer]

Hi Guys,

Apologies for asking a legacy Sonar question but I am in a real bind.  I deleted an S5 project file by accident. But I have the bundle file.  How do I extract or create a project file from a bundle safely without overwriting the current audio files the project had been pointing at? Essentially I use one main Audio file directory for all legacy projects (I know not so smart) and now I need to recover a project file from a Bundle.  All I can figure thus far from experimenting is that I have to un-bundle the bundle file and then re-save the project file.  Problem is that method creates two options - both of which are problematic.  Seems I either have to 1) Overwrite my existing audio files so the new project file points to the same audio directory correctly, or else 2) Attempt a risky procedure of renaming my current Audio directory so the un-bundling procedure won't overwrite anything and then save the project file so it will be pointing to the right directory which I will subsequently then delete and re-name the original audio directory back again.  Not sure if I explained that clearly, but hopefully you guys understand the dilemma.  OR...as a 3rd option maybe the unbundling procedure will ask if I want to overwrite existing audio if it detects a collision and I simply say no to all? Too risky to try this because if it doesn't ask me ....well then I'm toast as it will simply overwrite the files.

Hopefully somebody on the forum can share some insight on this situation....

Thanks,

Sonic

Edited September 23, 2022 by SonicExplorer

[reginaldStjohn]

I don't use bundle files but here is what I would suggest.

Take your current project and "save as" marking "copy audio" and save to a new location. Then open your bundle file to see what it does. Then open your "save as" project and either drag copy the audio you need from the opened bundle project to your "save as" project or export the desired audio from the bundle file and then import the audio you want.

[John Vere]

Exactly! There’s no risk if you have safety copies of all your work. Storage is cheap, I have probably over 5 copies of most of my Projects. All are in folders and all are both saved as Midi and CWP files. 

[SonicExplorer]

Thanks guys.  I'm not sure the situation came across clear, likely due to my poor explanation....

I have an "Audio" folder for all legacy audio files.  And separate directories for each project file and bundle (backups).  I accidentally deleted a project file.  I was hoping to be able to open the bundle and get the original project file back, but I learned it doesn't work that way.  Apparently I have unbundle EVERYTHING(?) and then re-save the project file, which then points to where the audio was unbundled.  So if I safely unbundle to another directory, the project file is then going to be looking under that subdirectory for audio files.  What I want is to end up with a project file that will point to the original "Audio" directory where the legacy audio files reside.  But I don't want to risk unbundling directly to that audio  folder for fear it might overwrite files.  And I don't dare test what will happen since unbundling may or may not ask for verification on overwrite.

Sonic

Edited September 23, 2022 by SonicExplorer

[Base 57]

Shot in the dark here but, did you check the Recycle Bin for the deleted Project file? Or did you empty it before realizing your mistake?

[John Vere]

You can still have a backup of your files. Just copy /paste the whole audio folder or whatever it is you’re worried about messing up to a different drive. Data is data and is easy to move around and make duplicate copies of.  
 

You could move the whole works to a external drive and open the bundles from there etc  

And don’t use bundles anymore they are a PITA. 

Edited September 23, 2022 by Cactus Music

[SonicExplorer]

No luck on the recycle bin, I use CCleaner, which wipes it.  But I did have a thought....is there a way to change the project file settings to tell it where to look for the audio data?  If so I could just unbundle, save the project file, then redirect it back to the original audio folder since all the same files that are inside the bundle are also still in the main audio directory.  I'll poke around and see if there is any such setting inside the project file...??

Edited September 24, 2022 by SonicExplorer

[David Baay]

22 hours ago, SonicExplorer said:

What I want is to end up with a project file that will point to the original "Audio" directory where the legacy audio files reside.  But I don't want to risk unbundling directly to that audio  folder for fear it might overwrite files.

When you open the bundle, you'll get a dialog with checkbox to "Store Project Audio in it's own Folder". If you uncheck it, new files will be created in the global 'Audio Data' folder. The new files will have the project name with sequential numbers in parens.

Depending on the version that created the project, the original file names may vary, but recent versions will have named them with the track name and 'Rec' and a number in parens related to the order in which it was recorded. So there will not be collision or over-write of existing files, but in order to reference those files you would need to delete all the new ones, re-open the project and re-select the original files for each "missing"" file as prompted, which could be difficult and error-prone , depending on how many files are in the project and how they're named.

My advice would be to let the bundle create a project-specific audio folder and just move on to the new world order. If you find there is something wrong with the new audio files you can go through the drill to open the project with missing files and reference the original files.

BTW, I just re-tested this to be sure I wasn't leading you astray and you can trust that you won't lose your original files no matter what you do.

[SonicExplorer]

Thanks for testing David.  I also tried a few things myself but no luck.  As others have said, this either becomes a manual exercise (prone to error), or else I just have to move on with the project directory layout that is created by the unbundling process.

Thanks again to everyone for the help & replies.

Sonic