Deleting unused audio files

The Utilities > Clean Audio Folder command is used to delete digital audio files in an audio folder if they are no longer used by any of your projects. You should use this command from time to time to free up disk space.

This command searches your entire system for project files, and then compiles a list of all the audio files in a specified folder that are not in use by any of these projects. You can then choose to delete these audio files. Make sure that all of your important project (.cwp) files are stored on your local hard disk(s) before using this command. If your project files are stored elsewhere (removable media, etc.), then you risk accidentally deleting important audio files that are associated with your projects.

If you are using another utility program that protects you from accidentally deleting important files (such as Norton Protect), you may need to disable that program. Otherwise, the next time you use the Utilities > Clean Audio Folder command you may once again find these not-quite-deleted files.

To delete unused audio files

1.	Make sure all project files that contain audio are immediately accessible on a hard disk.

2.	Choose Utilities > Clean Audio Folder to display the Clean Audio Folder dialog box.

3.	Click the Browse button to the right of the Audio Path field and navigate to the folder you want to search for unused audio files.

4.	If you want to search all subfolders of the folder you chose in the Audio Path field, click the Recursive option.

5.	Click the Find button. SONAR searches the selected directory for audio files that appear to be unused by any existing projects, and displays the names of these files in the list.

SONAR searches the entire system for project files. Audio files in the folder or folders you decide to search which do not belong to any of the projects on your system appear in the Clean Audio Folder dialog box. If any corrupted or unreadable project files exist on your system, the Unreadable Files dialog box appears. It is very important that you restore any unreadable files from a backup before continuing, otherwise you risk data loss.

6.	Follow the instructions in the table:

 

Table 214.  

To do this	Do this
Listen to a file	Highlight the file name in the list and click Play
Delete a file	Highlight the file name in the list and click Delete
Delete all files	Click Delete All, and click Yes to confirm

7.	Click Close when you are done.