Lost Audio Files

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doc_drop

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Hi Everyone,

I have been following this forum since I bought Sonar 1.00, 6 months ago. I have found it to be a great program, but for the second time since I got it I have had a very upsetting problem. I have installed all the V.1 patched with no problems. But when I installed 2.00, many of my audio files where somehow erased. Unfortunately, I hadn't backed up a couple of songs, since things like this hadn't happened with the patch installs. I know, stupid on my part. But why did this happen? Cakewalk tech support tells me it is "impossible." Yesterday I installed the plug in patch, and a similar thing happened. All of the audio files that I hadn't backed up are gone. Yes, I have done searches for them everywhere on my computer. No luck. I know there is nothing anyone can do for me. But, has anyone else had a similar experience?

Thanks
 
I have heard this before - although my thinking is that there had to be *user error* involved for this to happen (no offense).

Now when you say all the "audio" files are gone, what exactly do you mean? Are you referring to the cakewalk project files (.cwp), cakewalk bundle files (.cwb), or the underlying wave files for your projects. What did you search for to determine everything was gone?

If you just lost the project files, but not the underlying wave files, it may be possible to rebuild your project without retracking.

Also, had you updated to Sonar 1.3.1? The naming convention for Cakewalk files was changed in 1.3.1 (and it continues into 2.0). What had been .wrk files are now .cwp, and what had been .bun files are now .cwb. Could your problem be related to this change?
 
:D Wellcome to the forum doc_drop :D

dachay2tnr said:
If you just lost the project files, but not the underlying wave files, it may be possible to rebuild your project without retracking.
Click to expand...

Yep..., dachay's right, check your temporary "wave" files somewhere in your HD (usually in your SONAR or Windows temp. directory...). They could be .wav files, but not always. They can be .wov or .wa~ or sumthing ( I forget... but I believe they're there...) they can be parts of your lost data... You can check it by drop n drag it over existing .wav player's file list such like Winamp.

Hope it help...
:)
 
Thanks for the help guys. I am trying not to get worked up over the "user error" thing. I wish people wouldn't always assume that. Just exactly what type of a user error could one do by clicking on "install software"?

As I stated in my original post, I installed all of the V1.* upgrades without any problems. I do know about the changed file extensions. That isn't it.

If you read my post you'll see that not "all" of the files were erased. I find that part very strange. The files I lost are some of the associated .wav files. When I open a .cwp project it tells me it can't find the associated files. When I use the search tool, it looks on both of my hard drives, and doesn't find them. I also did a Windows Find search for .wav files, and found nothing.

When I get home I will try a search for the other file extensions that James suggested. I'll keep my fingers crossed.
 
Just an addition to help you find the files, the name of the files could look similliar like this...

CVx2zbt1-e6262a.WOV

RCx2ylp1-189000.WOV

CVx3048i.WA!

...etc.
It has no clue with the name of the project / song you save before...

Tell us when you get there...

:)
 
James - .wov files are picture files of the waves. They don't contain any audio data. They are what you will find in your Sonar picture directory. It doesn't matter if these files get deleted, Sonar will simply recreate them.

Doc - I didn't mean to insult you about the *user error* thing. Just that I find it hard to believe installing a program could/would delete any files. It could understand it overwriting files with the same name, but not actually deleting files (and even more so, randomly).

I am still suspicious these are on your system somewhere. Do you have a copy of the Cakewalk Audio Finder program (CWAF). If not download a copy from the Cakewalk web site. It will tell you what waves are on your system and what projects they are associated with. Try running that program and look to see where the waves are located for the projects you are having problems with (hopefully it will find them).

Good luck.
 
You are correct Dachay. When I looked for any *.w* files it found lots of .wov's under cakewalk/picture cache. I tried changing the file extensions to .wav. None of my audio software could open them. There was nothing in my temp directories.

Now, I have to say that what I am describing DID happen. I am an architect. I work on computers 40+ hours a week at work. I have assembled several computers for music myself. I have used Cakewalk since the DOS days. I am not the type of person who makes silly mistakes like deleting a bunch of necessary files. Please believe me that what happened to me is my fault. The only thing that is my fault is that I didn't think such a thing could happen either, so I didn't do a back up of all the files before I installed V2.00.

I will try the audio finder program suggestion. But I don't have much hope. I have located every single .wav file on my two hard drives. God knows Sonar generates a lot of them! None of them are what was lost.

Thanks for your help, and sorry the user error thing get's under my skin so bad.
 
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