Remove versus Delete when it comes to clearing unused audio... help!

[tommydee]

a while back i was in sanctuary studios here in NYC. the engineer was deriding producers who walk in with 2gig songs -- sessions that are so large as they haven't cleaned up the audio folder by deleting all the unused audio....

so, being one for efficiency, i cleaned up a session by selecting unused regions, and then deleting them...

but... (i'm sure you're all giggling by now)... cleaning up one song seems to have had ramifications for several others.

ever since doing it, audio is missing from other songs..... (and other audio folders!) and i have no idea why or how that happened.

i do want to be able to clean up songs as it makes backing up much easier. (i don't want to back up unused audio... frankly.)

so...

any tips on removing vs. deleting audio would be much appreciated....

and any tips on why deleting audio from one songs would cause other songs' audio to go missing would be useful, too...

kind regards,

tom.

[phamtec]

All songs that I do have all of the audio copied into the folder for the song, so they are independant.

You need to have some type of system where you store all of the necessary audio for each song (project) in a separate place so that you can confidently clean and delete without affecting oter stuff.

If you want to share audio, like in a single library, then you need to make sure that you take the library with you when you go, and don't delete anything from it.

[CCash]

Removing files only removes the reference to that file in the session. It will still be in the Audio Files folder, and no space will be gained.

You must have had various sessions using the same sound files. Try to avoid that, like phamtec said. Come up with a system or copy the files you want to share and put them individual session folders.

Do this: Click on the top of the Region Bin. Select Unused> Regions Except Whole Files. Remove. You didn't need those regions and now the bin is a little more clean. But you really didn't gain any space because tyou didn't delete any Whole Files (Parent Files).

Now do it again, this time Select Unused> Regions (including whole files). Take a look at what's been highlighted and determine if you can trash some of those. This is where you trim your session down.

There are many, many angles to file management with Pro Tools, this is just a real basic clean-up.

[CDs]

I've done the same thing to myself before--hurts, don't it! The way I currently avoid this is by having mondo drive space available within my system (3 drives, 36G; 30G; 60G). I have a 25 gig partition set aside for nothing but song folder storage, and the one 36 gig drive I can use for a "no way in hell I'm gonna lose my work" safety back-up. After an episode of tracking, and before major editing/mixdowns, I take the entire folder for a specific song and copy it onto the storage drive. Then I delete/remove and dump files to my heart's content within the song's original folder. If I mess anything up, I have the copied files available, with all their original names, etc. I've also used the Mac's labeling feature to color code files, so all initial files are marked with one color, second wave of files another color, ad infinitum. That way, I can avoid saving many versions of the same exact file. This works fine for a long time--as long as I DO NOT rename that specific file.

I like to keep my working folder honed and tidy, but sometimes that level of efficiency can lead to ruined treasures and lost work. This redundant back-up method I use is crude in some ways, but it's quick and trustworthy. And with the cost of Gigs being what they are, dropping in an extra big HD is pretty affordable. I have a G4 server machine with 3 drive bays, so adding the new ones was simple.

My 2 cents.

[phamtec]

good stuff CDs.

One thing to remember though is to make sure you "make a copy - edit the original", not "make a copy - edit the copy" because the copies PT file will still have the original as the disk where the audio is stored. I've been burnt by that one a few times.

As long as you just make a copy for backup, you can always drag it back over the top of the original one to restore what you have done.

[tommydee]

i'm pretty sure that's what i did phamtec... made a copy, changed the copy, came back to the original somehow, only to find the audio all screwy...

peace y'all,

t.

[freakuincy]

or couldn't you just open the session
once it was at a satisfactory stage and
"save session copy in" ?

This will pull all of the files being used from where evrer they are and store them in a new session folder in the place of your choice? right? - then back up!

that's a work around until ya get all the gigage these guys have.

I'm about to do my first backups and that is how i was told - if this is wrong
then someone please inform me so.

i know it isn't the right way but if your limited on free space and have no money - ie...me then will this work?

[Vambo Productions]

I'm so paranoid that I networked my MAC and PC. I back up on my PC, so that if my MAC dies for some reason or I goof something up (which I do well) [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]
Its on a totally different system, even though I have no way of reading the info on my PC, it's still safe and sound.

[Chiba]

This may sound stupid, but why not just use destructive recording until a track is completed? Then you can create regions all you want, and they're all necessary regions, so you know anything in your audio files folder is something you need.

That seems to work well for me as far as disk space saving goes.

FWIW -- chiba