Managing rendered files

[dg27]

I freeze files frequently when I won't be working on them, to save CPU use, particularly in projects where I have a lot of tracks and a lot of plugins.

I unfreeze them when making changes.

The end result is that over the life a project I end up with a lot of rendered files I do not need because they are obsolete based on changes that were made since they were rendered.

If I unfreeze everything in a project, can I assume that I can delete those rendered files?

My project files are on a dedicated SSD, so real estate is a bit limited.

Any advice about this would be appreciated!

[dg27]

I'm updating this to provide additional info: Hopefully someone can advise.

My current project had 7.10 GB of rendered files dating back as far as a month ago. The vast majority were obsolete.

I opened the project, unfroze all tracks, and saved.

I moved the old rendered files to another folder (out of the default "Rendered Files" folder).

I then refroze everything that had been frozen. These files total ~600 MB.

Why is it when I reopen the project it still refers to "XX Rendered Frozen Audio files are missing"? Since I unfroze and then refroze, wouldn't PT simply go with the latest versions? Even when I tell it to "Skip All" it still asks this every time I open the project.

I am afraid to tell it to "Manually" or "Automatically Find & Relink" because I'm afraid it'll relink the wrong versions.

Any ideas?

I've been freezing track on the last 4 projects and each of them now have over 5 GB of rendered files I do not need. My dedicated 256 GB PT projects SSD is gonna fill up pretty fast unless I get rid of the files I don't need.

[BScout]

I then refroze everything that had been frozen. These files total ~600 MB.

This is the step where you created the problem.
When you opened the session after this, the error is logged (missing renders) and unfreezing/refreezing means nothing since now Pro Tools can't clear the old rendered files since you screwed up the process by unlinking them from the session.

Next time if you want to keep them, "copy" don't "move" so Pro Tools can do its job.

If you now want to fix the problem, open a default workspace, select all offline and clear. Then save your session (save it a version up.) Clearing offline isn't deleting ... it just removes unlinked files from the session. If they sit somewhere else on your hard drive, they will continue to be there but it will get rid of the error the next time you open the session.

[If you want to clear unused files, do a select all unused and then a clear (options are clear, delete right away, trash.) If you plan to never use them again in that session or any other, use trash so at least you have a chance to recover them. If you choose delete, they are gone for good]

[dg27]

Thanks for your reply. A couple of questions...

Originally Posted by BScout

unfreezing/refreezing means nothing since now Pro Tools can't clear the old rendered files since you screwed up the process by unlinking them from the session.

It doesn't appear PT has been clearing any old files (if that had been happening I wouldn't have 7 GB).

Originally Posted by BScout

If you now want to fix the problem, open a default workspace, select all offline and clear. Then save your session (save it a version up.)

Not sure what you mean be a "default workspace". Do you mean the session I'm working on?

Also not clear what you mean by saving a "version up."

Originally Posted by BScout

f you want to clear unused files, do a select all unused and then a clear (options are clear, delete right away, trash.) If you plan to never use them again in that session or any other, use trash so at least you have a chance to recover them. If you choose delete, they are gone for good]

Just to be clear all I'm referring to are the rendered files (appended with "FZ"): Not clips or audio files.

[BScout]

Originally Posted by dg27

Not sure what you mean be a "default workspace". Do you mean the session I'm working on?

Pro Tools menus>Window>New Workspace>Default Workspace
click on your session in the left column
click on the "rendered files" to see all the rendered freeze files and manage them

To be clear, if there are missing/offline files in the workspace from linking, you will always get error messages when opening Pro Tools sessions.
This is the area you should be managing your audio files that are in use.

Originally Posted by dg27

Also not clear what you mean by saving a "version up."

Save your Pro Tools session with a new version number.
If you don't already do this, you should learn to in order to prevent loss. That way you have previous sessions before you clear clips/renders/files that you can revert to in case something goes wrong. (of course, this will not restore deleted/trashed clips)

[dg27]

OK--now this is clear and I'll address these points.

I'm very careful with file names and will continue this practice.

Thanks for all your help!