Recording and editing any serious session might leave the session with some + unused or misplaced files here and there. Ardour can help deal with this clutter thanks + to the tools located in the Session > Clean-up menu. +
+ +When importing media files, if + the Copy files to session hasn't been checked, Ardour uses + the source file from its original destination, which can help avoiding file duplication. + Nevertheless, when the session needs to be archived or transfered to another computer, moving + the session folder won't move those external files as they are not in the folder, as seen + in Backup and sharing of sessions. +
+ +Using the Bring all media into session folder menu ensures + that all media files used in the session are located inside the session's folder, hence avoiding + any missing files when copied. +
+ +Ardour represents audio waveforms with peak files, that are graphical images generated from the + sound files. This generation can be time and CPU consuming, so it uses a cache of the generated + images to speed up the display process. +
+ +Using the Reset Peak Files menu allows to reset this cache, which frees up disk space. + note, though, that displaying waveforms requires these peak files, so they'll be recreated by Ardour, + consuming CPU and time. It can prove useful if some waveforms are not used anymore, or if a graphical glitch happens. +
+ +Recording usually lefts behind a lot of unused takes, be it in midi or audio form, that can clutter + the Region List, and eat up a lot of hard drive space. While its generally a good practice to keep as + many things as possible while recording, when transferring or archiving the session, some clean up can + help a lot in reducing the sessions clutter and size. +
+ +
Selecting Clean-up Unused Sources... will force Ardour to detect those unused waveforms
+ by looking for unused regions, and (through a prompt) for unused playlists. The media files won't be destroyed, though.
+ At this stage, they are just copied in a particular place of the session path (namely, in the dead sounds/
+ sub-folder).
+
Although Ardour is a non-destructive audio-editors, it allows for a very careful destruction of unused media materials. + This function is closely linked to the previous one. When the unused sources have been cleaned up and quarantined, the + Flush Wastebasket menu will allow for their physical destruction. +
+ +As a safeguarding mechanism though, Flushing the wastebasket in impossible in the same working session as the Cleaning up of unused sources : + the user needs to close the session and reload it before flushing. It allows to test the playback of the session and ensure both that Ardour didn't commit + any mistake (unlikely, but better safe than sorry), and that the user is absolutely sure of what he does. +
+ +Notice that all media destroyed this way is not sent to the system's trash can but permanently deleted. + If a file is mistakenly destroyed this way, the user will have to rely on data recovery techniques to try getting it back. +
+