Whole project has disappeared - as though it never existed

Report · Apr 16, 2025

I've opened Audition 2025 on my iMac OS (Sequoia Version 15.3.1) only to find (or not!) that I no longer have a 24.0 or 25.0 folder in my files.

So - there are a number of projects that have just gone.

Thankfully, the final exported files are safe somewhere else on my system - but the projects and associated files have gone, as though they never existed.

There isn't a project that is empty when opened, or a project that has audio files greyed out - the folders just aren't there.

They *were* there on Monday, as I was checking them ahead my working week - but they've gone now.

Any help or suggestions as to where they might have gone? Or where I might find them?

Report · Apr 16, 2025

It's a Mac - I can't really help you because I don't have one - but for any project on any computer to suddenly not appear to be present - well, it's very very unlikely to be what's really happening; you would need to knowingly have deleted those files for that to be the case. So I'd say that there's a very good chance indeed that they are all there somewhere.

Report · Apr 16, 2025

That was my thought. It's a new Mac, which is why I'd specifically checked (and downloaded) the files that I needed for two particular projects. Thanks for replying!

Report · Apr 16, 2025

Where are you saving--an internal SSD or HDD, an external drive, a thumb drive, a network drive?

Are you saving the projects into a folder managed by a cloud sync or backup service like Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive, or something else?

I've used Dropbox for a decade. Every 18-24 months it hiccups and deletes some files seemingly on its own... Why is why I also have my Mac backing up through Time Machine and a third constantly backing up system.

Check your Trash. Do the project files appear in there? If so, that's a clue as to how they're being deleted. Not going to Trash is usually because of different deletion methods than those that would send them to the Trash.

Report · Apr 17, 2025

Never put original files on Dropbox!

(Message bviously not intended for you, Pariah, but for anybody else reading. Can't be stated often enough that cloud-based storage is FLAKY, at best, and not to be trusted in the slightest.)