Does deleting unused audio files from pool on project COPY- delete files from ALL projects?

Cubase Pro user- Im looking to clean things up bit on my first big cubase project. Ive used the “backup project” function to move the project to my backup drive and work on it from there.
im afraid to do anything I can’t come back from and im unsure about using the clean up function, or deleting stuff from the pool .

freezing isn’t always enough, and im at a point where everything is comped- but I really have a rediculous amount “takes” on this song

My question is , that I don’t know if I can use these functions like clean up or delete unused files, without doing it to ALL of the projects.
Does it delete the files themselves from the computer? because then it wouldn’t be worth it…chances are, ill find some snare hit or something that drives me nuts and I won’t be able to go back to all my takes because they will be gone

I just need a safe way to thin out the “backup project” a bit, that doesn’t have anything to do w freezing, or changing the sample rate /buffer size or anything like that
Solutions that won’t put me in a bad place later IF I need to access those files

i don’t quite follow you:

Have you checked the “Remove unused files” option? If the answer is yes, you have minimized your project in the best way.

Are you referring to the old Cubase clean-up from the file menu commands? Because, I think, it is been removed.

If you go to Pool and right click to get Remove Unused Media, the option “remove from pool” does not delete anything from your project’s Audio file. You can import your files from there again and again.

Ok- so yes I was referring to the (apparently) old clean up option- I went from pro tools to elements 9, to Cubase pro 11 -

So thanks for filling me in;)

Also I think I may have realized I was indeed a bit vague with my explanation

I’m working off of a backed up project, because I moved it to another drive- not because of any motivation to save space, or cpu at the time either-

However, I think you’ve said enough already by saying the best way to do it was check that box- I don’t think I checked “delete unused files, because I wasn’t finished comping all my takes at the time- I’m finished now-
I just am afraid to run into something I missed and not be able to go back and recover those files-

So what im gathering is, if I were to “re” backup the project and get rid of the unused files- the new, backed up project would be “thinned out” a bit? And I can still go back to the original to access the files? Cuz if so Im golden

I have one more question- hypothetically if I were to be running a backed up project on another drive, and I opened the pool window, and deleted a file- would that file be deleted from my entire CPU?
I feel like this is a really stupid question- but Im not experienced at all with the pool and I can’t put myself in that situation, so Im a bit hyper paranoid about all this.

Thankyou for your response, you’ve been a tremendous help already.

Propably yes. Depending on the next quote.

Any audio track, bad take, duplicated, edited, bounced, whatever audio material that you have deleted from the main window of the project, are still “living” in the pool. If you go there, you have the right-click option to “Remove Unused Media”. If you click that you 'll get “Trash” and “Remove from pool”. None of this will physical delete your files, it’s like the recycle bin of your PC. So, the first option send files to “Trash” but still visible into the pool and the second makes files invisible in there. To completly erase files, you must take a further step.

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Hey thanks @doriosypos !

I really appreciate the help -perfect analogy too.
You not only helped me out tremendously, but you answered my question, and gave me a general understanding of the pool!

It’s the kind, patient, knowledgeable people like you ,that help give me another huge reason to be proud of my decision to forgo pro tools, and join the Cubase family.
I just had to put that out there- the Cubase community is pretty amazing so far.

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@doriosypos - I think I understand what you explained better now because I backed up the project and clicked remove unused media- but I still have all the lanes/takes

So this would be where in order to get rid of them- Id have to delete them from the pool Im guessing?

Just so I know what NOT to do and can further understand thi- what would be the " further step" I would have to take in order to permanently delete the files?

And lastly- Is there an easy way to delete all the unused “takes”

cuz as it stands I have little pieces of each comped into the track and it would be a nightmare trying to go back and be like " ok I used this piece of this track so I can’t delete it-" and figure out what ones are safe to delete

even more important to ask would be - how much processing power would I even save by deleting them- because I halfway suspect the answer to be “none” but im not sure-
I suppose I should have asked this in the first place

Yes.

Cubase’s audio takes are represented in pool as one continuous audio event and you can see it by expanding Audio’s menu. This is why you cannot delete just one of these.

I used the delete function a few years ago and it basically cleaned up unused audio (deleted) ALL audio from every project I had except the one I had open at the time.

I also worked out why it did it. When you create a project there is an option in the hub to always manually select a location for your project. You must use that option. If not Cubase will put all your audio into one folder for all projects. So when you press the clean up unused audio button it does not check against all project, it just checks the one you have open at the time and deletes everything else. Very very scary.

So when creating new projects from the hub ALWAYS use the option to select the new location manually.

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This was much needed- Thankyou TREMENDOUSLY for the warning

I think I experienced something like this in the past, hence my fear

Idk why it doesn’t have a warning that pops up informing you that your about to do that- something to make it more clear ya know?

Yes it’s a very scary setup. I do not use Cubase default folders in documents or anything like that anymore. When I start a new project I always select the option “Prompt for a Project location” and use my own folder and I create a new folder for every project.

I’m shocked Cubase even has option to let users share the pool for every project. It really should be removed. Or make Cubase search all projects to see if the audio has been used anywhere in any project when deleting, not just the current open project.

Plus, if you move your projects to a spare drive to archive them the audio does not get moved from the shared pool. Not a great idea to have Cubase do that by default but out of the box that’s exactly what it does.