Authorizer folder bug: empty it and free up space (26 GB for me)

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joeyluck
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27 Mar 2020

I was cleaning up my hard drive and I found that my Authorizer folder was over 26 GB! 5 GB more than my RackExtensions folder. I don't know how I didn't catch this before, but I finally noticed.

The Authorizer folder contains a Downloads folder. In that folder are partial RE downloads. When a RE successfully downloads and installs, that '.part' file is automatically removed from that folder.

However, if the download fails or is canceled, it remains in that folder. And what's more is that you can have countless partial downloads of the same RE (and it can clearly build up over time). Since the Authorizer doesn't continue downloading where it last left off (as it's not reusing those partial downloads); it's creating a new file every time.

If you have a RE that over time you have been canceling when Syncing All, it might very well be taking up more room on your hard drive than if you had successfully downloaded it once! :shock: Lol

So I had 26.48 GB in mine before I emptied it.

How much is in yours?

Locations:
  • macOS: Users/username/Library/Application Support/Propellerhead Software/Authorizer
  • Windows: Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Propellerhead Software\Authorizer

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MrFigg
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27 Mar 2020

joeyluck wrote:
27 Mar 2020
Or empty it anyways because you don't need it...

I was cleaning up my hard drive and I found that my Authorizer folder was over 26 GB! 5 GB more than my RackExtensions folder. I don't know how I didn't catch this before, but I finally noticed.

The Authorizer folder contains a Downloads folder. In that folder are partial RE downloads. When a RE successfully downloads and installs, that '.part' file is automatically removed from that folder.

However, if the download fails or is canceled, it remains in that folder. And what's more is that you can have countless partial downloads of the same RE (and it can clearly build up over time). Since the Authorizer doesn't continue downloading where it last left off (as it's not reusing those partial downloads); it's creating a new file every time.

If you have a RE that over time you have been canceling when Syncing All, it might very well be taking up more room on your hard drive than if you had successfully downloaded it once! :shock: Lol

So I had 26.48 GB in mine before I emptied it.

How much is in yours?
You should maybe give the folks a file location :)

Actually, that's what I was trying to tell you yesterday about going into the RE folder and deleting the ones you don't want. Much quicker than deleting them individually in Authorizer. Also I thing partial downloads are stored there too.
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joeyluck
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27 Mar 2020

MrFigg wrote:
27 Mar 2020
You should maybe give the folks a file location :)
Same location you find the RackExtensions folder. The Authorizer folder is in that same location.

macOS: users>username>Library>Application Support>Propellerhead Software>Authorizer>Downloads

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MrFigg
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27 Mar 2020

joeyluck wrote:
27 Mar 2020
MrFigg wrote:
27 Mar 2020
You should maybe give the folks a file location :)
Same location you find the RackExtensions folder. The Authorizer folder is in that same location.

macOS: users>username>Library>Application Support>Propellerhead Software>Authorizer>Downloads
Hahahaha...I know that man :). Just thought some other might not. On Windows it's:-

C:>Users>Your user name>AppData>Roaming>Propellerheads Software>Authorizer

From there you can delete all the partial downloads. If you go in on the Rack Extensions folder you can just delete the ones you don't want in one go :)
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joeyluck
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27 Mar 2020

MrFigg wrote:
27 Mar 2020
joeyluck wrote:
27 Mar 2020


Same location you find the RackExtensions folder. The Authorizer folder is in that same location.

macOS: users>username>Library>Application Support>Propellerhead Software>Authorizer>Downloads
Hahahaha...I know that man :). Just thought some other might not. On Windows it's:-

C:>Users>Your user name>AppData>Roaming>Propellerheads Software>Authorizer

From there you can delete all the partial downloads. If you go in on the Rack Extensions folder you can just delete the ones you don't want in one go :)
Yes I know about that. That's how I used to delete REs from my computer before I knew that deleting them from Authorizer app removed them from the RackExtensions folder. I usually don't end up with numerous Rack Extensions I need to batch delete, that's all.

But the partial download thing in the Authorizer folder, separate from deleting REs from the Rack Extensions folder, is a new thing to me. Didn't know things were building up in there :?

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MrFigg
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27 Mar 2020

joeyluck wrote:
27 Mar 2020
MrFigg wrote:
27 Mar 2020


Hahahaha...I know that man :). Just thought some other might not. On Windows it's:-

C:>Users>Your user name>AppData>Roaming>Propellerheads Software>Authorizer

From there you can delete all the partial downloads. If you go in on the Rack Extensions folder you can just delete the ones you don't want in one go :)
Yes I know about that. That's how I used to delete REs from my computer before I knew that deleting them from Authorizer app removed them from the RackExtensions folder. I usually don't end up with numerous Rack Extensions I need to batch delete, that's all.

But the partial download thing in the Authorizer folder, separate from deleting REs from the Rack Extensions folder, is a new thing to me. Didn't know things were building up in there :?
I don't know about Mac OS but that whole Microsoft Windows 10 is a labyrinth once you get in there. Microsoft really suck.Nuts and bolts all over the place. And don't get me started about all the spy stuff they've got activated on Windows before you're even started. These days I'm very, very selective about what programs I install because I know there's still gonna be all sorts of crap left somewhere even if when uninstall them. If I do download any free VSTs I make sure they're .dll files you can just drag out of a zip and into the VST location otherwise not for me. Not any more.
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Yonatan
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29 Mar 2020

Am on Mac and cannot find any Authorizer map anywhere. Searched everywhere in Finder. Anyone having any clue on where it can hide in such cases?

Under "Application Support->Propellerhead Software" one can find Remote, ReWire, Rex and Soundbanks. But no Authorizer map. Strange. It is well functioning so it must be somewhere.

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joeyluck
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29 Mar 2020

Yonatan wrote:
29 Mar 2020
Am on Mac and cannot find any Authorizer map anywhere. Searched everywhere in Finder. Anyone having any clue on where it can hide in such cases?

Under "Application Support->Propellerhead Software" one can find Remote, ReWire, Rex and Soundbanks. But no Authorizer map. Strange. It is well functioning so it must be somewhere.
Under Users>username>Library>Application Support>Propellerhead Software

Is that where you checked?

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challism
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29 Mar 2020

Joey had mentioned to me that he also cleaned out his Reason cache folder/files and freed up a lot of space. He's on a Mac. I'm on Windows. I want to clean out my Reason cache folder for Windows. Does anybody know where I would find that folder?

For reference, the Mac folder is located here: users/username/Library/Caches/Reason
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joeyluck
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29 Mar 2020

challism wrote:
29 Mar 2020
Joey had mentioned to me that he also cleaned out his Reason cache folder/files and freed up a lot of space. He's on a Mac. I'm on Windows. I want to clean out my Reason cache folder for Windows. Does anybody know where I would find that folder?

For reference, the Mac folder is located here: users/username/Library/Caches/Reason
I guess once you figure it out, we can add it to this stickied list:

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=7514631

It is weird that Reason Preferences (which lets you set the cache location and reset to the "default") doesn't tell you there where the default is...

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littlejam
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29 Mar 2020

challism wrote:
29 Mar 2020
Joey had mentioned to me that he also cleaned out his Reason cache folder/files and freed up a lot of space. He's on a Mac. I'm on Windows. I want to clean out my Reason cache folder for Windows. Does anybody know where I would find that folder?

For reference, the Mac folder is located here: users/username/Library/Caches/Reason
hello,

for windows 7
it might be under:
c:/user/app data/ local / ph software / reason/ user with a number
and the files display as 'cache manager'

cheers,

j
littlejamaicastudios
i7 2.8ghz / 24GB ddr3 / Quadro 4000 x 2 / ProFire 610
reason 10 / reaper / acidpro /akai mpk mini / korg padkontrol / axiom 25 / radium 49
'i get by with a lot of help from my friends'

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challism
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29 Mar 2020

littlejam wrote:
29 Mar 2020
challism wrote:
29 Mar 2020
Joey had mentioned to me that he also cleaned out his Reason cache folder/files and freed up a lot of space. He's on a Mac. I'm on Windows. I want to clean out my Reason cache folder for Windows. Does anybody know where I would find that folder?

For reference, the Mac folder is located here: users/username/Library/Caches/Reason
hello,

for windows 7
it might be under:
c:/user/app data/ local / ph software / reason/ user with a number
and the files display as 'cache manager'

cheers,

j
Thanks, looks like I have about 5GB in that folder. But now I'm scared to delete it! ha ha ha

EDIT: OK, I deleted all that crap and started Reason. It loaded and still works. It also wrote two new files to the newly emptied folder.
x.JPG
x.JPG (35.11 KiB) Viewed 3055 times
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dvdrtldg
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29 Mar 2020

Nice one! Only 6GB in mine, but every little bit counts

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FLVZ
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Location: ZW | GB

30 Mar 2020

Just deleted 19gb from the cache thanks to you guys!

My system drive appreciates this thread! Maybe an article for this would be a good feature for the website?

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Ixus
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30 Mar 2020

19.9 GB removed. Thanks alot!
My 3 TB hdd died recently and my small SSD is getting quite full,so this is very nice!

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joeyluck
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30 Mar 2020

Ixus wrote:
30 Mar 2020
19.9 GB removed. Thanks alot!
My 3 TB hdd died recently and my small SSD is getting quite full,so this is very nice!
Great! Was this the Authorizer folder?

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littlejam
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30 Mar 2020

hello,

for windows (don't know about mac)
2 free programs to check disk space are
treesize and space sniffer
it's nice to have both programs

the folder winsxs builds up a lot
i haven't found a way to reduce its size (bummer)

there is a folder where back up images are contained that can get big, too
they are vss files
you only really need the most recent backup

note: i run a very limited os on windows 7
i have a lot of stuff turned off

be careful with tweaking your machine
i've !@#$$#@@!!! my system up a few times and lessons were learned

another good tool is
ccleaner
been using it for years with no problems
helps to clean out the registry
(again, use at your own risk (disclaimer))

hope this helps,

j
littlejamaicastudios
i7 2.8ghz / 24GB ddr3 / Quadro 4000 x 2 / ProFire 610
reason 10 / reaper / acidpro /akai mpk mini / korg padkontrol / axiom 25 / radium 49
'i get by with a lot of help from my friends'

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MrFigg
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30 Mar 2020

Right click in the desktop and select disk cleanup. From there you can delete all temp crap you don’t need. Do it again and select clean up system files. If you’ve just done a windows update then Windows stores all the old stuff in case you need to roll back. You might also find a file called old.windows. This should automatically get deleted after 10-30 days but sometimes it doesn’t. With the disk cleaner under clean up system files you can choose to delete all but the latest version. I think I freed up about 20GB deleting that alone.
If you’ve installed programs and then uninstalled them then there’ll probably be a lot of crap left in Program Files and Program Data folders. There’s a folder called Roaming you can search for. Usually a load of shrapnel in there too.
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joeyluck
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30 Mar 2020

To be clear, emptying your cache folder is definitely ok and something that I do, however the cache folder does serve a purpose. You may or may not notice a difference in speed when loading related Reason projects. And I do think it's very handy to know the various ways in which someone can clear space on their hard drive.

That said, I specifically wanted to point out the Authorizer folder with this thread because its contents (after failed/canceled download) serves absolutely no purpose or benefit. It should be considered a bug.

There should never be anything in that folder after Authorizer has finished its task and REs are installed. If Authorizer could continue downloads from where it last left off, having partial files remain could serve a purpose. But it doesn't, and instead those files remain in that folder and are not reused or even overwritten with the next download —duplicates are created even if the same RE begins to download again.

kitekrazy
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30 Mar 2020

I'm on W10 and didn't experience such issues. I have 3 more machines to check. Reason and Live are the two resource hogs when it comes to drive space. They still need to make it where you can put samples for REs on a different drive without the end user having to go outside the app.

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joeyluck
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30 Mar 2020

kitekrazy wrote:
30 Mar 2020
I'm on W10 and didn't experience such issues. I have 3 more machines to check. Reason and Live are the two resource hogs when it comes to drive space. They still need to make it where you can put samples for REs on a different drive without the end user having to go outside the app.
I've seen reports for this on both Windows and macOS. If you haven't had any failed or canceled downloads, then there won't be anything in this folder. But I'm certainly interested if you can produce this by starting a download and canceling it and then checking that folder.

kitekrazy
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30 Mar 2020

joeyluck wrote:
30 Mar 2020
kitekrazy wrote:
30 Mar 2020
I'm on W10 and didn't experience such issues. I have 3 more machines to check. Reason and Live are the two resource hogs when it comes to drive space. They still need to make it where you can put samples for REs on a different drive without the end user having to go outside the app.
I've seen reports for this on both Windows and macOS. If you haven't had any failed or canceled downloads, then there won't be anything in this folder. But I'm certainly interested if you can produce this by starting a download and canceling it and then checking that folder.
I would assume this bloat is cause by those who have sample based REs.

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MrFigg
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30 Mar 2020

kitekrazy wrote:
30 Mar 2020
joeyluck wrote:
30 Mar 2020


I've seen reports for this on both Windows and macOS. If you haven't had any failed or canceled downloads, then there won't be anything in this folder. But I'm certainly interested if you can produce this by starting a download and canceling it and then checking that folder.
I would assume this bloat is cause by those who have sample based REs.
Another reason to boycott romplers. (Excepting PinkNoise ones of course :) )
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kitekrazy
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30 Mar 2020

MrFigg wrote:
30 Mar 2020
kitekrazy wrote:
30 Mar 2020


I would assume this bloat is cause by those who have sample based REs.
Another reason to boycott romplers. (Excepting PinkNoise ones of course :) )
Romplers are OK if you can change where the samples are stored. Even with VSTs some developers don't allow it.

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joeyluck
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30 Mar 2020

kitekrazy wrote:
30 Mar 2020
MrFigg wrote:
30 Mar 2020


Another reason to boycott romplers. (Excepting PinkNoise ones of course :) )
Romplers are OK if you can change where the samples are stored. Even with VSTs some developers don't allow it.
Again, this is in regards to the Authorizer folder, not the RackExtensions folder. There is a difference.

My Authorizer folder was filled with partial downloads and redundancies. It had less to do with the size of the REs. It was a ton of .part files that had built up over the three years that I have been using this computer.

And even so, it is not the fault of the size of any RE. These partial downloads should not remain. But if they do, they should be reused when something is re-downloaded or they should be overwritten. But they are not. Additionally, it would help if we could have the option to uncheck REs in our accounts that we don't want to download when choosing to Sync All.

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