I've been using Sonar 8.5 for ten or fifteen years (and previous Cakewalk DAWS since the 90s). It's great and I enjoy using it, but as it ages more compatibility issues arise. A few years ago - 2016, maybe? - I tried to install a newer version of Cakewalk/Sonar to see if the recent edition offered any useful advantages. Despite repeated assurances that it would not trash my Sonar 8.5 install, it did just that by overwriting older Sonar system files and configurations with newer ones. In addition to not liking the newer product, I had to spend a couple of days completely reinstalling 8.5 and restoring custom configs and so on from a backup. My question is: in 2024, If I install the newest Sonar version, will it kill my Sonar 8.5 installation again, or will it set up the more modern program in discrete folders that leave my old Sonar intact??

Current audio system is Windows 10, AMD Ryzen 9 5900X, 64GB RAM.