Can't save project, paths in logfile weird

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

Hello,
I had trouble saving a project of a single 4h recording in mono, 24-bit, 96kHz. I saw the posting regarding the “large file problem” and realized I wouldn’t be able to open it anyway in 2.0.5, so just did a flac export instead. The error message was pretty unspecified, suggesting disk space as a culprit (not even close to full).
However, that warning about large files didn’t indicate saving issues, and the logfile look mighty weird.
I have ended up with project folders both on D: (my data partition) and within C:Program FilesAudacity, although only the D: path was used for saving. There seems to be extensive nesting of folders as well, giving folders like C:Program FilesAudacitybudoirfällan_datae00d00e0000a0f.aue00d05 (and others with even more levels).
The log file enclosed comprises three attempts at saving the project, also with a different name (not using extended character ä in case that was the issue).

Only my second saved project (the first one went ok) total with audacity 2.x, so can’t say whether it’s recurring or not.

Audacity 2.0.5, Win7 x86, 4 (well 3.75)GB RAM
log.rar (87.6 KB)

2

At 96000 Hz you can save about 6.2 hours per track as a project in 2.0.5.

Four hours of 24-bit 96000 Hz FLAC export will be too large on Windows - the file size is limited to 2 GB so you will only get about 3 hours or less.

What were you doing when you saw an error - exporting FLAC or saving a project?

Sorry but that sentence is not understandable English.

So what exactly is the current problem? Can you open the project you saved?

You have to be logged in as administrator to save to Program Files.

If you have Windows Explorer open at an Audacity folder or a security suite is monitoring Audacity folders, you may not be able to save projects.

If Windows Explorer shows lock symbols on folders you won’t be able to save there.



Gale

3

At 96000 Hz you can save about 6.2 hours per track as a project in 2.0.5.

Four hours of 24-bit 96000 Hz FLAC export will be too large on Windows - the file size is limited to 2 GB so you will only get about 3 hours or less.

I just noticed that it was cut off. I’m trying other formats to export to now, no luck with .au - my linux workstation would play the file in media players, but in audacity it’s just noise.
I would have resampled and reduced bit depth, but the track is to be mixed, so I would like the extra ‘headroom’.

What were you doing when you saw an error - exporting FLAC or saving a project?

Saving the project.

Sorry but that sentence is not understandable English.

Sorry if it was unclear. Out of all my audacity usage, this is only the second time I actually saved (or tried to) a recording as a project, as opposed to exporting it to another format directly, using the 2.x branch. A recording a few weeks back, also 24/96 but only about 3h, was saved as a project successfully using the same computer.

So what exactly is the current problem? Can you open the project you saved?

I can’t save the project. :slight_smile: I have the laptop used for the recording in hibernation now so I won’t lose the recording for any reason. So far, the 24/96 exports I have made are not usable on other machines (or rather, in audacity on other machines).

You have to be logged in as administrator to save to Program Files.

I wasn’t trying to save to Program Files. Always tried to save to my data drive (D:). I just noticed in the log that audacity had taken it upon itself to start making folders in C:Program FilesAudacity.
It just made folder structures tho, no actual files are in there, save for the C:Program FilesAudacitye00 folder.

Hence this report, it seems to me that Audacity somehow mucks up the paths of the files it’s trying to make for the project. Especially since objects that are supposed to be files (*.au) are made into folders instead as indicated by the path I reported, C:Program FilesAudacitybudoirfällan_datae00d00e0000a0f.aue00d05.
And as the logfile shows, audacity can’t find those files for obvious reasons.

Upon further examination, it appears that the one save at least PARTLY saved the project, as the D:buddingtrap_data folder has about 640MB of files in it.
The C:Program FilesAudacitye00 tree has about 3.75GB of data in it, so some of it was saved (albeit in strange places).
I enclose a tab separated directory listing of the C:Program FilesAudacity folder and subfolders so you can see it for yourself.
audacityfolder.rar (60.5 KB)

4

I would suggest you export each track as RF64. See this link . Choose “Signed 24 bit PCM” in “Encoding”. Then reboot the computer, import the RF64 files into a new project and try saving that.

If you have project-specific data like envelope points that you must retain, I suggest you export RF64 files as backups, then force quit the project in Task Manager. Reboot and restart Audacity and the project should be recovered correctly. This may give Audacity another chance to save a project from the data in the temporary folder.

Audacity does sometimes have issues saving projects (or the AUTOSAVE file) but can still export (even to the same folder that you attempt to save to). It is not known what the exact problem is, not have I seen the behaviour you mention where incorrect folder structures are created. Is the data in the Audacity temp folder correctly structured, that is the only folders in “audacityaudacity_tempproject11721” are “e00” then “d” folders within “e00”?

Even if we had your temporary data and AUTOSAVE file there is a high probability we would be able to save the project as this is a “moonphase” not-repeatable issue. It could be that you have the Audacity temp folder open in Windows Explorer or you have an anti-virus program scanning it.


Gale