Crashed while recording, error message at recovery (SOLVED)

Audacity Help Forum GNU/Linux
1

Hi,

First time posting on the forums here. I’m very new to audacity, and new to Ubuntu 12.04.3 LTS as well, but I’m a quick learner! :slight_smile: I record a weekly podcast and went over our allotted time this week. So much so, apparently, that I ran out of disk space and audacity crashed on me. I saved the file previous to the beginning of recording, but that’s it. When I tried to reopen it I received a prompt asking me whether or not to recover the files. I attempted to do so automatically, but it immediately gave me the error: “Error: not well-formed (invalid token) at line 8252.” I checked the FAQs and all related threads and from there deduced that I should open the *.aup file with a text editor, if only to check line 8252 for incorrect characters. However, the only text that appears when I do this is as follows:

<?xml version="1.0" standalone="no" ?> -----------

Obviously there are nowhere near 8252 lines, and I’m at a loss. I assume my next step would be to rename the *.au files in sequential order sorted by timestamp as the manual recovery page states, but figured I’d post here first just to double check that there isn’t a simpler fix to the *.aup file or the recovery process in general. Also, audacity claims from the ‘about’ option in the program that it is version 2.0.0, but the text in the *.aup file clearly states a file version of 1.3.0?

Thank you, in advance, for any and all help you can give me in this matter; I truly appreciate it.

-Joe

2

Have a look in /home//.audacity-data/AutoSave/ for a file with the file extension .autosave.
Make two copies of that file. One as a back-up and one to work with.

Open up one of the copies in a text editor.
The file is in XML format, which uses “tags” around each item in the form:

<tag1 optional-parameter=0.12345>
  <sub-item optional-parameter=0.345>
    <some-data param1="something" param2="something else" />
  </sub-item>
<tag1 optional-parameter=0.12345>
  <sub-item optional-parameter=0.345>
    <some-data param1="something" param2="something else" />
  </sub-item>
</tag1>

Note that each has a matching to “close” the tag, except for the innermost data tag which has “/>” at the end to close it.

The autosave file is an “AUP” file, and it will have at least the final tag missing. If you are very lucky that will be the only thing missing, but there is probably some corrupt data at the end of the file. You will need to delete any corrupt data from the end of the file, and then ensure that each remaining open tag is closed. When you have done that, change the file extension from .autosave to .aup and put it in the same folder location as the project _data folder. Rename the original .autsave file, then try and open your modified file.

Good luck.

3

Steve,

I followed your instructions implicitly and apart from the ending of the episode, which I can edit/re-record appropriately, the project is saved! I can’t thank you enough good sir for your timely and uber-helpful reply, and I hope you have a splendid day filled with the joy of knowing that you severely brightened my day. Moreover, I’m sure our listeners will be grateful as well. Cheers!

-Joe