Background. I last used Audacity around 2009 and believe I had the current version of the time. When I saved a project, I ended up with a data file and also a project file icon on my desktop. For ease I dragged and dropped all created songs into these 2 separate files. For safety, I also copied the 2 types of files onto an external hard drive.
I now have a new laptop running windows 8.I downloaded the current version of Audacity. I copied a data file and project file of one song onto the desktop. Now, when i try and open the project file form Audacity and error message comes up “cannot find data file” I tried to drag and drop them both together but still cant seem to find. Please can someone help??
For ease I dragged and dropped all created songs into these 2 separate files.
I didn’t understand that. You made a folder called something and then dragged your AUP file and _DATA folder over to it?
You must keep the AUP file and the _DATA folder in the same place or folder for Audacity to open a show. They need to be able to see each other. You may not put anything inside any _DATA folder. That may cause a show not to open.
http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/audacity_projects.html
Koz
Ok - This is what I mean by 2 files. After completing a new project which I have just done, I did the following…
FILE
SAVE PROJECT AS
SELECTED MY DESKTOP AS PLACE TO EASILY FIND AGAIN
GAVE PROJECT A NAME
CLICKED ON SAVE
MINIMIZED AUDACITY
2 ICONS APPEAR ON THE DESKTOP
1 WITH THE AUDACITY LOGO AND PROJECT NAME (.aup)
1 DATA FILE WITH THE PROJECT NAME (.au)
So now when i either open the project name from the Audacity software, or from the icon on the desktop (aup) it finds the data file.
These are the two types of file i was referring to. So, in the past, I put all the data of different projects in the 1 folder and all (aup) in the other. I still have all the (au) and (aup) files on an external hard drive. When I copy back the 2 required files of the same project to the desktop, Audacity cannot find the data file, with no browse facility for me to show where it is. I hope this makes sense.
For clarity, you should have (as well as the AUP file), a _data folder that has the same name as the AUP. That _data folder contains AU files (which are in subfolders inside the _data folder).
This will never work. DId you read the link Koz gave http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/audacity_projects.html ?
This works:
Folder A containing:
- Project1.aup
- Project2.aup
- Project3.aup
- Project1_data
- Project2_data
- Project3_data
You could also have:
Folder B containing:
- Project4.aup
- Project5.aup
- Project6.aup
- Project4_data
- Project5_data
- Project6_data
This does not work:
Folder A containing:
- Project1.aup
- Project2.aup
- Project3.aup
Folder B containing:
- Project1_data
- Project2_data
- Project3_data
It does not work because the AUP file and its _data folder with the same name must be in the same folder.
1 Open your second folder in Windows Explorer (assume it is called “Folder B”).
2 Select all the _data folders in Folder B.
3 Right-click > Copy.
4 Open your first folder (assume it is called Folder A) in Explorer.
5 Right-click in some empty space in Explorer > Paste into Folder A.
Assuming this works, you can now delete the contents of Folder B.
Gale
I would like to say I really appreciate your help but I am failing ! This is what i did step by step.
- Copied a shortcut of song1 from my external hard drive to my desktop (.aup i believe)
- Copied a shortcut of song1-data (same name) from my external hard drive to my desktop (.au I believe)
- created a new folder on my desktop and called it Song1(same name)
- Dragged and dropped files (.aup &.au) into the new folder.
Now, if i try to open song1 from within Audacity - ie OPEN/DESKTOP/SONG1 it opens the newly created song1 containing both the .au and .aup files.
If I click on the .aup an error message comes up cannot find song1_data file.
If I click on the data file (.au) I can open up one of the individual segments within it ( so I know the data is there) but thats it.
Sorry to be a pain.
All you need to do is follow the steps I gave.
Don’t copy, drag or do anything with shortcuts.
You want two things in the same folder.
The first thing you want is one of the AUP files.
The second thing you want is the _data folder of the same name as that AUP file. If the AUP is called mysong.aup, you want the folder mysong_data in the same folder as mysong.aup. This will allow Audacity to open the project.
It will not open the project if you only have the AUP file and AU files from the _data folder in the same folder. Please move those AU files back into the _data folder they came from then put that _data folder in the same folder that the AUP of the same name lives in.
Also do yourself a favour and “show hidden files and folders” and “show extensions for known file types”, so you can see what you are doing more easily. To find out how to do both these things, click this link http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/tutorials/show-hidden-files-in-windows-8/#hidden .
Gale