Error Opening Project: Couldn't find the project data folder [SOLVED]

Audacity 3 Help Forum Windows
1

I am using Windows 10, using Audacity 2.3.0

First of all I already checked the FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) in the Online User Manual. It advises to make sure I have the updated version. I do have the updated version while this problem occur.


To be honest I need help for 2 things. One is when I was editing my record. The second is this problem right now, I can’t open my project. So I think I have to let go of my problem while editing my record. Since, I can no longer open, my record. But I’d like to get back to that once this problem, hopefully, be solved.


Here’s what I’m trying to do. I am trying to open the project, that I have been working on, with my whole soul, but then I have this error messages. (please check attached images) It says on the error message, "couldn’t find the project data folder: “the Greats1_data” and there’s no other option but to click ok. So there’s nothing that I can do about it but click ok. Then another error came up, it solidified that the project that I was working on could not load. I have been working on to this project since yesterday. Earlier it loaded up. I did some editing. Then I think I just got my attention to something else, for just a few minutes, then I came back to my record, tried to listen to it, and there was no sound! So I saved the project, and closed. And tried to re open it, but this is the error that I am getting now. I don’t know why it happened. Actually, this was not the first time it happened. Just recently, I was trying to make this project record, the EXACT same thing happened to what I was doing. So this is very discouraging. To be very honest. Imagine you are giving your heart out to a record that you are trying to perfect, then all of the sudden it wouldn’t open, can you imaging how FRUSTRATING that is, given that it happened TWICE?
Sorry if I have to say it.
Can I still retrieve this file? If yes what must I do to retrieve it?
If I can’t retrieve it anymore, what must I do to avoid this from happening ever again?

would you consider me doing reinstalling the software?
would you consider me reformatting my laptop?

  • If yes, If I do these things, are you gonna be sure that this issue will not going to happen again?


    Now if you think I don’t have to do these things, and that there’s something you can do to have this project retrieve, please let me know.

And may you please give any ADVISE so it will not happen anymore ever again?


Thanks for reading.
error message1.png
error message.png

2

It looks like you have renamed “Willow Donato - the Greats.aup” file to “the Greats1.aup” and moved it into “Willow Donato - the Greats_data” folder?
Is that what you did?

See here about how to manage Audacity projects safely: https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/audacity_projects.html

3

Yes I did that. Thanks. Didn’t know project name could be an issue.
I’ll check the link.

4

ow well I guess I couldn’t retrieve it and just start again tomorrow.

thanks for the link steve… and for helping me figure out what I am doing wrong.

5

You may be able to retrieve it if you can put everything back where is was.

My guess would be that just moving “the Greats1.aup” back out from the “Willow Donato - the Greats_data” folder (so that it sits “beside” that folder rather than “in” that folder) may be enough to fix it.

6

THE AUP is a text file that tells Audacity what to do with all that stuff in the_DATA folder of the same name. The show name is burned into the AUP file and if you don’t remember what the original name was, you can open the AUP file in a text editor and read it.

The AUP file and the _DATA have to be in the same location or folder. They will not go looking for each other across the computer file system.

You can also mess this up if you put punctuation marks in a show name. Upper case, lower case, numbers, -dash- and underscore are the only safe characters for filenames.

Koz

7

Hey Koz and Steve thank you for helping. Obviously I am a beginner. I thought for a moment Audacity is really complicated or like there’s a problem with this software, but when I get responses from you, it’s like you can tell simply what I did wrong and it was not audacity’s fault, it was literally my fault, being a beginner. But I oath to master this, and be professional at editing my music…
any ways, I have to start from the scratch and you may mark this thread Solved if you want because you really did help me understand what I am doing wrong…
thanks again.