Is there any way to prevent data loss?

[brokencrystal]

I have Windows 11 and am using an HP Victus Laptop. Sometimes when I am editing files, my system will crash and it will give me the option to recover data when I restart my computer and open Audacity. But then it says that the file is open in another window and close Audacity, then delete all my files. Is there a way to prevent this so I don’t always have to restart my projects?

[DVDdoug]

Back ups? Frequent backups if you are doing lots of things that you don’t want to repeat.

I recommend making WAV or FLAC backups whether you’re making an AUP3 project file or not. If you’re recording, export as WAV or FLAC immediately after recording. These “standard” audio formats are simpler and more robust than project files.

Or if Audacity isn’t reliable for you, try Ocenaudio (free) or GoldWave ($60 for lifetime license).

Luckily, I’ve never had Audacity crash…

[Wrecks0]

I don’t save after every delete and envelope, but I save a wav file every time I use one of the options in the Effects menu with a filename telling me what I did. Not just for backing up, but also to give me a restore point that is more descriptive than the Undo command in the Edit menu.

[Wrecks0]

Sorry about hijacking another thread.

Thinking about it, Audacity needs nodes. So we can add or remove an effect without having to redo everything after that.