I have a Zorin v19 distro. I installed Audacity 3.4.2 using the package option (not flatpak or snap). I got it set up with my USB codecs, no problem, but when I tried to load an existing project from a drive that I had used in my Windows 11 system, I got an error that said “Failed to open database file”, then showed the path to the particular file. However - if I selected an mp2 file from the same folder, it loaded up just fine. Also, if I copy the file from the NTFS drive to my documents folder in Linux, it opens just fine.
All of the .aup files were made with Audacity 3.4.
I’m kind of stuck right now.
.aup / .aup3 are Audacity project files, no sound files. Audacity 3.x does not make .aup files, but aup3 files. And .mp2 is something different: sound files.
Right. The underlying AUP3 database format requires a local NTFS or exFAT drive.
System Requirements
Just to clarify, I have been using Audacity for years, and am very familiar with the difference between a project file and a sound file. I also realize I forgot to add the ‘3’ when I referenced .aup in original post.
Re the drives - my Audacity setup in Windows uses the SSD with the Windows install, and I use the external 1TB HD for my projects. I have never had an issue with accessing or using that arrangement. My Linux distro uses a separate SATA 500GB SSD on the same machine, so data access should be the same when using the 1TB HD. I have had similar issues (i.e. can’t open from HD, but same file copied to SSD worked fine) with other apps on Linux where I needed to access a separate HD, and in two cases, the apps were installed with flatpak (which I had never heard of before) and a fairly simple script in terminal resolved the problem. However, Audacity was not installed using flatpak, it was with the Zorin (Ubuntu based) built-in package install system. I have to think there is some kind of permission or something that needs to be set to allow this, as I need both Windows and Linux to be able to share this drive.
The real issue is, why can I open a sound file (MP2) from the same location with no problem, but cannot open a project file? It is not an HD access issue, otherwise the MP2 file would not load. There is something else going on here.
I agree it is perplexing that it works on one platform and not the other. However, DVDdoug’s previous post about needing fast local storage (ie not USB) is oft-repeated on the forum. I use Linux too (Mint MATE 21.3) and I use the AppImage of 3.7.7 successfully. I have Win 10 as well but don’t use it much.
My feeling is that you have the seed of the solution in your own original post. Copy the project from the USB drive to your internal drive for editing/processing, save it there and then copy back to the USB drive when it’s all finished. That’s the way I, and many others, do it.
I hope that is some help.
I appreciate your comments! Here’s the log entry that occurs when the file fails to load:
“LastError: Failed to set page size for database /mnt/864EEB294EEB10AB/Documents/Audacity”
Does this give any clues?
I certainly could go through the process you described, but believe that there has to make this process seamless, as I have been able to do with my other apps. I’ll keep looking…
I’m afraid not. Maybe try Google or ChatGPT.
I wish you luck but I suspect you will get variations on “that’s not how Audacity is meant to be used”.
Now I feel kinda stupid. I re-installed Audacity using the pkg manager. I tried opening a file in the HD folder by double clicking on it. This resulted in a message that said that file was made with a later version than the one I had installed, which was 3.4…something.
So, I booted up W11, and found that my Windows install was 3.7.7 - Hmmmm….
Re-booted Zorin, went directly to Audacity website, and got the lates Linux version which was…3.7.7.
I installed it, and it works exactly like I want, opening the existing files no problem, so it appears it was a version issue all along. Sigh…
Thanks to all who were offering suggestions!