Monterey and Now My Files Won't Open

Audacity Help Forum macOS
1

Hello! SO I had just finished editing a delightful podcast and my computer started freezing, annoyingly I hadn’t saved it as an MP3 yet just as the aup3. I firstly reinstalled to a backup from end of January. When that didn’t work I took it to a Mac dude who installed Monterey saying it was the OS as I was wildly out of date. All my files for the podcast were saved on a google drive which hasn’t changed so I had hoped to just open it up on the newly updated computer but I get the following error message. The folder on my drive is called Showy Ovaries, not My Showy so I am unsure what that even means there as the path.

Anyways I was hoping so clever people may shed some light. Thanks a lot.

{
“timestamp”: 1647751246,
“event_id”: “bc29b45c1ba8404393e004e3acfa1a36”,
“platform”: “native”,
“release”: “audacity@3.1.3”,
“contexts”: {
“os”: {
“type”: “os”,
“name”: “Macintosh”,
“version”: “10.16.0”
}
},
“exception”: {
“values”: [
{
“type”: “Error_Opening_Project”,
“value”: “Failed to open database file:\n\n/My Showy ”,
“mechanism”: {
“type”: “runtime_error”,
“handled”: false,
“data”: {
“sqlite3.rc”: “10”,
“sqlite3.context”: “DBConnection::ModeConfig”,
“sqlite3.mode”: “PRAGMA .page_size = 65536;VACUUM;”,
“log”: “17:40:46: DBConnection SetDBError\n\tErrorCode: 10\n\tLastError: Failed to set page size for database /My Showy \n\tLibraryError: disk O error\n17:40:46: DBConnection SetError\n\tErrorCode: 10\n\tLastError: Failed to open database file:\n\n/My Showy \n\tLibraryError: (10): disk O error\n”
}
}
}
]
}
}

2

So you have a SQLite error code 10 = I/O Error. This could happen, for example if there was a physical device error while reading or writing to your project file. It could also happen while trying to access a non-existent data block. See: SQLite Result and Error Codes

You can try using the recovery tool described here: Corrupt or Otherwise Broken Audacity Project Recovery

Unfortunately this tool does not currently run under MacOS. If you do not have access to (or a friend with) a Windows machine, then zip up your .aup3 project file and upload it to a public file sharing service. Post (or PM me) the link. I’ll take a look at it. :smiley:

Note: The SQLite tools used by Audacity do not play well with networked drives such as Google Drive. When using these resources, it is always best to make a local copy of your project and work directly with the local copy.

3

my computer started freezing

Your computer or Audacity?

How long was the show? Lots of edits?

It’s good to resolve this on your own machine because if you don’t it may just happen again. There are forum posts that start out, “Hey, I’m back.”

As above, Audacity doesn’t get along well with External, Network, or Cloud Drives. Do all your work on the internal drive and then, with Audacity closed, you can shuffle files around to Google Drive or whatever your storage system is. This is easier with Audacity 3.1.3 because of the single aup3 project file.

Sometimes, machines may make it hard to tell which drives you’re using. Unplug your network or shut down the WiFi while you’re editing (fan symbol in the upper right, unless they changed it).

I hadn’t saved it as an MP3 yet

That can be your podcast posted file, but you should not do production in MP3. You should export your original voice work as WAV (Microsoft) and make sure you have all your music, interviews, interstitials, and bumpers saved so you can rebuild the show from the ground if you have an error we can’t fix. That may take a little longer, but how much time have you wasted so far with the show crash?

It’s a common New User Error to announce a podcast or other production, edit it, add the music or other sounds, export the MP3, and go home. As you’re noticing, a serious error anywhere in that production process can just kill the show. At minimum, announce your voice tracks and Export them as WAV (Microsoft) 16-bit sound files.

If you have interviews, it is Strongly Recommended that you export each interview as its own backup WAV file before you do anything else. I have a silly joke that there is no calling the governor back asking her to do the interview again.

Mac dude who installed Monterey saying it was the OS as I was wildly out of date.

Do you know which OS you were using? It may have been wildly out of date, but that’s probably not what caused the problem. I’m using High Sierra 10.13.6 and haven’t noticed any troubles. We note that if you use Apple Care, you will get a working machine back, but it probably won’t be your old one and it will have the most up to date OS. So that will give you an idea of precautions you need to take.

Koz

4

tools used by Audacity do not play well with networked drives such as Google Drive.

There’s reasons for that. Audacity needs to know that is has perfect control of the drive it’s using for production. In sound jobs such as overdubbing, it need to play and record with split-second perfect timing. It can’t do that if the Google service drive is in another time zone.

Koz

5

Thanks all. I solved that issue by moving the file to the desktop and that worked for some reason! Now I am trying to start a new podcast and I have imported the two sound files but it won’t let me save the project?!? ANy ideas there?

6

ANd of course it has saved fine when saved to the desktop! But I want to have all my files on my google drive for safety issues really.

7

Note: The SQLite tools used by Audacity do not play well with networked drives such as Google Drive. When using these resources, it is always best to make a local copy of your project and work directly with the local copy.

I have been using Audacity and google drive since October on my old system which I think was High Sierra too with zero issues??

8

What version of Audacity were you using on your “old” system? If it was previous to 3.0.0 then it did not use SQLite.

You’ve demonstrated that you have no problem opening and saving files when they are on your local drive, but do have problems opening and saving files from/to google drive. The solution (although inelegant) seems to be to copy the files from google to your local drive. Edit, save and export on the local drive, then copy the edited project (and any exported files) to the google drive for backup

– Bill

9

But I want to have all my files on my google drive for safety issues really.

Create a folder on your local drive and point Audacity at it instead of Google Drive. Then move or copy the files from that folder to Google Drive using the Mac tools, not Audacity. Move them back the same way in reverse.

Promotion and Publicity wants Google Drive to appear and work just like a local drive. The last time I tried it, it even looked like a normal drive icon on the desktop. It is not a local drive. It may look like one to you, but not to Audacity.

I have been using Audacity and google drive since October on my old system which I think was High Sierra too with zero issues??

The Network/Cloud drive thing is a known stability issue.

You may have got lucky. It happens. There was a forum poster who connected his machine and Audacity to Skype and produced a successful movie production commentary podcast with his brother in a different state. Recorded and edited perfectly.

Nobody else on earth could make a similar show work using his settings. He was a celebrity Unicorn.

Koz

10

Nobody else on earth could make a similar show work using his settings. He was a celebrity Unicorn.

And I so wanted to be a celebrity unicorn, lol. I record the files on Zencaster with remote guests BUT no unicorns in sight.

Yeah seems that’s what I’ll have to do and inelegant is one word for it. Thanks all. At least my computer isn’t freezing and stuttering now I guess. It was the computer as a whole that suddenly seized, not just audacity. Cheers