I created a 7 track song in Audacity 2.0.2 and wanted to edit it in my newer faster macbookpro laptop on which I just downloaded Audacity 2.0.5. I tried to used Dropbox to transfer the files, but when I retrieved them they’re all broken up into hundreds of tiny files that I have no idea how to put back together again. Anyone have any idea how to do this? Thanks
Projects work in just the same way when transferring them to another computer. That is you need to open the AUP file, not the AU files in the _data folder. Also if the project contains imported WAV or AIFF files, you need to choose File > Check Dependencies… and copy the WAV or AIFF files in if necessary before saving the project and transferring it to another computer.
Once saved without dependencies, make a zip file containing the AUP file and the _data folder for the project, then extract the ZIP on the new computer and open the AUP file.
Note that if the other machine was not a Mac, ZIP files may have issues with any Unicode characters in the project. So for transferring to a machine on another operating platform, you would ensure the file name, labels and track names only contained a to z characters, numbers or hyphen-minus.
Please see this page for more details: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Sending_your_work_to_others .
Gale
Thanks Gale, for your answer.
The problem is I didn’t put the project in a zip file before sending it. I wanted to work on the individual tracks in the other Mac (both computers are Macs) and so couldn’t turn the project into a WAV or anything else, because the tracks would be mixed down and I wouldn’t be able to work on them individually.
The result was, I received a zip file named e00 that had a folder named the same, which in turn had 7 sub folders, each filled with hundreds of .au files. There was also a text file separately. There is no AUP file anywhere to open.
The question remains: can these 7 sub folders filled with .au files be put back together again?
Thanks, Joe
You don’t absolutely have to use ZIP. If you actually have a way to download a folder from a server, which I think you can on dropbox, then you could just move the AUP file and the _data folder to the server, then download the AUP file and the _data folder to the other computer. But without the AUP file there is no way to know the correct order of the AU files.
ZIP is much simpler for most users. If the ZIP application works correctly it should retain the folder structure for you.
If all the tracks start at time zero you can do it easily using File > Export Multiple… .
If some of the tracks don’t start until after zero, see here: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/save-each-track-in-project-but-preserving-blank-space/32184/2 .
That structure could not be opened even if you had the AUP file.
The structure of the _data folder for the project is that it has an “e00” folder. Inside “e00” are one or more “d” folders starting from “d00”. Each “d” folder contains up to 256 AU files.
There should not be any text file, only an AUP file. Attach the text file here. Please see here for how to attach files: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/how-to-attach-files-to-forum-posts/24026/1 . The text file may be the AUP file.
Generally it sounds like your zip application is completely broken. You can use the Mac to zip files (it is called “Compress”). See: http://support.apple.com/kb/ph4048 .
Yes if you correct the structure of the _data folder and if you have the AUP file. The AUP file must have same name as the _data folder, for example “My 7 tracks.AUP” and “My 7 tracks_data”. The AUP file must be in the same folder that the _data folder is in. The AUP file must not be inside the _data folder.
I would suggest you go back to the other computer and export separate WAV files for each track, or zip the project up again with a proper zip compression utility.
Gale
Hi Gale, thank you so much for your detailed answer. I have attached the text.aup file below. What I didn’t say before was I’d never used dropbox before and I just dragged the original .aup file and it’s data file directly into dropbox, then sent it to the other computer.
Now when I open up the original file, it gives me the orphan file message and there are chunks of data missing (This was the 4th version of the song, so I guess I failed to use the check dependancies feature and have a partial song).
And on the destination computer I am stuck with the e00 file, this text.aup file and all the .au files. Can they be reassembled?
Thanks for your patience.
It’s You That’s Gone3.aup.txt (425 KB)
The AUP file appears viable, assuming the lower tracks are meant to have numerous short clips.
There is no data file, it’s a _data folder. The _data folder should be called “It’s You That’s Gone3_data”.
If dropbox corrupted the folder structure, or forces you to download the contents of the subfolders rather than drag the entire _data folder “as is” to your computer, I suggest you zip (compress) the AUP and _data folder next time.
According to the AUP file, your project does not have any dependencies (it does not mention “aliasfile” which would indicate dependencies).
Dependencies only occur if you import a WAV or AIFF file without copying it into the project. If you set the Import / Export Preferences to “Make a copy of uncompressed audio files before editing (safer)” then there will never be dependencies.
I can understand that you see “missing audio data block files” errors if the structure of the _data folder is corrupted. Make sure you retrieved all the subfolders from dropbox.
I am not sure why you see “orphan” messages (which mean that the _data folder contains AU files not listed in the AUP file). The only obvious explanation I can think of is that you sent the project to dropbox while it was still open in Audacity. If so, the orphans are files that were meant to allow undo and redo while the project was open, and they will not be a problem for opening the project correctly.
There should be no “e00” file. There should be an “e00” folder containing “d” folders as I described.
It looks from the names of the AU files listed in the AUP file that there should be more than seven “d” folders.
Can you go back to the other computer and make a proper zip of the project or export the tracks? That is likely to be much easier. If you no longer have that computer, then please post the log messages from Help > Show Log… after opening the project. This is a bit tedious, you will have to open the log, drag-select from the top of the log window to the bottom, then COMMAND + C to copy the selection and COMMAND + V to paste here.
Gale