I recorded a piano recital and now have 1000+ au files. I have imported them into Audacity 2.1.0, but they do not play in order. I selected All, then sorted all by start time then go to tracks and align then end to end. Also sorted by name, but did not change anything. Audacity took 60 minutes of audio and put them into 5 second increments, so now have a lot of files.
Unfortunately I do not have a project file, just the au files, which sound nice, using professional wireless mic.
You need to open the AUP file, which tells Audacity how to piece the AU files together.
Look at the name of the _data folder the AU files are in. The AUP file you want will have the same name. For example if you have a “piano_data” folder, find and open “piano.AUP”. Try opening the AUP you need from File > Recent Files in Audacity.
If you have deleted the AUP file, look in the Recycle Bin.
If you really do not have the AUP then as long as you did not edit the recording, you can try the time sorting, renaming, and recovery procedure set out on Audacity Manual.
I’d say ALWAYS export to a WAV file (or FLAC, etc.) ASAP after recording, and optionally save a project file. Then, if you are paranoid, make a backup file of the original WAV before any editing.
And since computers are the least reliable things we own, if you are recording something critical where there’s no chance of “take two”, have a 2nd backup system recording in parallel (the 2nd recorder/system doesn’t have to be a computer).