Operating System
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit SP1
CPU
AMD FX-8120
Zambezi 32nm Technology
RAM
8.00GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 536MHz (7-7-7-20)
Motherboard
Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-990FXA-UD3 (Socket M2)
Graphics
HP x20LED (1600x900@60Hz)
Acer P191W (1440x900@60Hz)
2048MB ATI AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series (Sapphire/PCPartner)
Strange situation…for whatever reason, my computer restarted while I was sleeping. No reason can be found, no updates were made.
4 projects were running, and were not saved…tried to recover, blank tracks now appear. The temp files are in the right spots in the local folder, but they will not load. The files are not 0 KB files; they are the full files, it would seem.
That’s a bad sign. It could indicate failing hardware, or if you were recording when the computer restarted, it could be a problem with the audio device or its drivers. You should take a look at the memory dump if you have not done so. Please see: Audacity Manual .
Leave Audacity running - it is important you do not save the empty tracks and do not quit (with or without saving changes).
Post the information from Help > Show Log… .
Navigate to UsersAppDataRoamingAudacityAutoSave and tell us what files are in there. if you don’t see AppData, follow the steps at How to see hidden files in Windows to show hidden files and folders.
Were you actually processing effects when the computer restarted, or was Audacity idle?
No, no failing hardware. No memory dump found. It is likely that the computer shut down and restarted because of the power flickering on and off, which does sometimes happen in my area. Who knows. But all the tests come up perfect, and the machine is running fine. It was a freak thing, and happened over night sometime this past weekend.
The projects were open, and no recording was being done. Just open for editing, and the machine restarted overnight. Audacity was idle.
Files in auto save:
New Project - 2014-05-22 15-49-06 N-1
New Project - 2014-05-22 15-49-07 N-2
New Project - 2014-05-22 15-49-09 N-3
New Project - 2014-05-22 15-49-11 N-4
Here is the confusing part: The temp files with the .au files are all still there.
The fact the AU files are there won’t help you recover the projects using Automatic Crash Recovery if the AUTOSAVE files are corrupted or not being read. Crashes can corrupt file and folder permissions.
I can’t suggest anything else at the moment because you have not attached the Audacity Log yet. Choose Help > Show Log… . In the window that opens, click “Log” top left, then “Save…” .
I don’t think there is anything wrong with the autosave files that should stop the projects recovering.
Then please attach it or post it somewhere, like http://www.mailbigfile.com/ and give us the web address to download it. I assume Audacity can’t read C:UsersHanielAppDataLocalTempaudacity_temp .
Do C:UsersHanielAppData or C:UsersHanielAppDataLocalTempaudacity_temp have a lock symbol when you look at them in Explorer?
According to the log, the AU data files you need for those four project windows are missing. They are either not in C:UsersHanielAppDataLocalTempaudacity_tempproject31941 (or the project11859, project28485 or project29288 folders in the same location) or they are in the wrong e00d00 folder inside the project folder.
The log will show you where each file should be.
I suggest you force quit Audacity then move the files to the correct location.
You would have to physically open Explorer to check. But the log does not show “access denied” - just that the AU files are not where they should be.
You have access to your computer, so you can see where the AU files are if you open Windows Explorer. You have said the files are in the “right place”, but Audacity cannot see them.
It is easiest to use the log you posted to ensure the files are in the correct place.
For example, the first file error is:
22:21:35: Error: can't open file 'C:UsersHanielAppDataLocalTempaudacity_tempproject31941e00d00e0000684.au' (error 2: the system cannot find the file specified.)
Therefore the file “e0000684.au” needs to be in the “d00” folder which should be inside the folder whose path is “C:UsersHanielAppDataLocalTempaudacity_tempproject31941e00”.
All Audacity is doing is reading the AUTOSAVE file which tells it that “e0000684.au” when saved was in “C:UsersHanielAppDataLocalTempaudacity_tempproject31941e00d00”.
Given that “e0000684.au” is now in some other location which you have not revealed to us, you will need to move “e0000684.au” from that unrevealed location into C:UsersHanielAppDataLocalTempaudacity_tempproject31941e00d00". Then do the same for all the other AU files.
Obviously if the problem is that an entire folder is misplaced, you can just move the folder.
The problem I am having is that the files and the folders appear to be in the correct place. This is where the confusion is, because audiacty SHOULD be seeing them…
So, this is where I am at right now…I don’t know what to do from this point forward. I do not know how to make auadcity see them…
I can’t see your computer as to where the AU files are.
I suppose it’s possible that you don’t have access to “C:UsersHanielAppDataLocalTempaudacity_temp” but Windows is not reporting it. I did ask if there was a lock symbol on that folder or on the project folders inside there, but I don’t think you answered.
If you are not “Haniel” you cannot access that other user’s folder unless you log in as administrator.
Your choices would be to right-click over the four project folders in Explorer > Properties, click the “Security” tab and ensure that all the groups you are a member of have “Full control”.
Alternatively, copy C:UsersHanielAppDataLocalTempaudacity_temp to some other location where you do have access, and adjust the datadir path in each AUTOSAVE file accordingly. For example, copy the “audacity_temp” folder to C:, then set datadir in “New Project - 2014-05-22 16-00-37 N-1.autosave” to “C:audacity_tempproject31941”. Repeat for the other three AUTOSAVE files to give the new path to audacity_temp.
I do have access, I am the only user on this computer, and everything is under my control.
Ok, this is where I think we need to focus on. I think if you can show me how to find “datadir” for the files I may be able to fix this situation. I think it is a directory path situation, but I do not understand yet how to n"get audacity to see" the path…I can copy/paste to another area but I do not know how to set the new path…I am in “preferences” and don’t know what to do next…
There has been some editing, but they are not files that were recorded through audacity…I dropped the WAVs is
Even so, computer crashes can break file permissions of a single admin user. Unless you have examined the Security properties for each of the four project folders you can’t be sure it is not a permissions problem.
The datadir for each autosave file is indicated at the top of the autosave file. For example:
Does the folder “C:UsersHanielAppDataLocalTempaudacity_tempproject31941” exist? Yes or No, please.
If no, where exactly is the folder that you believe contains the audio data for the project?
If “C:UsersHanielAppDataLocalTempaudacity_tempproject31941” exists, does it have an “e00” folder, then “d00” and other “d” folders inside that “e00” folder? If yes, and the crash did not rearrange or rename the “d” folders, then either Windows won’t let you access that folder (see above) or your drive is failing.
If you are not sure if the folder “C:UsersHanielAppDataLocalTempaudacity_tempproject31941” has the correct structure, please post a listing of the files it contains.
Navigate in Explorer to “C:UsersHanielAppDataLocalTempaudacity_temp” then open “audacity_temp” so that you can see the folder “project31941” inside it.
Hold SHIFT on your computer keyboard then right-click over the “project31941” folder.
In the menu that appears, click on “Open command window here”.
In the command prompt, type:
dir /s /o:d > listing.txt
Once the command is complete, a file called “listing.txt” will appear in the “project31941” folder. It should list all the files and folders that are in the “project 31941” folder, in date order.