"DISK SPACE REMAINING TIME FOR RECORDING yy minutes"

[cosmiclight22]

Hi
I am totally new here and I am having hard time understanding how the software works, can anyone help me with this following subject please:
As soon as I try to record a speech, it appears this message saying that THE DISK SPACE REMAINING TIME IS : only 39 minutes, but i need to record a speech of 60 minutes length

I have changed already the options to >recording in mono instead of stereo (on the Audio I/O tab of Preferences) and in 16 bit instead of 32 bit, but I still get same msg
I do not have many audio files in my hard drive, not more than 2 anyway, and I do not know how to switch to a different disk with more space
Would deleting photo files also help?

Or, would the Beta version be better for me in this case? Does it have also a limit for disk space time? Yes? No?
Or, can you tell me how can I switch to a different disk with more space, within my same PC?

Can someone please help me with this questions, i really would appreciate it very much
Thanks a lot in advance
Anna

[steve]

Audacity 1.2.x is very old and no longer supported. Upgrading to Audacity 1.3.12 is highly recommended.

I have changed already the options to >recording in mono instead of stereo (on the Audio I/O tab of Preferences) and in 16 bit instead of 32 bit, but I still get same msg

I'm not sure why that is happening, I've tested 1.2.6 and 1.3.12 and the time remaining changes if the sample format is changed.
16 minutes remaining would indicate that your computer is very low on free disk space on the default hard drive.

How much free space does your computer have, and what is the total capacity of the hard drive?
Do you have more than one hard drive? (please specify whether internal or external)

[cosmiclight22]

Hi thanks for replying
it says I have 39 minutes left, not 16
But yes, I am using only 16 bit format and it still gives me the same remaining time, actually no it does not even let me choose format anymore, if I try to change format to 32 bit, it closes the software and gives me an error msg

The only info I can see it is the following:
FREE SPACE : 190 MB
TOTAL SIZE: 11.2 GB
Intel Pentium III processor
597 MHz 320 MB of RAM
what else can I delete that takes lot of space?
And yes, the drive is internal

Could you advise me please?
Thanks a lot
Anna

[steve]

if I try to change format to 32 bit, it closes the software and gives me an error msg

That's another issue that we can look at later, but upgrading to Audacity 1.3.12 may fix that.

FREE SPACE : 190 MB
TOTAL SIZE: 11.2 GB

That's running pretty close to edge. Windows machines should have at least 10% free disk space at all times otherwise you get lots of file fragmentation on the disk and not enough space to defragment. Also, on occasion Windows will want to increase the size of the swap file, which can eat up the remaining space and crash the computer.

Which version of Windows are you using?

what else can I delete that takes lot of space?

That depends on what you have on your computer.

Video files take up a lot of room, so if you have any downloaded video you could transfer them to DVD.

Adobe Acrobat reader has a habit of growing huge over time. If you have that installed you could uninstall it, then manually delete the Acrobat reader folder from the hard drive and replace it with Foxit reader (which is very much smaller but still allows you to view acrobat pdf files).

Treesize Free may help you to determine where the major disk usage is. http://www.jam-software.com/freeware/index.shtml

[cosmiclight22]

Hi again
thanks so much for your help
My Windows version is XP 2002 home version

Where would I find Foxit (that substitutes Acrobat reader)?
I think the reason why there is so little space is because my defragger does not work any more and any one that I have downloaded so far, it eventually stops at 60% saying that it cannot go further, I do not know why, maybe as I have not defragged for so long, it is too fragmented and impossible to defragment with any free software I try
Anyway, is the version 1.3 the Beta version?
If so, isn't that only good for Windows 7? Or can I download it
Would I need to unistall 1,2 first yes? No?
Thanks again
Annalena

[steve]

Where would I find Foxit (that substitutes Acrobat reader)?

http://tinyurl.com/dgmj5h

it eventually stops at 60% saying that it cannot go further, I do not know why,

Probably because you do not have enough free disk space.
Windows XP has a defragmentation utility built in, but you will probably need to make more free disk space before it will fully work.

There is also a free defragmentation program which I think works better (and faster) than the standard Windows utility
You can download Defraggler from here: http://www.piriform.com/defraggler

Anyway, is the version 1.3 the Beta version?

Yes. This is the only version that is currently being developed. 1.3.12 works very well on XP - I use it daily on my work machine (Windows XP).

You do not need to uninstall 1.2 first, but as your hard drive is quite small I would suggest that once you are satisfied that 1.3.12 works on your machine you uninstall 1.2.
You cannot have both versions open at the same time, and projects saved by 1.3.12 cannot be opened in 1.2.

[cosmiclight22]

HI Steve
you are a wonderful person, thank you so much for all the advises, I do not know how to thank you, they are so very useful

I will download the defragger, (hopefully it will not take much disk space lol) and then I will delete the Acrobat reader
I will also download the Beta version see if it is better

Another last question: do you have any advises on how to remove white and other background noises , is there a control button for that in the Audacious? I have a very good microphone and with the other Freerecorder it does not give me this problem
And it is totally quite when I try, so there must be something that I am not doing right, as there is lot of strange noise and vibrations when I play it back
Thanks a lot
Analena

[steve]

I will download the defragger, (hopefully it will not take much disk space lol) and then I will delete the Acrobat reader

I'd recommend making more free space before you try defragging.
Definitely empty your trash and browser cache before defragging.

With a 11 GB drive, for Windows you should always have a minimum of 1 GB free space - preferably more.
To work on a 60 minute project in Audacity you should have a minimum of 2 GB free space in addition to the already mentioned 1 GB. (You are going to need to remove a lot of stuff).

Another last question: do you have any advises on how to remove white and other background noises

Best to avoid the noise in the first place. Ensure that you are recording at a good level - speak close to the microphone but avoid blowing on it.
This is really a different topic, so once you have the free space and defrag issues resolved, start a new topic (also have a browse of the forum - there's already a lot of recording tips in other posts).

[cosmiclight22]

Thanks for the answer
I did clean my disk, worked for 3 hours, lots of huge photo files I did not know I had, removed also lot of Videos I did not know I had, and lot of media files, lot of Audio files and temp files, huge cleaning, hundreds and hundreds of huge files, cache and and word files, emptied the recycle bin after wards and cleared the browser temp and cache files, and restarted my PC
So before cleaning the free disk space was 190 MB, but now, after removing lots and lots of big files and make space, the free disk space is less, is in fact only 135 MB , (before it was 190) and a little window is popping up saying that I have too low disk space, I had those huge files on my PC for years, and I have never seen this little window so something must be really wrong, I do not know what it is, i wonder if it was the removing of all files that created this troubleshooting?

Or can you tell me if that it is because of the downloading the Audacity software that there is this strange conflict in my PC now? It is impossible that after all that cleaning, the space is less, it should be more

And now when I try to record it gives me even less disk time remaining than before, before the cleaning it was 40 min, now is only 25 min
Can you please or someone help me?
Thanks a lot
Anna

[steve]

With all of the disk activity involved in deleting those files, Windows may have increased the swap file size. (by default, Windows allocates disk space to the swap file dynamically according to its perceived need).
Try rebooting, then run Windows for a while without being too demanding, then reboot again. This will allow Windows time to "settle down".
Then check the free space again.

There is a (small) free utility that is excellent at removing junk from the system called "CCleaner" http://www.piriform.com/
I always install this on my XP machines as it provides a quick, easy and safe way to remove lots of junk (mostly deleted and temporary files).

To check the current size of the swap file:
Right click on "My computer" and select "Properties.
Select the "Advanced" tab.
Click on the "Performance > Settings" button.
Click on the "Advanced" tab.

Near the bottom of this window it will say "Virtual memory" and there will be a number indicating the size. Typically this will be around 750 MB.