Audacity Forum

help!

I used "EXPORT AS WAV" for hour long recording (done successfully many times past) and now have only 17 minutes.
I have plenty of space and there was no error message during the export. I can't find any .au files at all. I did locate the directory but it is empty. is there anything I can do now? unfortunately my tape backup was malfunctioning also...

any information and help would be GREATLY Appreciated!!! Thanks!


also, recently on 2 different computers, the recording continued but the input went blank after about 15 minutes. I had to stop, export what I did have, and restart Audacity a few times before I could get the signal back....any ideas?

Thanks Again for any help!
Ro

Good thing I saw this!

I'm having the exact same problem! I downloaded a conversation from mp3, converted to wav to edit, didn't finish, so saved my progess in wav and mp3. Now when I try to re-open to edit, something like 20 minutes are "silent" and it won't play. But it will let me edit....weird.

I, too, went to the original to start over and it had also been compressed. Ahhhh!

Obviously, this is quite alarming! If anyone can offer us ladies a hint, that would be great!

1) Make sure that you use "Export", and not "Export Selection" - the latter will only export the audio that is currently selected.
2) Re. the recording problem - would you by any chance be recording from a USB turntable?

<<<I'm having the exact same problem! >>>

I don't think that's correct. The first poster was trying to capture a live recording. You are trying to manage a downloaded MP3. At the end of the day, you both had similar symptoms, but we have to worry about the beginning of the day as well.

<<<unfortunately my tape backup was malfunctioning also...>>>

Making it sound like they both dropped dead at the same time. Is that what you meant?

Koz

no. the tape player was not set to auto reverse! (operator error on that one) so, they are not related as far as incidence of power or some other problem, just concurrent unrelated problems CAUSING me to seek to understand Audacity better.

I was monitoring with headphones and playthrough fxn so I heard it being inputted all the way through.
when I exported to wav there was no indication there was a problem with memory or any other issue (still had 1.4GB on drive)
I'm thinking if it crashed or had I "SAVED" it I'd have .au temp files (I'm still hoping I have them but just can't find them)is this possible?

the input I'm using from the mixer is called "FAST TRACK PRO" so I can have a USB in to my computer-if this is unplugged before the final export, would it have an effect....don't see why but still slightly baffled

I like Audacity and will continue to use it. I've decided to save, export as wav, mp3 AND if I can burn a cd right then even before editing or closing Audacity I will.

1.4 GB is not "plenty of space" if you are doing an hour long recording. it is barely enough.

Think of an audio CD - around 1 hour of music in around 700 MB (0.7 GB)
If you do any edits on your recording (for example if you "Normalize"), then Audacity needs to make a second copy of the data so that you can "undo" the operation. That brings it up to 1.4 GB. Now when you "Export", Audacity needs to copy 0.7 GB to make the Exported Audio file - that's now 2.1 GB - no it's not, that's Audacity crashing because there is no disk space.

With 1.4 GB free space, you may just be able to record and export with no editing at all, but only just - you are cutting it very fine. On Windows, hard drives should have at least 10% free space at all times. Also, as the % of used drive space increases, fragmentation occurs at a high rate because the operating system is hunting around for gaps on the hard drive to put files. This decreases disk performance and can lead to gaps, clicks and pops in the audio, or even the system freezing.

I meant I had 1.4 GB after the export, but I see that's not much, esp for audio. for expl right now I have almost 10 is that ok?

You should be OK with 10 GB free space, but you will need to keep a close eye on how much is available - editing large projects can use up space at an alarming rate and running out of space will cause Audacity (and most other programs) to crash very badly. Also, keep an eye on fragmentation - you may need to defragment quite often to avoid problems. The better alternative is to edit smaller files when possible. For example, if you are recording and editing an album, as soon as you have it recorded, split into two and Export each half as a separate wav file, then close Audacity and restart it and work on one of the files at a time. Audacity clears out its temporary files when it is closed.