Recording "slows down" after one hour of recording

[Fk-Trampe]

Hey

We use audacity to make live recordings. We use the mixer's matrix to get the master output. But, after about one hour in the recording, the rest of the recording is slowed down, almost like pitched down. We use windows XP, 2GB RAM, a very good sound card (couldnt really figure out it's name) and an IDE hard drive.

I think it might be Buffering or maybe the hard drive, but i'd like to see if anyone got an answer to this

Thnx

Niklas

[steve]

How much space is there on your C: drive?
When was the last time you defragmented it?
Check that you don't have any heavy background processes kicking in (such as Windows Update, or a virus checker scan)

[Fk-Trampe]

There's about 51 hours record time left on the D drive, the C drive only has windows installed, it's not connected to the internet or used for anything else than audacity.

We haven't defragmented it, but we only bought it like 6 months ago...

[steve]

There's about 51 hours record time left on the D drive, the C drive only has windows installed,

By default, Audacity stores its data in a temporary folder on the C: drive, so free space on the C: drive is important.
Once you have "Saved" the project, Audacity will use the project data folder instead, so if you want to be sure that Audacity is writing to the D: drive, save the project before you start recording.

Just because he computer is not connected to the internet will not stop Windows from trying to update . To stop Windows from trying, you need to disable automatic updates in the control panel. Also worth using the Task Manager to check what else is running. If your machine came with Windows pre-installed, many manufacturers have a nasty habit of installing all sorts of rubbish for you.

It is not generally recommended to record onto an external hard drive as data bottlenecks can occur - I'm hoping your D: drive is an internal drive.

Even after 6 months, it's worth checking if defragmentation is necessary. Windows XP defrag utility allows you to "analyse" the disks and tells you if defragmenting is required.