can't export to .WAV

[newbie6]

I'm using 1.2.6 on Windows Me (disc FAT32 150 GB) and can't save any recording longer than a minute or so. The recording process from vinyl seems to work properly (stereo 44100 Hz) but when I save project it produces a hundred little 1MB files, then crashes when I try to reload it. Export to .WAV only works if the .WAV file is very small; with a 100 MB file I get the progress indicator, everything looks normal, but the .WAV file is deleted when I exit Audacity.

Is this a problem with this version? Or, am I doing something dumb?

[steve]

The recording process from vinyl seems to work properly (stereo 44100 Hz) but when I save project it produces a hundred little 1MB files

Audacity projects are NOT audio files. See here: http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... ement_Tips

How much free and unfragmented space do you have?

[newbie6]

I understand that Audacity files are not audio, but saving project should allow me to reload it to try saving again with something set differently. The Audacity file sizes add up to what they should be.

I've about 120 GB free, almost entirely defragged. I've recorded 4 GB videos on the system several times, so large files themselves aren't the problem.

[steve]

Audacity 1.2.6 should work with Windows ME. There have been other ME users on this forum that have used it successfully, so it seems that something rather odd is going on.

The first thing that I would try, is resetting the Audacity Preferences.
http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php? ... o_defaults

Then as a test, generate 10 minutes of a tone and try and export it (using all the default settings).

If that still fails:

Download a new copy of Audacity from the main Audacity web site, uninstall/delete the installed version and delete the registry entries (to reset the preferences again). Then install the new version and test again.

[newbie6]

I've got it working. Record, export, then before exiting Audacity copy the WAV file into a directory that Audacity doesn't know anything about using Windows' drag-and-drop. Exit Audacity, it erases everything, but the sneaked-over copy is fine.

You have some work to do on your Windows interface.

[steve]

You have some work to do on your Windows interface.

Audacity 1.2.6 is quite old now (as is Windows ME) and is no longer being developed. All current development is in Audacity 1.3.x beta
The next "stable" release of Audacity will be 1.4.0 which will be based on 1.3.x beta

I'm glad you've found a work around, though the problem does seem very strange. It may be worth trying Audacity 1.3.5 to see if that cures the problem - you can have both 1.2.x and 1.3.x on the same machine at the same time, though you should not run them simultaneously. Audacity 1.3.x will open 1.2.x projects, but 1.2.x will not open 1.3.x projects.

[newbie6]

1.2.6 is supposed to be a stable version.

In the Windows world, ANY file explicitly saved or exported by the user is NEVER to be erased or interfered with, EVER.

However it happens, it needs to be fixed for the next stable version.

[steve]

I agree that it should not happen, but in all of the thousands of posts that I've read on this forum, this is the first time that I've heard of this problem. Also, it is not listed as a known issue, and I would presume that if it were due to an incompatibility with ME, then it would have been discovered before now and fixed. I can't see how it could be anything that you are doing wrong, unless you are trying to write files to a location that you have insufficient permissions to write to - Have you tried changing the location that you are exporting to?

If you can't find any resolution to the issue in Audacity 1.2.6, it would definitely be worth trying a different version. On Windows XP I use Audacity 1.3.4 which on my machine is solid as a rock, never crashes (touch wood) and has many useful refinements and additional features that are not available in 1.2.x.

[newbie6]

I've finally found out what the lost file problem is. Audacity treats its working directory as a 100% scratch directory, so deletes ALL files found there when it exits. And, it defaults to exporting files to that directory. Windows programs do not behave this way - only temporary files worked on in the current session are allowed to be erased. So, this isn't an ME problem, it's Audacity not following Windows rules. In the WIndows version, this behaviour should be changed.

[steve]

And, it defaults to exporting files to that directory.

Audacity defaults to the last directory that you exported to. As far as I know this is the same on all platforms.