Sudden difficulties

[Bidley]

Hello all, I'm a relative Audacity n00b, and I've come across some problems that have come out of the blue.

I saved my project as normal after a session, and when I went to open the project file I got two messages: "Couldn't find the project data file" and "Unable to open project file". I can see the file, I know it's there, but for no immediate reason Audacity has decided it isn't there. Any ideas?

Also, I can no longer record whilst playing any of the other tracks in the project, again, for no obvious reason.

I apologise in advance if these are questions that have been asked a thousand times before (I couldn't find anything that helps with either on this forum), and any response would be massively appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[kozikowski]

Sudden Computer Insanity absent any other catastrophic event can be caused by your hard drive filling up.

My Computer > Right Click C: > Properties

The size of the drive and the amount used should both be listed. If you're using over 90% of the drive, that's too much. A highly fragmented drive will do that, too.

My Computer > Right Click C: > Properties > Tools > Error Check and Defragment.

The other thing that can cause those symptoms is somebody else using your computer at the same time. When was the last time you paid attention to your virus software? Ever do that system scan that requires you to go shopping for two hours?

Koz

[Bidley]

My HDD is only 25% full. I'll run a virus scan, but I'm not sure that's the problem. I can open and edit the .aup.bak fine.

Any ideas on the play/record issue? This is especially frustrating, I need to be able to hear the other tracks to record accordingly.

Thanks for your efforts!

[Bidley]

Ah, just solved the play/record issue. In Preferences, under the "Audio I/O" tab, there's a box that says "play other tracks while recording a new one". It was unticked. I now feel like an idiot.

[steve]

We all really appreciate it when people post their solutions. You shouldn't feel foolish as it may well help other Audacity users.

[Bidley]

Thanks mate!

[kozikowski]

OK, now before we get all flushed and sweaty, you still have this one, right?

"Couldn't find the project data file" and "Unable to open project file". I can see the file, I know it's there, but for no immediate reason Audacity has decided it isn't there. Any ideas?

The AUP file in your project calls about a billion other files in an Audacity Project. One of the primary places it looks is the _DATA folder. Did you move or damage any other files in your show between the time you saved the Project and tried to open it up again?

The AUP file is a supervisory file. It's almost in English and you can open it up in NotePad and read it.

http://kozco.com/tech/audacity/aup1.jpg

It calls all the other files in your project and if you moved any of them....so sorry.

Koz