External Interface compatibility

[kozikowski]

<<<It sounds like the .aup's are pretty safe although it does sound like it would be good to back them up onto a CD or DVD anyhow so just in case anything would happen in an upconversion to a 1.3.x I'd still have a good copy to fall back on.>>>

Did anybody else notice that BW is planning on backing up all his AUP sound files to an external drive? Anybody 'splain on BW that those aren't sound files and you can't move Audacity Projects?

Koz

[steve]

Anybody 'splain on BW that those aren't sound files and you can't move Audacity Projects?

You CAN move Audacity Projects, but you need understand what is involved to be able to do so reliably. It is explained here: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... ement_Tips

Attempting to move projects without understanding the issues is a very quick and easy way of loosing all of your work.

[BeatleWho]

On my desktop I have a folder called Audacity Projects, and it has sub-folders for each different project - these sub-folders contain all of the stuff generated for that project. My hope was to simply duplicate the folder onto optical disc be that CD or DVD or whatever works.....that would serve as a backup copy in the off chance that installing a new(er) version of Audacity somehow scrozzled those project files or even deleted them. I've had other software do something similar to that before that lost a LOT of important data.......

Duane

[steve]

On my desktop I have a folder called Audacity Projects, and it has sub-folders for each different project - these sub-folders contain all of the stuff generated for that project. My hope was to simply duplicate the folder onto optical disc be that CD or DVD or whatever works.....that would serve as a backup copy

That will work so long as the projects are self contained - the thing that can mess it up is if the project depends on audio files that are external to the project.
In recent versions of Audacity 1.3.x you should test to see if your projects are self contained. To do this, click on "File menu > Check Dependencies..."

[BeatleWho]

On my desktop I have a folder called Audacity Projects, and it has sub-folders for each different project - these sub-folders contain all of the stuff generated for that project. My hope was to simply duplicate the folder onto optical disc be that CD or DVD or whatever works.....that would serve as a backup copy

That will work so long as the projects are self contained - the thing that can mess it up is if the project depends on audio files that are external to the project.
In recent versions of Audacity 1.3.x you should test to see if your projects are self contained. To do this, click on "File menu > Check Dependencies..."

Thanks for the good heads up for 1.3.x......... If I understand what you're saying I doubt if I have a problem - so far as I am *aware*, none of them require anything from "outside" ...... However it is also possible that there is something that I don't know about - "it's not a bug, it's an undocumented feature!" .......and that would be something I would want to know about.

So if Steve is a fiddle, is he a Stradivarius? (if he is a six-string fiddle with pickups that says Fender on it, perhaps that would make him a "Strativarius".....

Duane

[steve]

"it's not a bug, it's an undocumented feature!"

"Check dependencies" is documented here: http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.ph ... =File_Menu
The issue of external files, and general file management for Audacity projects is covered in this Audacity wiki article: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... ement_Tips
(trouble is, no one RTFM )

My name refers to me being a fiddle player. I play both electric violin (with custom transducers that I make myself) and an acoustic violin that is a German copy of a Gobetti (http://www.dmmphoto.com/violin-03.htm)

[BeatleWho]

"it's not a bug, it's an undocumented feature!"

"Check dependencies" is documented here: http://manual.audacityteam.org/index.ph ... =File_Menu
The issue of external files, and general file management for Audacity projects is covered in this Audacity wiki article: http://wiki.audacityteam.org/index.php? ... ement_Tips
(trouble is, no one RTFM )

My name refers to me being a fiddle player. I play both electric violin (with custom transducers that I make myself) and an acoustic violin that is a German copy of a Gobetti (http://www.dmmphoto.com/violin-03.htm)

Hmmm.....so then am I reading correctly that the external files, etc., is only an issue if you have NOT saved the project? I *think* I saved all my stuff in that folder I believe I mentioned earlier.....

Duane

[steve]

so then am I reading correctly that the external files, etc., is only an issue if you have NOT saved the project?

I think that's missing the real issue.

Audacity has 2 methods of importing audio files.
1) To copy the file into the project - this is the safe option and importing compressed (for example MP3 files) is always done this way.
2) To read the audio data directly from the file without copying the whole file. This is faster and uses less disk space (no copying is done during the import) but there is a risk that if you save the project and delete the audio file that you "imported", then there may be data missing from your project (because it was not copied into the project data folder). Recent versions of Audacity give several warning about this and (by default) asks if you want to copy these files (if there are any). Older versions of Audacity were not so helpful.

[BeatleWho]

so then am I reading correctly that the external files, etc., is only an issue if you have NOT saved the project?

I think that's missing the real issue.

Audacity has 2 methods of importing audio files.
1) To copy the file into the project - this is the safe option and importing compressed (for example MP3 files) is always done this way.
2) To read the audio data directly from the file without copying the whole file. This is faster and uses less disk space (no copying is done during the import) but there is a risk that if you save the project and delete the audio file that you "imported", then there may be data missing from your project (because it was not copied into the project data folder). Recent versions of Audacity give several warning about this and (by default) asks if you want to copy these files (if there are any). Older versions of Audacity were not so helpful.

OK, I think I see what you are driving at. FYI if I didn't mention it I'm running 1.2.4 currently.

Pretty much everything was saved in each project folder. To excess, I suspect some might say. I have a somewhat "pack rat" mentality and my computer habits tend to be no different. And particularly when it comes to stuff that I record, it's like each step is valuable so it gets saved and given a name; I guess my gut tells me that if I ever want to re-mix or re-do something the more original material I have the better job of it I can do. Does it eat disk space, eeeyup - sure does !!!!! We're looking at options including a second mongo HD internal as well as an external HD for storage like one of these 1 terabyte jobbies. So THAT doesn't really need to be *fast* per se; just needs to hold a lot.

For me it's a mix of things including a bunch of stuff from Audacity. The wife does digital photography and this too eats a lot of HD space. Lots of "stuff" could be "held" in an external drive and gotten OFF the c: drive where windows and the active programs do their work. There is no doubt that as we have gotten more and more on c: things have slowed down
noticeably. Spreading stuff out would also give some flexibility in the backup process......by having less on each drive, it means that whenever you back up THAT drive you have less to back up...which means less time, fewer DVD's. etc.

I noticed recently that the backup software also (apparently) supports Blu-Ray single layer and I *think* it said one of these discs can hold 25 GB???? That's like around 6 regular DVD's if my numbers are correct......not sure about the write speed, will have to look that up but I could see some advantages there.

(In the meantime, still trying to find folks who have used PreSonus Firebox which seems to be the #1 candidate right now and get their reviews.......which was the whole point of the exercise )

Duane

[waxcylinder]

We're looking at options including a second mongo HD internal as well as an external HD for storage like one of these 1 terabyte jobbies. So THAT doesn't really need to be *fast* per se; just needs to hold a lot.

Duane,

a good plan - but I would recomend not just one of the 1TB jobbies - but two.

This is what I do, maintaining two identical copies of my Audacity created WAV files (and iTunes libraries backups) on two separate USB 1TB discs. And just as well - as one of my 1TB discs failed last year at just under 3 months old (replaced under warranty - but with data loss!). Was I glad I had the second copy ...

If I was being really cautious I would also be maintaining an offsite copy too - actually, my son does have a copy of my iTunes libraries (he thinks he is getting my music - but really he is my last-line-of-defence in case of total loss ).

WC