Read through these steps carefully, and in full, before attempting recovery. You will probably only get one shot at this. If you have questions, please ask.
With Audacity closed (not running);
Go to the hidden folder
C:\Users**\AppData\Roaming\audacity**
(where is your Windows log-in name)
and create a new folder.
Name the folder “backup”.
Copy (not “move”) all of the .autosave files from
C:\Users**\AppData\Roaming\audacity\AutoSave**
into the new “backup” folder.
This is for backup purposes - leave this alone now, it can be deleted at the end when as much as possible has been recovered.
Create another new folder and call it “mytemp”.
Move any .autosave files that are named “New Project …” from C:\Users**\AppData\Roaming\audacity\AutoSave** into the “mytemp” folder.
Go to the hidden folder
C:\Users**\AppData\Local\Temp**
and copy the folder audacity_temp to your Desktop (or somewhere else convenient).
Be careful with this folder, it will be needed later.
Launch Audacity.
It should offer to recover any of the projects that were previously saved.
Assuming that some projects are recovered, save them.
After saving the projects, quit Audacity
Open the “mytemp” folder and move ONE .autosave file out of there into
C:\Users**\AppData\Roaming\audacity\AutoSave**
Open the copy of audacity_temp from your Desktop and copy (not “move”) the entire contents into
C:\Users**\AppData\Local\Temp\audacity_temp**
Restart Audacity and recover the project.
- If it is recovered, save it, then quit Audacity.
- If it cannot be recovered, quit Audacity then delete the .autosave file from C:\Users**\AppData\Roaming\audacity\AutoSave** (give an appropriate blessing if you wish - this project is gone and lost forever).
Don’t forget to quit Audacity after saving the project.
Repeat the steps above to recover each of the “New Project … .autosave” files.
Good luck.
Tip: Avoid having multiple projects open at the same time unless absolutely essential.
Tip2: Save backups frequently.