"Audacity Failed to Read From a File in C" Can't Open file

Hello, I was in the middle of working on an audio recording that’s about 40 minutes long and suddenly Audacity closed and now I can’t open the file. In the folder the file is still there, and the size still says it’s 1.97 gigs but when I click to open I get this message this message and code below. Does anyone have any idea if I might be able to rescue this file? I’m using Audacity 3.0.5. All other Audacity files can be opened. By the way, the files are massive, is there any way to record with smaller file sizes? Thanks in advance for any help.

“Audacity Failed to Read From a File in C”
“timestamp”: 1635216868,
“event_id”: “26792a745987fe4bb81d80bc96eac42a”,
“platform”: “native”,
“release”: “audacity@3.0.5”,
“contexts”: {
“os”: {
“type”: “os”,
“name”: “Windows”,
“version”: “10.0.19043”
}
},
“exception”: {
“values”: [
{
“type”: “File_Error”,
“value”: “Audacity failed to read from a file in .”,
“mechanism”: {
“type”: “runtime_error”,
“handled”: false,
“data”: {
“sqlite3.rc”: “101”,
“sqlite3.context”: “SqliteSampleBlock::Load::step”
}

If you care to zip up your project and upload it to a file sharing service, then post (or PM me) a link, I’ll take a look at it.

Hi, thanks for your quick response. Here is the link to the zip file uploaded to Wetransfer:

https://we.tl/t-tXaIA73jn1

Looking forward to hear your thoughts. Many thanks!

I have sent you a link to a recovered file via PM.

That worked like a charm! I can’t thank you enough because that saved me about four hours of re-recording and editing. May I ask what was the issue with my file? And is there anything I can do in the future to avoid that from happening again?

Thank you again! :smiley: I am so relieved

You are welcome! Glad to hear you got your data back. :smiley:

This is an issue that I hope to be able to quantify and report in more detail to the developers so that errors of this nature can be avoided in the future.

As far as I am concerned - I prefer not to speculate. There are others here that can provide help in this area. :smiley:

Hi, there.
I’ve got the same problem.
Can I send you a link with the corrupted file in ZIP?

There was a note a while ago that Jademan can no longer perform emergency repairs. We can wait for a response.

The person wearing the Producer hat should think about what to do if that file never comes back.
This message thread was based on problems happening on the Windows C: drive. It’s a great deal more serious if you’re using an internet or cloud drive. Audacity hates those. There can even be troubles with home-based network or external drives.

Koz

Here’s some notes from Audiobook Production.

– Record your voice or whatever the work is.

File > Export Audio > WAV (Microsoft) backup sound file, errors and all.

You might use an Audacity Project for this. That will give you perfect sound quality, but Projects are brittle and may crash on you. WAV is good

– Crank through post-production patching, correcting, and editing. If you hit a wrong key or Audacity’s eyes roll up and it starts blowing spit bubbles, the Backup is there so you won’t have to record it again.

– When you get finished, File > Export Audio > WAV (Microsoft) EDIT MASTER.

In the case of ACX audiobooks, only then make the MP3 for publication submission.

Koz

No. As @kozikowski indicated, I can’t do that anymore.

However, this is now something you can do yourself. See here: Corrupt or Otherwise Broken Audacity Project Recovery