LOST RECORDING

[Gale Andrews]

Sorry but I feel there are too many issues with using Recycle Bin.

Audacity doesn't check its temp folder when launching. It looks for AUTOSAVE files in the AutoSave folder. If the temp folder contains AU files but there is no AUTOSAVE file, Audacity will not recover anything when you restart it.

So we have the issue of what does Audacity do when confronted with potentially hundreds of AUTOSAVE files in the Recycle Bin - unless Audacity only sends one AUTOSAVE file to the Recycle Bin when you close without saving. Then other users will pop up and say why did you not preserve the previous AUTOSAVE file when the cat pulled the cord on my computer and the crash wiped the AUTOSAVE file.

And what happens if user right-clicks Recycle Bin on the Desktop > Empty Recycle Bin? Audacity won't intervene to stop the deletion.

Please do not let the tragic loss of my precious recording be in vain!

You did not export backup WAV files or save incremental stages of your project as you went along.

I think the only way to be safe from all complications and subsequent user errors if you mistakenly close a project without saving is to have an option for Audacity to always open with its last contents restored. It costs no more disk space than storing files in the Recycle Bin.


Gale

[jaja714]

Ah, sorry, let me clarify. I was only referring to putting AUTOSAVE files in RecycleBin and leaving the AU files in AudacityTemp. I might be missing something but there would never be more than one or two AUTOSAVE files in RecycleBin as they would only be moved there in the rare case where a user closes Audacity while declining to save. Further, they would be cleaned up upon reopen as the user would be given their final prompt to recover or remove permanently.

You did not export backup WAV files or save incremental stages of your project as you went along.

... I will now!

[Gale Andrews]

Ah, sorry, let me clarify. I was only referring to putting AUTOSAVE files in RecycleBin and leaving the AU files in AudacityTemp. I might be missing something but there would never be more than one or two AUTOSAVE files in RecycleBin as they would only be moved there in the rare case where a user closes Audacity while declining to save. Further, they would be cleaned up upon reopen as the user would be given their final prompt to recover or remove permanently.

Closing without saving is not a rare case for users who record or import some short audio then export and quit.

A prompt from the Recycle Bin every time could be really annoying, and we don't even lose the "Save Changes?" prompt which we could get rid of if Audacity always restored whatever it closed with.

You did not export backup WAV files or save incremental stages of your project as you went along.

... I will now!

Good .


Gale

[steve]

Could there be a case for an option for automatic backups after 'N' number of edits? (Where "N" is a fairly high number by default (so as to not be a nuisance with quick and easy projects), but configurable in preferences.)

[Gale Andrews]

Could there be a case for an option for automatic backups after 'N' number of edits? (Where "N" is a fairly high number by default (so as to not be a nuisance with quick and easy projects), but configurable in preferences.)

Perhaps, if it was like an automatic File > Save Project As..., but we already have backups against crashes.

The problem I see versus only restoring what was closed is the always accumulating disk space usage and thus the temptation to clean up (or break) the backups. I envisage the project file and the data for "restore what was closed" would be in the AutoSave folder so (somewhat) hidden.


Gale

[jaja714]

I personally think Audacity's crash recovery is superb and this particular issue is really just an opportunity to make Audacity even more idiot-proof!