Cannot save Project, Exporting Only last Few Minutes of File

[kevinrrwtk]

Hi, I run a Podcast, and I have run into this problem exporting the files. This has only happened recently, after I had to clean out a virus, before that I have exported literally hundreds of episodes of all length with no problem in any format. Now, when I try to export into wav, mp3, or anything it only exports the last couple of minutes of the file. When I try to save the project uncompressed it gives me the old "Is unable to save file, perhaps drive x is not writable or full" no matter that the drive is not full, and I have full permissions. When I try to save a compressed version, I obviously get the same problem as when I try to export. I am running a Windows 7 home premium ASUS with 6gb ram and over 250 g free memory, I have audacity version 2.0.2. I can't see that it matters, but I am running a blue yeti through a usb, and have not changed my setup since previously successful exports and recording sessions. I feel like this is a simple misunderstanding on my part, or my computer is hosed somehow, the only source of stress on this is that I cannot save or do anything with the show that I have recorded and currently have open on audacity (where it plays back fine). This makes restarting, or doing anything at all really, dicey at best. So any steps that don't involve me losing this episode would be helpful, plus I already lost a whole episode (with a priest!) to this same problem, and since I restarted and ran a disk cleanup/antivirus in between that l lost episode and this potentially lost episode I don't think that will be the solution anyways. Thanks for any help any one can give!
Kevin

[kozikowski]

The normal possibilities are you really did run out of drive space, you used bad characters in the filename, you have permissions issues, etc. But what's the possibility you have your virus software cranked up to Instant Violent Death and it's preventing Audacity from writing the files?

Take the machine off-line. Disable the virus software and see if that helps.

How long is/are the shows?

Koz

[kevinrrwtk]

Thanks for getting back to me, I don't see how I could have run out of disk space, I'm pretty good about transfering the shows the backup so I have 250 gig free, I am the admin for the machine, I didn't use any bad file names, and I tried disabling the anti virus and it didn't do anything. That also doesn't really explain why the file would be exported as silence until the last few minutes, it might explain the can't save issue so I'll double check that. And the shows are usually an hour, this one is 33 minutes.

[steve]

The current version of Audacity is 2.0.6, available here: http://audacityteam.org/download/
There have been lots of bug fixes since 2.0.2, so definitely worth updating (even if it does not solve this specific problem).

Note that the maximum valid size for a WAV file is 4 GB. You may sometimes get away with larger than 4 GB if you are on a 64 bit operating system, but it is not strictly a valid WAV file (see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WAV#Limitations)

[Gale Andrews]

when I try to export into wav, mp3, or anything it only exports the last couple of minutes of the file.

What happens - do you get a full length file but silence until the last couple of minutes, or the exported length is only a couple of minutes?

Is it a multi-track project and have you muted any of the tracks? Muted tracks are not exported.

When I try to save the project uncompressed it gives me the old "Is unable to save file, perhaps drive x is not writable or full" no matter that the drive is not full, and I have full permissions.

Have you tried rebooting?

Gale

[kevinrrwtk]

It's the first, I get the file length of appropriate size but only silence until the last few minutes. It's a one track mix, I recorded in mono. I had tried rebooting before and no luck, I haven't this time since I will lose this show. And I am on a 64 bit, I understand the wav problem with it but I just have never had this problem before.

[Gale Andrews]

It's the first, I get the file length of appropriate size but only silence until the last few minutes. It's a one track mix, I recorded in mono.

Is the last few minutes louder than the rest? Did you turn down the -....+ gain slider on the track by mistake?

Does it make any difference if you double-click in the track to select all of it, then Tracks > Mix and Render before export? It should not make any difference but you are using an old version of Audacity.

If you can hear the earlier part of the show normally in Audacity, then try playing it and recording it. You can do that in Audacity if you turn on Transport > Overdub and choose the Stereo Mix input if you have that. If you don't see stereo mix, see if you can enable it in Windows Sound - see http://wiki.audacityteam.org/wiki/Mixer ... es#vistacp.

Otherwise record with another app like SoundLeech or the demo version of TotalRecorder: http://manual.audacityteam.org/o/man/tu ... s.html#alt.


Gale

[kevinrrwtk]

The last few minutes are the only noise on the entire file that I try to export, the rest is no data silence. I did not mess with the gain bar, the single track has recorded perfectly. The playback is fine, it is an export or save problem. I can't stress how many shows I have recorded using this setup without any problems, well over 200 shows counting all. If this is something I can't fix without deleting this show and reinstalling a new version of audacity so be it, but I won't do that until I have to. And as for another sound recorder program, that seems a little un related. Thanks everyone so far for the help, still ned a bit more!

[kozikowski]

I think the idea of the second sound program is to provide a safety copy of the show so you won't have to produce it again. Since it plays OK, telling the computer to record Computer Playback (Stereo Mix) will give you a new digital copy of the show. It may still go into the mud since we have no good idea why it's failing.

Koz

[Gale Andrews]

As for another sound recorder program, that seems a little un related.

Did you try Tracks > Mix and Render as suggested?

If so there are no other options open to you that I can think of. If you can actually play the show correctly in Audacity, playing the show in Audacity and recording the playback (probably safest in another app) is the only thing that is going to save the show for you.

You can even use Windows Sound Recorder if you don't mind losing a little quality:
Record audio with Sound Recorder.


Gale