Audacity can't see data folder

[punkin]

Hi. I'm using Audacity 2.1.3 on a 2014 Mac Air updated to Sierra, via dmg. It's been performing oddly lately - crashed three times in an all-day editing session last week. Once I shipped the project I used CleanMyMac to reset the app. I don't know if that's fixed everything - just opened it for the first time since then.

Today's problem: I'm trying to open a file I've been working on. The data file for it is right next to it. But I'm getting an error message that it can't be opened because the data file can't be found.

Both files were in a Dropbox folder. I moved them out to the desktop and tried again. Wouldn't open. Moved them back, because why not try? But the same result. I tried shouting "The folder is RIGHT THERE!". No change.

In the pictures you can see them sitting next to each other in the file. (I've blurred the file names.) When I drill down into the data file, everything looks normal: e00 file --> d00 d01 d02 d03 files, all with .aud files inside, as shown.

Any way to fix this?

[Gale Andrews]

Much safer to avoid "Dropbox", in my opinion.

As you can see, your _data folder is not named the same as the AUP file. If your AUP file is "foo_raw.aup" then your _data folder should be "foo_raw_data".

You should never copy the AUP file and _data folder into the same folder. This will destroy your project after you open the copy a couple of times.

If you have any more concerns please attach the AUP file itself.


Gale

Hi. I'm using Audacity 2.1.3 on a 2014 Mac Air updated to Sierra, via dmg. It's been performing oddly lately - crashed three times in an all-day editing session last week. Once I shipped the project I used CleanMyMac to reset the app. I don't know if that's fixed everything - just opened it for the first time since then.

Today's problem: I'm trying to open a file I've been working on. The data file for it is right next to it. But I'm getting an error message that it can't be opened because the data file can't be found.

Both files were in a Dropbox folder. I moved them out to the desktop and tried again. Wouldn't open. Moved them back, because why not try? But the same result. I tried shouting "The folder is RIGHT THERE!". No change.

In the pictures you can see them sitting next to each other in the file. (I've blurred the file names.) When I drill down into the data file, everything looks normal: e00 file --> d00 d01 d02 d03 files, all with .aud files inside, as shown.

Any way to fix this?

[billw58]

You should never copy the AUP file and _data folder into the same folder. This will destroy your project after you open the copy a couple of times.

Whoa! How can that happen? If this is true we need to update the Audacity project page in the manual to warn about this.

-- Bill

[kozikowski]

Is this a good place to urge strongly work on the Project Unitary File System?

How many shows need to go into the can before a change to the Project format becomes important? I'm looking for a number, not a philosophy.

Koz

[Gale Andrews]

You should never copy the AUP file and _data folder into the same folder. This will destroy your project after you open the copy a couple of times.

Whoa! How can that happen? If this is true we need to update the Audacity project page in the manual to warn about this.

Of course it is true. I say it on the Forum every time people hand copy in the same folder or are thinking about it. I agree I have not tested if Paul's changes for 2.2.0-alpha stop the data loss but it is still a crazy idea to copy into the same folder - you get different names for the files and folders and misreferenced _data folder in the AUP file.

It is in the Manual - see https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/aud ... .html#save and scroll down to "Saving copies of projects". Also see https://manual.audacityteam.org/man/faq ... tml#backup.

James and Peter wanted only yellow advice divs on the Projects page so the warning is toned down there.


Gale

[steve]

You should never copy the AUP file and _data folder into the same folder. This will destroy your project after you open the copy a couple of times.

Whoa! How can that happen? If this is true we need to update the Audacity project page in the manual to warn about this.

Perhaps we misunderstand what you mean Gale.

For example, if I have a folder where I archive my Audacity projects called:

Code: Select all

some-path/audacity-projects/

and I have a project somewhere else on my computer called "my-project", then I have a file called "my-project.aup" and a folder called "my-project_data".

Is it not perfectly OK for me to move "my-project.aup" and "my-project_data" into "some-path/audacity-projects/" so that I have:

Code: Select all

some-path/audacity-projects/my-project.aup
some-path/audacity-projects/my-project_data

provided that any dependencies remain accessible (and preferable for portability that dependencies are copied into the project).

[Gale Andrews]

You should never copy the AUP file and _data folder into the same folder. This will destroy your project after you open the copy a couple of times.

Whoa! How can that happen? If this is true we need to update the Audacity project page in the manual to warn about this.

Perhaps we misunderstand what you mean Gale.

For example, if I have a folder where I archive my Audacity projects called:

Code: Select all

some-path/audacity-projects/

and I have a project somewhere else on my computer called "my-project", then I have a file called "my-project.aup" and a folder called "my-project_data".

Is it not perfectly OK for me to move "my-project.aup" and "my-project_data" into "some-path/audacity-projects/" so that I have:

Code: Select all

some-path/audacity-projects/my-project.aup
some-path/audacity-projects/my-project_data

provided that any dependencies remain accessible (and preferable for portability that dependencies are copied into the project).

Do you mean it is perfectly OK?

What I am talking about is users not knowing Save Project As and (an example on my computer), selecting
in Explorer:
C:\Goldwave1_click_at_end.aup
C:\Goldwave1_click_at_end_data

Then copy those two items and paste into C:\ then open the copied AUP a couple of times or perhaps other combinations. Then users say they lost all the AU files. I say, just don't do it.


Gale

[steve]

Do you mean it is perfectly OK?

I mean that I thought it was perfectly OK to do what I described, but you appear to be saying that it's not OK.

I can see that it's not OK to do what I described during and open and active editing session, but that would be rather a daft thing to do wouldn't it?

[Gale Andrews]

Do you mean it is perfectly OK?

I mean that I thought it was perfectly OK to do what I described, but you appear to be saying that it's not OK.

No, I think it's fine to do what you described if you know what you are doing but I misparsed it because you actually asked a question but did not punctuate with a question mark.

You can even leave the project dependent on an aliased file as long as long as you leave the alias where it is.

I can see that it's not OK to do what I described during and open and active editing session, but that would be rather a daft thing to do wouldn't it?

Indeed, you should close the project before doing a manual copy into your master folder for Audacity projects, to avoid orphan block files. You are moving into a different folder than the one where the project folder was before, and that is an intended benefit of the system.

I think it is still safer for a noob to use Save Project As to move the project, but then it is arguably more confusing to do that. A project manager where you could also delete projects would be more friendly.


Gale

[steve]

I think it is still safer for a noob to use Save Project As to move the project

"Save Project As" is certainly important, so good to promote as a way of working. It's arguably the only safe way to rename a project.