Edit oversize wav

[mp33]

I recorded over 6h from an online radio broadcast and exported it into a single wav file. Thus I exceeded the wave file size limit, as the file is 4.42 GB. When I play the wav in iTunes / QuickTime / RealPlayer or open it in Audacity it says that it's only 42' 24'' long, so I can edit the beginning but have no access to the rest of the recording. Is there any way to split the file or edit it in the full length?
(MacOX 10.5.8, Audacity 1.2.5)

[steve]

If you've still got the Audacity project, open it and select part of the track and use "Export Selection" from the File menu.

If you've only got the WAV file, then try Importing it back into Audacity and doing the same. You may or may not be lucky - I don't know how Macs react to WAV files over 4GB, the WAV file may be OK, or it may be corrupt.

[mp33]

Unfortunately I didn't save the Audacity project. When I import the WAV file back into Audacity there's only the first part available - just as if the huge file contained only the beginning of the recording.

[kozikowski]

I don't think you have a sound file any more. Files are saved on the hard drive in little snippets called clusters. WAV can only count up to just so many clusters before it loses count. That's the file size limit. The file header information may think you have a six hour long file, but the actual sound data is missing.

This is the magic place where Audacity Projects would have worked well. Projects keep track of thousands of individual capture segments. Piece of cake compared to making one single file that the system doesn't support.

Koz

[kozikowski]

If I had to wildly guess what happened, the numbering scheme went up to the maximum and started over again at zero. So the beginning of the show got numbered twice, the first time crashed and the second time stuck and that's the work you have.

That could be bogus, but it sure sounds like what happened.

Koz

[mp33]

Kozikowski, thanks for your explanation. Sounds reasonable to me.