Audacity files gobbling up my hard disk!

[Peter S]

Having done a few recordings now, I am aware that quite a lot of disk space is being taken up with Audacity’s data files. Audacity helpfully tells you how much recording time is left on your disk. I notice that Audacity occasionally adds backup files too. In addition there are the .wav files, when the recordings are exported in their final form.

I guess the answer is simply to delete these files, once the recorded material is safely on CD-R, and provided you’re sure you won’t ever need to go back to the source recording?

[waxcylinder]

I guess the answer is simply to delete these files, once the recorded material is safely on CD-R, and provided you’re sure you won’t ever need to go back to the source recording?

CD-Rs are only reasonably safe - they will decay over time, they are photosensitive so it helps to keep them out of the light.

AS well as making a CD-R I would also be saving the WAVs on and external hard-drive (I actually keep two HD copies on two separate USB disks). External drives are relatively cheap these days.

And yes do delete the Audacity projects when youv'e made the CD-R and backed up - and defrag your HD occasionally. Don't forget that you can always re-load your WAV files into Audacity if you want to do further work on them later.

WC

[steve]

Yes, audio gobbles up disk space, but not as much as video.

The temporary files should be deleted automatically when you close Audacity, however this will not happen if Audacity crashes.

You can back up the original source files on CD as well if they are important. Backing up projects on CD is a little more complicated as you have to ensure that all the data is available for the project.
Setting "Edit->Preferences->File Formats" to "Make a copy of the file before editing (safer)" makes it easier to backup projects.

As for any other old data, delete it when you have finished.

[waxcylinder]

He doesn't need to bother with backing up projects as IIRC from previous postings Peter S' application is straightforward LP/tape transcription/repair. As such he should only ever have a single stereo track - so a simple export and backup of a WAV file should suffice. It's also more portable between different computers and applications.

But Steve's advice is good for anyone who is using multi-track projects.

WC