Error: Disk full or not writable

This is essentially a landing page in the Manual for the handling of errors (via a help button) that occur in the Audacity application.

• There is also an entry in FAQ:Errors so that this page will get pulled into the released Manual.

This error message is telling you that the disk you are using is full, or that the disk or file is write-protected.

Contents

1. Disk is full
2. Salvaging your project
3. Write-protected files or disks
4. Size occupancy

Disk is full

You get the following error message when you are trying to write to a disk that is full or if the disk or file is write-protected (or you do not have sufficient privileges to access it).

File:Disk-full error.png

Peter 13Sep20: ToDo-1 Image will neeed updating with help button.

This can happen when you are:

• Recording
• Saving a project
• Exporting from a project
• Importing into a project
• Applying effects
• Editing

Salvaging your project

The project will probably be intact but will need to Save it somehow.

You have a number of possible options to do this.

Free up space on the disk

Free up some space on the disk you are working on.

If your project is on your main internal drive, it may be possible to make a significant amount of space simply by emptying the recycle bin (Bin/Trash on Mac).

Further:

• Windows: Just delete unwanted files and or folders with Shift + Delete
• Mac: Move files and/or folders to the Bin/Trash then empty the Bin/Trash (Finder > Empty Bin/Trash). (If you do not empty the BinTrash the space will not actually be freed up.)
• Linux: Use Delete to remove unwanted files and or folders. If your desktop uses "Move to Recycle bin / Wastebasket" this will not actually remove the files from the disk until you empty the recycle bin / wastebasket.

Do not try to reduce space usage by deleting part of the project, this will only try to take up more temporary space on the disk.

Save to a different, bigger, disk

Save or Export to a different disk with sufficient space if you cannot free up space on the disk the the project is currently on.

You probably will still need to free up some space on the original disk for this to work, but not as much as for the above option.

You may need to delete the residual project files: AUP3, WAL and SHM (Windows only) files from your original full disk.

But only delete these once you are sure that the project opens properly from its new disk location.

Copy the project files to a bigger disk

Use your operating system's file manager to copy the project files: AUP3, WAL (and SHM on Windows) to another disk with sufficient space. Then open the AUP3 project file from there with Audacity and close it to make it complete.

You will probably want to delete the residual project files: AUP3, WAL and SHM (Windows only) files from your original full disk.

But only do this once you are sure that the project opens properly from its new disk location.

Write-protected files or disks

It is also possible the the disk or file you are trying to write to is write-protected or you have insufficient privileges to write there.

You will need to change the write-protection to enable the file to be written but that assumes that you have sufficient privileges to do that.

Size occupancy

One hour of stereo recording at default settings (44.1kHz 32-bit) occupies 1.2 GB of disk space