Error: Unsuitable drive

Linked This page is linked to in the Audacity app from the help button in the warning/error dialog.

Do not rename or delete this page unless and until the corresponding link in the app is changed. Pseudo renames can be achieved with a DISPLAYTITLE. If a rename is absolutely necessary then a redirect must be left behind.

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 drive you are using is not suitable for Audacity use.

Contents

1. FAT formatted limits

FAT formatted file size limits

Disks or drives that are formatted as FAT/FAT32 are subject to a maximum file size limit if 4GB, this is about 2 hours 22 minutes of stereo.

So if your project or file exceeds this limit you will get an error even though the drive as a whole is not full.

In this case freeing up space will not work you will need to Save or Export to a non-FAT formatted drive.

If you are recording onto a FAT formatted drive when the 4GB limit is reached Audacity will show you a warning message but will not stop. You are strongly advised to interrupt the recording with the Stop button after dismissing the warning message and use File > Save Project > Save Project As... to save the project to a non-FAT drive.

Peter 24Oct20: ToDo-2 The above advice may change if and when P1 Bug 2546 is fixed such that Audacity forces a stop when triggering the Yellow-Zone message.