Sound Forge Pro just deleted huge sections of my file

aaron-v wrote on 11/2/2021, 2:07 PM

I've used Sound Forge for years to edit podcasts. I recently changed jobs and was using the trial version in anticipation of purchasing a new license for it. Well, today I was editing a podcast and it was acting funny. When I would preview a cut or start the play head moving, it would often not play and it would take several times or moving the playhead to get it to work. But I saved the file (a 30min mp3) and it took a long time to save, and when it did, it had deleted huge sections of my recording, something like 80% of it. You can see what was left after the save in the image. That was a full audio track prior.

I assume there's no way to recover the audio that was lost. Luckily, I wasn't editing the original file, but I did just lose several hours of editing to this. Plus, what is going on? Why would it do that? I've never had this kind of problem with Sound Force before, but I was using an earlier version. This is the most recent Pro 15. Any advice would be appreciated.

Comments

rraud wrote on 11/2/2021, 6:22 PM

There are limitations in saving files with the trial version. Otherwise, there are no reports of a bug that would cause this. Similarly, the Vegas trial version will not save files longer than 00:01:59:999.

btw, welcome to the Magix Sound Forge users community @aaron-v.

craig-d wrote on 11/3/2021, 3:32 AM

hi! this happens with high loss files...typically, from what i've read and heard from others who experienced this, it is only the graphic that is affected, and reopening the file displays the correct graphic, and playback is fine. however, it is important to know that editing mp3 files is not optimal, as it is a high-loss data format...it's better to edit in .wav or .flac. the following change in your settings should help this altogether: click Options > Preferences > General, and Check the box 'Always proxy compressed formats'. that should help you!

 

aaron-v wrote on 11/3/2021, 7:50 AM

Thanks to you both -- I previously recorded audio via an external app and always edited in wav, but since in this new position I've been recording off Zoom, I was just editing straight to mp3. Thanks for the tip.

rraud wrote on 11/3/2021, 9:13 AM

Generally, MP3 and other lossy file types should be avoided when editing, especially in Sound Forge' destructive editing mode. An end-users MP3 can be encoded when editing and mastering is complete.
If future changes are not anticipated, the PCM file(s) can be deleted to save space and/or reduce clutter.

Sevan-Ozartun wrote on 12/17/2021, 12:03 PM

I have been having the same issue while editing .wav files. It seems that it happens when I zoom in and out and once it's happened, it difficult to recover the file. I close out of the program and go back and open the file and the damage is still there. Very frustrating when you've been working on something for hours!

I just opened a .wav file that had nothing wrong with it from a few months back and when it opens i have three big pieces of it missing now and no way of recovering it. So what happened there??!!

rraud wrote on 12/17/2021, 1:13 PM

@Sevan-Ozartun, In general, important file should be backed-up on three different drives, this i easy these days with the cloud drive services and many offer 15GB of free space.

Otherwise with Sound Forge, try "Reset all preferences and cached data"
 in the 'File' menu.
.. or  Hold down the 'Ctrl+Shift' keys, whilst launching SF which will open the same dialog.

If the problem persists, uninstall / reinstall, but uninstall using a third-party uninstaller that can remove left-over registry entries and other pertinent data the OS uninstall leaves behind, which in usually the root of recurring issues
Revo Uninstall has pro and freeware versions. The free version usually adequate if a forced uninstall is not needed.