“Audio file…not found” errors since upgrading to Garageband 11

Question

“Audio file…not found” errors since upgrading to Garageband 11

I have starting getting random "audio file...not found" errors since doing the latest update to Garageband 11. I have used GB for 3 years without any problems until now. I check for the missing *.aif file in the packgage contents of my file and it's simply missing. This is extremely frustrating and has made me lose confidence in GB because I never know when the problem will occur. Should I re-install GB? Does anyone have some advice? After checking the forums it appears that I'm not the only one with this problem, yet there doesn't seem to be any solution.

iMac, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Apr 26, 2011 5:08 AM

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Answer 1

Apr 28, 2011 6:32 AM in response to brucefromclayton

Dear Bruce, identical to me !!! never had a problem in the last 3 years until the upgrade to GB11 !!! I'm really disappointed ... I've lost some important audio files i won't record that way again. Please, if anyone gives you some advices out of this forum please contact me , I 'll do the same !! thanks very much - kind regards - paolo - italy - ciao!

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Answer 2

Burgundia

Level 2

160 points

Apr 28, 2011 10:42 AM in response to brucefromclayton

Yup, this happens from time to time. I had the same problem on of my GB 08 projects even. Only solution is to back up your audio files (which is a good idea no matter what program you're using). GB doesn't have an automatic way to do this, so you'll have to manually copy all your audio files over into another folder.

To access the audio files, right click on your GB project and select Show Package Contents. Your audio files will be in the Media folder. Just copy/paste them to another folder wherever you like, and next time you open the project and it says "Audio File XXX not found" just do Show Package Contents again, then go to your backup folder and copy/paste file XXX back into the Media folder.

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Answer 3

Apr 28, 2011 3:00 PM in response to brucefromclayton

Thanks for the responses everyone. My issues seems to be with GB files created in the previous version.

Opening the Show Package Contents does not good because the missing file isn't there.

When I open one of these older files I get the following message:

"This song was created by an earlier version of GarageBand. If you save the song, you will no longer be able to open it using an earlierversion.

You can also save a copy of the song with a different nameby clicking Cancel and choosing File > Save As. This would preserve anychanges you have made, but still allow you to open the original song in anearlier version of GarageBand."

If I just save to the new version of GB I start to get the missing audio file problem when I re-open the file.

If I "Save As" and re-name the file it seems the problem doesn't happen again.

I know this doesn't make any sense but it appears to work.

This seems to be a major bug in the software and we shouldn't have to re-name songs etc.

I will keep everyone posted.

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Answer 4

limbery

Level 1

26 points

Apr 28, 2011 6:28 PM in response to brucefromclayton

I lost one of my older songs with the upgrade too....Now I always use the "save as" function so I have a backup copy....

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Answer 5

May 3, 2011 6:40 AM in response to brucefromclayton

thank you so much brucefromclayton, for your suggestions , and everyone for cooperation... I'll back up my audio files more often !

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Answer 6

May 4, 2011 5:12 AM in response to brucefromclayton

Today I was able to replicate this flaw in GB11. I opened a song that was recorded in the previous version of GB then saved in GB11, re-opened and there were missing audio files (aif) again. Again, no problems of this kind ever until updating to GB11.

My routine now is to save the song under a different name (save as) then delete the original file and then re-name

version 2 of the song as the original version. This way I am not saving multiple copies of the same song but with only different names. Somehow this works. I'm amazed that Apple has not sought to address or explain this obvious defect in GB11. I was thinking of upgrading to Logic but I won't until Apple sends out some type of fix for this bug. Hope this helps someone out there. Bruce

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Answer 7

Jun 5, 2011 6:47 PM in response to brucefromclayton

This issue isn't specific to GB11 or to old files. This morning I recorded a podcast in GB09. saved the project, started a new project to record something else, went back to the podcast recording an hour later, and got the "Audio file not found" error. Ran a permissions fix, looked in the package contents - nothing. As I have Time Machine running a backup constantly I usually don't have to worry about manual backups, but in this case, I don't think TM had enough time between the creation of the file and the file going missing for it to have completed a run.

This is disgraceful, especially as this issue seems to have been around quite a while and Apple is MIA from this discussion.

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Answer 8

TonyCed

Level 1

4 points

Dec 29, 2013 2:10 PM in response to brucefromclayton

Working on GB '11, same thing is happening to me. Seems Apple hasn't fixed the issue, but I've found a simple ( slightly tedious) way to prevent missing files.

Simply always "Save As"... Never just "Save." Otherwise, you'll lose your audio files. So whenever you save your work, click "Save As" and just keep replacing the file; no need to rename.

Until Apple solves the issue here, that's how I'm working around it for now.

-Tony

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