I'm able to save a large .mat as '-v7.3' but then can't load or import it into R2017a because "File might be corrupt"

Hello! I am trying to save a large workspace as a .mat for later use. While saving as version 7.3 works, I cannot load or import the new .mat file into R2017a.

Here is the error I get with save:

Save operation failed. This variable cannot be saved to a MAT-file whose version is older than 7.3, because it is too large.

Here is the error I get with import:

Unknown text on line number 1 of ASCII file C:\Users\engineer\Documents\MATLAB\SPC Post Process\data.mat "".

Here is the error I get with load:

Unable to read MAT-file C:\Users\...\data.mat. File might be corrupt.

It may be important to note that I am trying to save a workspace in the middle of a script, which I am stopping short after the save completes. While I don't think this would affect the result, I could be wrong and would rather y'all know.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Kat

[Manan Mishra]

Can you please share the exact command/method you are using to save the variables in MAT file?

Also to clarify, you mentioned that you are able to save the file using '-v7.3', then at what stage are you receiving the error:

"Save operation failed. This variable cannot be saved to a MAT-file whose version is older than 7.3, because it is too large."

[kickstandkat]

Hi!

Here is the chain of events: 1) parse data from large files, 2) try saving the workspace by right clicking in the workspace and saving, which returns the first error, 3) save successfully with no errors using the command below, 4) attempt to reload the .mat into a clean workspace using import, which returns the second error, 5) attempt to reload the .mat using load, which returns the last error

The command is:

save('-v7.3','data')

Thank you for your time, Kat

[Manan Mishra]

It's difficult to say what could be going wrong here. It could be due to the kind of data you are saving in MAT file. It could also be due to the workflow of saving the workspace in the middle of script which might be leading to an incomplete save.

Can you share the MAT file which is giving the error?

Also on your end, you can try to save a workspace having similar size and data, without the script running (maybe at the end of the script) and see if that gives the error or not.

[kickstandkat]

Hello!

Unfortunately, I cannot share the .mat file. I will try saving it outside of the script and get back to you.

Thanks again, Kat