Have you ever...

Have you saved it in an obscure location on your computer (like temp files)?

Might the filename appear in the list of recently used documents somewhere?

I always copy, paste, and email my most recent scenes to myself. Also use a jump drive, and an external hard drive backup. All to avoid just this sort of thing.

Frapoblue,

Sorry that happened to you. All the more reason to make sure you save your work to an external source, such as a portable hard drive.

frapoblue said:

I literally remembered saving the chapter in my PC and it just magically disappeared.

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Have you run a simple search of your computer for a unique phrase in the lost chapter?

In general, it is good practice to:

-- Make certain the autosave feature of your computer is enabled.

-- Make iterative copies of your work document under different names every time significant new work is added.

-- Before you get up from any work session, even for a few minutes, open your web browser and mail the file you are working on to yourself.
I use gmail. It lets me store LOTS of messages.

-- Copy each day's work to a thumb drive before you leave the computer.


I would also suggest that a working writer invest in a file recovery system. I use Disk Explorer from NTFS, but there are a number of them on the market.
Basically, with a good file recovery program, if you can remember a single phrase from the lost work, you can almost always find and recover the whole file, even after a really cold shutdown, even if it has been purposefully deleted, even if it has not been 'saved'.

I do not promise that Disk Explorer or its cousins would find your lost chapter for you, right now, since I don't know your system or how you have messed up. But there's a good chance.

Maybe you dreamed the whole thing...just joking.

That is why I write on paper first can't be deleted(unless someone throws the notebook away).

Mozy online backup.

frapoblue said:

I literally remembered saving the chapter in my PC and it just magically disappeared.

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Files just don't disappear. If you saved it, it's there... somewhere. Word Processors usually default to a directory, if you don't specify one.

Did you check the file history in your Word Processor? The recent items files in Windows?

After my writing session each day, I back up my changes on a USB zip drive. You can buy a pair of them for about $20 at Best Buy. These days, they can hold 4GB of data, which is probably more than enough room for a lifetime's work for even a prolific writer.

I feel your pain. I saved a file and one day it ran away. Truth was I saved it under a random name, dont know why but did. I agree and say search any possible title on your computer, see if its saved on c drive or wherever. I also agree and say save as many times as you can. I save on usb and transfer that to laptop, just to cover myself. You can never be too careful.

job said:

In general, it is good practice to:

-- Make certain the autosave feature of your computer is enabled.

Click to expand...

Don't do this in Word. Medievalist has explained it better elsewhere, but Word's autosave causes things to happen that will eventually corrupt your files. I'll see if I can find a post where she explains it, or else PM her to ask her to pop over here.

ETA: Oops! Medievalist was talking about Fast Save, not autosave, and the post is here.

To the OP, another habit you need to develop is to constantly hit Ctrl+s to save your work. I do so whenever I pause in typing, and I use the beginning of a new page as a cue, too. I seldom go more than five minutes without saving the file, so even if my machine suddenly crashes, the most work I lose is a few minutes' worth.

I recommend that you use the search feature in Windows Explorer (assuming you're using Windows) to search your entire hard drive for a phrase you're sure you used. Even a character's name will work. If you don't know how to search your hard drive for text, I'll post instructions.

I'm sorry this happened to you. I know how gut-wrenching it is. Most writers have lost work one way or another. (Yep, including me.) I know it's not much consolation right now, but a single chapter is pretty small in the grand scheme of things. Writers have been known to lose entire books!

My computer went nuts a couple of weeks ago and lost the 2,000 words I'd been working on. I eventually found it by doing a search for everything (folders, files, background stuff) with the original document name. It hadn't saved as a Word doc, though. It was a temp doc that I had to open in Notepad. Once it was open, I just copied and pasted it into a new Word doc and saved it repeatedly.

In any case, it's always good to enable Autosave and email copies to yourself.

and this is why I have a digital pen. I write long hand, with ink, and get a hard copy. but the pen also converts m6y handwriting to text and saves it for me as a word document. so, even if something happens to the pen, I still have the hard copy.

other than that, print the new pages after every session, email it to yourself, or save in an external storage device as well. don't ever trust just the computer.

Terie said:

I recommend that you use the search feature in Windows Explorer (assuming you're using Windows) to search your entire hard drive for a phrase you're sure you used. Even a character's name will work. If you don't know how to search your hard drive for text, I'll post instructions.

Click to expand...

I was just going to suggest this also.