Lost it and can't find it

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 6, 2008

So I had an epiphany of sorts with my story and I was feverishly putting it down in Word. I take a break and my 7-year-old wants to play games, so he hits the X on the corner of the program and the pop-up comes up to save (I didn't read it, I assumed that was the normal pop-up) and I clicked yes.

He played his game and then quit.

I went back on later, opened word and used the last program feature to recall it and it couldn't find it! I looked in the folder that I knew the file was located and it was completely gone! Not just the revision, but the original file.

Altogether gone. WTF?

So, luckily I had a early version saved on my flashdrive, I loaded that and tried to rewrite my epiphany, but the magic was gone. I was able to reproduce the "idea," but not the magic.

I'm so bummed. Anyone else ever have to rewrite something and just not be able to recapture the glory?

Angelinity · Jan 6, 2008

that happened to me once with a 2K article. eventually after much cursing and sweating and only hours before the deadline i dug it out from my temporary files folder -- but don't ask me how you can get in there... cuz i don't 'member

Mr Flibble · Jan 6, 2008

Wouldn't your epiphany be in the Recycle Bin if it's been accidentally deleted?

Sounds pretty weird anyway....and kids are the reason I have Autosave on

jenngreenleaf · Jan 6, 2008

Something similar happened to me. In the mid-90's, I decided to write my "first novel" and was plugging right along. I was in the habit of editing as I wrote (I know, I know . . . I was new at this!) and had about two chapters left to go . . . I was working on an old computer, didn't think to back up on diskette, and I was living in a very old apartment. Someone in an apartment below me blew a fuse that disturbed the whole building . . . my computer never came back to life. I never tried writing a novel again. I took it as a sign. LOL

GeorgieB · Jan 6, 2008

You might try using the 'search' function (right click on "Start") if you can remember any part of the title. There should be one if you clicked on "yes" when it asked if you wanted to save it.

Just a thought, good luck.

slcboston · Jan 6, 2008

Angelinity said:
that happened to me once with a 2K article. eventually after much cursing and sweating and only hours before the deadline i dug it out from my temporary files folder -- but don't ask me how you can get in there... cuz i don't 'member

Here's how this works: if you have a program crash or something else where it doesn't save properly before closing, a lot of programs will have a "recovery" file saved. This is often the last autosave before the crash, and is usually save in a directory different from your normal "documents" folder - often in a directory included in the program's file path. (You know, one of those obscure little folders that you don't know what they do.)

If you delete something, in this day and age, unless you've emptied your recycle bin it ought to still be recoverable. Sounds to me as though it got saved some place obscure. Depending on your OS, I'd do a search for it. If that fails, hunt down where your program keeps the temp files and open a few of them (they should be in the same format you were working in) and see if any of them have your file.

Jersey Chick · Jan 6, 2008

Yep - I lost about 1/2 of a novel I was working on when my computer decided to go wonky. For reasons still unknown, it reversed headers with text, so the novel was all written in the headers, about three words per page, so the total page count was in the thousands. I don't know how many pages, because Word wouldn't stop counting (I gave up when it hit over 2,000.) It wouldn't let me change anything or reverse it and when I opened it, it went into that endless page count loop and I'd have to Control Alt Delete to get it to stop. I ended up having to rewrite it from a previous draft, and the magic was gone as well...

I now also have Autosave on.

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 6, 2008

IdiotsRUs said:
Wouldn't your epiphany be in the Recycle Bin if it's been accidentally deleted?

Sounds pretty weird anyway....and kids are the reason I have Autosave on

No. It wasn't there. That was the first place I looked. It had simply vanished.

Angelinity · Jan 6, 2008

Shadow_Ferret said:
No. It wasn't there. That was the first place I looked. It had simply vanished.

Hello!!!

it is NOT lost, it is in your TEMPORARY FILES folder -- go digging :tongue

seriously it's there somewhere... good luck

katiemac · Jan 6, 2008

I've written whole paragraphs in my head. Then, when it comes to actually facing the sheet of paper ... implosion.

Birol · Jan 6, 2008

I had a boss that would lose things like that all the time. I'd check everywhere -- temp files, etc., and would never be able to find them. I wish you much better luck, Shadow.

Gray Rose · Jan 6, 2008

shadow-ferret: if you have a PC, click on "start", then search, then documents, then use advanced search options. In the advanced search rubric, click on "words within a file". put in an unusual word or collocation from your epiphany, I am sure you can remember a word or a word combo. Hit search. Repeat the process a couple of times with different words.

I found many a lost document that way.

Good luck!

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 6, 2008

Angelinity said:
Hello!!! it is NOT lost, it is in your TEMPORARY FILES folder -- go digging

seriously it's there somewhere... good luck

No. I looked in all the obvious places. I did a complete search of the computer. All I can find is the shortcut by that name. The file itself is GONE. Strangest thing I've ever seen.

Angelinity · Jan 6, 2008

Shadow_Ferret said:
No. I looked in all the obvious places. I did a complete search of the computer. All I can find is the shortcut by that name. The file itself is GONE. Strangest thing I've ever seen.

now see, you made me stay up an extra hour... grrrr

it is NOT gone -- it has been saved however it also has been renamed which is why no search will turn it up...

...and you will find it right here in this folder:

C:\Documents and Settings\Administrator\Local Settings\Temp

look for wicrosoft word document files, but they will all have crazy names like this.... ~WRD2101

look for a file dated with the date you lost yours.

you WILL find it

now i'm going to bed. good luck.

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 6, 2008

Except Vista doesn't seem to have a c:/documents and settings folder.

jenngreenleaf · Jan 6, 2008

Vista drives me nuts. :Hammer:

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 6, 2008

Well, except for this incident, which I'm not yet prepared to blame on the OS, I haven't had any problems with Vista.

jenngreenleaf · Jan 6, 2008

That's GOOD! I had to take a computer course last semester (taking another in February) and ALL the techies complained about the platform, how they had to rip it down, and about how they had to return to previous versions of windows. I haven't reached that point yet, but the compatability issues I have with other software I've tried to run is frustrating. I'm used to go into the back end of the system and solving the problem . . . I can't figure it out with Vista. Hence, the computer banging smilie. LOL

Angelinity · Jan 6, 2008

Shadow_Ferret said:
Except Vista doesn't seem to have a c:/documents and settings folder.

'mkay, not knowing Vista i'll step away -- trough surely it must have something equivalent to the d&sf.

blacbird · Jan 6, 2008

Happened to me some years back, with my virginity. But I keep looking. I know it ain't behind the summer tires in my garage.

caw

Mandy-Jane · Jan 7, 2008

Take it as a sign. If you lost it, it wasn't meant to be. Now you'll go on and write something way better.

Shadow_Ferret · Jan 7, 2008

I hate signs.

What I wrote was pure genius. A one-time, everything just fell into place, beautiful piece of writing.

Every recreation has been pure crap.

blacbird said:
Happened to me some years back, with my virginity. But I keep looking. I know it ain't behind the summer tires in my garage.

caw

I think it's in that rusting old coffee can that's filled with assorted nuts and bolts.

Keyboard Hound · Jan 7, 2008

I have Vista and I've found documents using advanced search. Like someone else said, enter a couple of words from the body of your story--not the name of the file--and it should come up. If the first ones fail, try others until you find it. Good luck!

Easy way to find temp files: Open a document from email. It will open in a temp file. My computer gives a complete list of temp files at the end of my others files saved in folders and under just names. It uses Vista.

Never say die, never give up. Since you know its good, keep on with it until you get it back, even if you have to rewrite.

Soccer Mom · Jan 7, 2008

Ugh! I have no techno-help to offer. Just that I once lost the last chapter of a book while making back ups. I have no idea how I did it, but I had to rewrite the dang thing. It was my first book too and the wretched thing took my 18 mos to write. (the whole thing, not the final chapter). But still, it was very disheartening. (okay, I cried, and I'm not much of a cryer).

But I lived to write again.

Rowdymama · Jan 7, 2008

This has happened to me so many times I've lost count! TheVeryImportantThingGummy blew on my previous laptop and I lost everything! My tech said he transferred it to my desktop but it isn't there.

I'm with Mandy-Jane. Every time I've lost something I have rewritten it better (or so it seems to me). It was a DRAFT! Let it go, and start something new.

Some famous author once said that once a writer finishes a draft, they should find their favorite parts, the ones they liked the best, and get rid of them. Enthusiasm is temporary and fleeting - who knows what it's based on?

BTW, my son, who everyone knows by now is a semi-bigwig at Microsoft, says Vista is a piece of sh**.

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