I lost a story I was working on for 5 years. (recovered - whew!)

writerterri · Mar 24, 2009

I usually save it to a floppy when I work on it so it doesn't get lost in my pc forever for whatever reason. I went to save it and it gave me loads of problems. It asked me to change the document file name so I did and when I saved it it said there was an error and that it was going to save it and close the window. It did. Now it's gone. Not on the disc or in my history. Nowhere.

I'm devistated.

Any ideas of where it could have gone?

Please.

I may never write again.

Clair Dickson · Mar 24, 2009

Try doing a search for the file. If nothing else, search for documents modified in the past day or week or however long. There's a tiny possibility that the computer tried to save it elsewhere. (Not everything shows up in my history when there's a problem.)

My other guess is that the disk had a bad sector and when the computer tried to save it on that spot, it lost what it was doing.

Please tell me your only copy wasn't on a floppy. Floppy disks (like any storage medium) degrade over time. It's like writing your story in sidewalk chalk and hoping it doesn't rain. It may not, but soon as it does... yeah.

Writer's Law: Thou shalt have no less than THREE copies at any given time in THREE different places and mediums.

Snowstorm · Mar 24, 2009

Yikes. I'm so sorry. Have you tried a search of the floppy to see what is on the disk?

Is there a possibility that your computer saved a backup copy to your computer? Some computers are set up to hide back-up copies, and you may be lucky to find that it did. Try doing a search of your computer using the old name and the new one. There's lots of places for a file to hide in a PC.

Good luck.

mdin · Mar 24, 2009

That's horrible. Do you save a copy on your pc AND on the floppy or just on the floppy?

What program do you use to write? Word? Works?

You may have hidden temporary files on both your computer and floppy.

Even if it's gone, you may be able to take your floppy to a local file recovery expert who may be able to extract it. It'll cost some serious $$, but a true expert may help.

After you get your file back, you are going to go to gmail.com and register an email address. Every night after you write, you're going to email a copy of the file to yourself, and never erase the old emails, either. You get 7.3 gigs of free file space, which is about enough space for 3,000 novels, maybe more.

Floppy disks are less reliable than hard drives, so in the future I wouldn't trust either.

writerterri · Mar 24, 2009

Clair Dickson said:
Try doing a search for the file. If nothing else, search for documents modified in the past day or week or however long. There's a tiny possibility that the computer tried to save it elsewhere. (Not everything shows up in my history when there's a problem.)

My other guess is that the disk had a bad sector and when the computer tried to save it on that spot, it lost what it was doing.

Please tell me your only copy wasn't on a floppy. Floppy disks (like any storage medium) degrade over time. It's like writing your story in sidewalk chalk and hoping it doesn't rain. It may not, but soon as it does... yeah.

Writer's Law: Thou shalt have no less than THREE copies at any given time in THREE different places and mediums.

I searched documents and history. Where else is there to search?

I didn't know that about the floppy. I do have a copy on another floppy but it's so old.

Matera the Mad · Mar 24, 2009

Search for any file (*.*) that has a certain phrase that you know is in it.

You should never save only to a floppy! In fact, it is better not to save to a floppy at all, but to save it on the hard drive and copy it to the floppy.

Floppy disks are very easily corrupted. If you have been using the same flop over and over, it is all the more likely to go wonky. The complaints that you were getting when you tried to save it suggest that the disk already had a lot on it.

One day I found a floppy still in the drive in the Internet computer at work. After a little detective work, I decided that one of my less computer savvy colleagues had tried to save a web page on it. There was no usable data on that floppy, it was total gebberish and had to be reformatted.

Copy to the floppy!

There is free data recovery software that can recover deleted files, but if a file is corrupted in some way it takes a bit of geekness to get anything out of it.

ETA: Search the whole hard drive.

writerterri · Mar 24, 2009

Snowstorm said:
Yikes. I'm so sorry. Have you tried a search of the floppy to see what is on the disk?

Is there a possibility that your computer saved a backup copy to your computer? Some computers are set up to hide back-up copies, and you may be lucky to find that it did. Try doing a search of your computer using the old name and the new one. There's lots of places for a file to hide in a PC.

Good luck.

Nothing shows up on the floppy. That's what wierd. It's started there and then it wouldn't save the changes I made. I tried what I could. It just didn't show up as me working it.

XThe NavigatorX said:
That's horrible. Do you save a copy on your pc AND on the floppy or just on the floppy?

What program do you use to write? Word? Works?

You may have hidden temporary files on both your computer and floppy.

Even if it's gone, you may be able to take your floppy to a local file recovery expert who may be able to extract it. It'll cost some serious $$, but a true expert may help.

After you get your file back, you are going to go to gmail.com and register an email address. Every night after you write, you're going to email a copy of the file to yourself, and never erase the old emails, either. You get 7.3 gigs of free file space, which is about enough space for 3,000 novels, maybe more.

Floppy disks are less reliable than hard drives, so in the future I wouldn't trust either.

I'll save the floppy. I was going to email it to my self after I saved it. UGH!

Thanks all!

TheIT · Mar 24, 2009

When you're looking, make sure your computer is also showing you hidden files. Also, I'm assuming you were editing with MS Word. Sometimes it'll save intermediate copies with a name which begins with "~" and the rest of the original file name.

Good luck!

alleycat · Mar 24, 2009

First, don't do anything stupid. You're upset and angry at the moment; it is really easy with a computer to screw up things even worse when you're upset or flustered.

So, slow down, take a deep breath . . . all might not be lost (although it isn't looking good at the moment).

alleycat · Mar 24, 2009

TheIT said:
When you're looking, make sure your computer is also showing you hidden files. Also, I'm assuming you were editing with MS Word. Sometimes it'll save intermediate copies with a name which begins with "~" and the rest of the original file name.

Windows does at least try to save a copy of a file when something screws up.

Snowstorm · Mar 24, 2009

Terri, expand your search to your entire hard drive (likely C drive) including hidden ~~drives~~ (oops, files). I have a Mac now so I'm a bit rusty with PC stuff (Start button, search, then click your choices for C drive and anything else it'll check).

ETA: Keep in mind there's LOTS of places PCs hide files.

Keeping my fingers crossed for you. :Hug2:

Pagey's_Girl · Mar 24, 2009

Go to Start--> Search--> All Files & Folders. It'll give you an option to search for a word or phrase as well as the file name. It'll also give you a bunch of advanced options. Try a word or phrase first, because Windows sometimes alters filenames when it auto-saves.

If you've been working on it regularly, there's still a good chance there's a backup file buried somewhere there.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

writerterri · Mar 24, 2009

Pagey's_Girl said:
Go to Start--> Search--> All Files & Folders. It'll give you an option to search for a word or phrase as well as the file name. It'll also give you a bunch of advanced options. Try a word or phrase first, because Windows sometimes alters filenames when it auto-saves.

If you've been working on it regularly, there's still a good chance there's a backup file buried somewhere there.

Keeping my fingers crossed.

I did it. It wont even find a back up file. Wierd.

Does anyone know if it can be extracted off of the floppy? I think I have to call geek squad.

Snowstorm · Mar 24, 2009

I'm sorry, Terri, but that's out of my league. Good luck with the geek squad.

writerterri · Mar 24, 2009

TheIT said:
When you're looking, make sure your computer is also showing you hidden files. Also, I'm assuming you were editing with MS Word. Sometimes it'll save intermediate copies with a name which begins with "~" and the rest of the original file name.

Good luck!

It gave me one of those weird ~w... when I first tried to save. It wasn't even under that file name which is why I think it wouldn't let me save the changes unless I changed the name of the file. When I did...poof! Gone.

I did a complete search on all files hidden and otherwise.

hmmm

writerterri · Mar 24, 2009

Snowstorm said:
I'm sorry, Terri, but that's out of my league. Good luck with the geek squad.

Thanks!

Joe270 · Mar 24, 2009

Terri, this may sound really stupid, but I know you're quite stressed right now.

Is there any chance you have a copy of an earlier version on another floppy? Then you haven't lost all of it.

writerterri · Mar 24, 2009

Joe270 said:
Terri, this may sound really stupid, but I know you're quite stressed right now.

Is there any chance you have a copy of an earlier version on another floppy? Then you haven't lost all of it.

I do. It's my much worse version. So, I'm forced to look at the bright side. It's just dim right now. I wrote some stuff on there when I was inspired. I like to write stuff and not look at it for months then go back when I'm sure I forgot what I wrote and revise with fresh eyes.

Thanks Joe! How's the ghost sitch? Gone yet?

Rolling Thunder · Mar 24, 2009

Word might have saved it as a ~WRL####.tmp file if you loaded it to the hard drive. Start WORD, select the 'open' command and look for a file that has the same date you lost the file. Have it look at the floppy, too. You might get lucky.

And if you're using Windows, do a search for a document using *.tmp as the file to look for. If you find ones with the ~wrl#.tmp names, open them with word and look at them.

CACTUSWENDY · Mar 24, 2009

Just go back and restore your computer to a day or two ago. It should be there. That's the only thing I can think of.

Joe270 · Mar 24, 2009

Thanks Joe! How's the ghost sitch? Gone yet?

Nope. He's still there. I had to accompany the listing agent out there this morning because she's too scared to go there by herself any longer.

Okay, here's the next stupid question, have you checked this disk on another computer? It might be the drive, not the disk. Do other disks work in the drive?

writerterri · Mar 24, 2009

Rolling Thunder said:
Word might have saved it as a ~WRL####.tmp file if you loaded it to the hard drive. Start WORD, select the 'open' command and look for a file that has the same date you lost the file. Have it look at the floppy, too. You might get lucky.

And if you're using Windows, do a search for a document using *.tmp as the file to look for. If you find ones with the ~wrl#.tmp names, open them with word and look at them.

Trying it... Can't find what you're telling me.

And no, joe I don't have another pc here. I'll try the library.

Rolling Thunder · Mar 24, 2009

Use Windows search and look for ~*.*, Terri. See if that works.

writerterri · Mar 24, 2009

Rolling Thunder said:
Use Windows search and look for ~*.*, Terri. See if that works.

I think that's what I saw when it told me I couldn't save the file. I saw ~wl....tmp. But I can't find an option where I can look for that file. I have a search going on with those letters in my hidden files. This program is 9 years old. I don't seem to have a windows search installed.

I'll keep trying...

Rolling Thunder · Mar 24, 2009

What version of Windows and MS Word are you using?

I lost a story I was working on for 5 years. (recovered - whew!)

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It's a dorky day!

It's a dorky day!