Field data disappearing?!?

[ndelac]

This is new to me, and very troubling!... I am using data from a weight field in a related table to calculate line item costs for an invoicing system. Data in the weight field is disappearing from one day to the next. Two users maintain this data (myself via FM Server and one lady who uses IWP)... Certain weights are disappearing no matter if she enters them or I enter them.

Any clues?

[ndelac]

Forgot to mention that the item descriptions are also disappearing - often on the same items that lose the weight data....

[gdurniak]

Very often, "missing" or "disappearing" data means that FileMaker somehow found, and opened, a duplicate copy of a file, and that current data was entered into the copy

Search all drives, on all machines, for any extra file copies (FileMaker even has access to old files in the trash)

[MoonShadow]

Gregory is probably right. Also make sure they aren't global fields.

[Aileen Silver]

Hi,

This seems to be two fields that is not working properly. Have you tried to recreate the fields and see if the field was corrupt ? Have you tried to see if the fields on a different layout have the same result ? Maybe a corrupt layout ?

As suggested, it would be good to check to make sure that there are no duplicates of the database on the server. If there are stuff/zip them and name them with a date and put them in a separate folder. See if that helps.

What is the configuration of the setup ?

Aileen

[ndelac]

Thank you guys for the input. Hmm. The fields aren't global.

There one original + two copies of the database on the host machine. One copy in a "Backup" folder (backups automated and generated nightly) and another copy of that automated backup that I drag and drop into a "Backup" folder on an external hard drive. You guys are saying that those clearly marked backup copies are getting referenced..?.. Should I be renaming the backups immediately after they're generated each day?

Other weirdness (a couple of server crashes) has resulted from the automated nightly backup schedule, which I thought was cured after I installed the FM updates from filemaker.com...

I am hesitant to completely delete the fields, because the problem is only affecting about 100 of my 500 records. Trying to avoid rekeying!

[-Queue-]

If the backed up files use the same name and are not compressed, then yes, by all means, rename them. As a general rule, there should never be more than one FileMaker file with the same name available on a network. I am not certain how much of a problem this is with 7, but it cannot hurt to take it into account.

[Ron F]

make sure the backup folders aren't shared. If you have the users set up to start your solution by clicking on a file on their desktop make sure that the file isn't pointing to the backup.

[ndelac]

I renamed the existing backups and turned off the automated nightly backup scheduled via FMServer and the problem seems to be solved. I will be looking into the tables/relationships/scripts that may have a hand in this problem... Seems to only have affected very specific field and records (I hope!)

Thank you all for your input and suggestions!

[ndelac]

Well, the plot thickened... Turning the automated backup feature off (over the weekend) only SEEMED to solve the problem. Once we were all back in the office and started using the database again, the problem recurred. Turns out the 3 affected fields (the exact ones displayed on a related layout) were corrupted. Creating a new record in the related table was the event that triggered it. The "new record" command was erasing the data in the corresponding shared fields in the master table...

I removed the fields from the related layout, replaced them with merge fields/display only fields and so far so good...