Can't Recover a file

March 9, 200223 yr

I didn't close my file properly (slap wrist!) and so it got damaged. The problem is, I can't recover it. The dialogue box prompts to name the recovered file and then when I Save, recovery stops. I can see the recovery process flash for a second and then it just stops. I'm wondering if this is related to a disk space error message (http://www.fmforums.com/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=26;t=001633)

I was getting last week. There is plenty of disk space.

I'm running Filemaker 5.0v3 on W2KPro.(I started with 5.0v1 from a programme CD and then downloaded the free upgrader last week).

I have a back-up, but I don't like the notion of not being able to recover a damaged file.

Help please!

March 9, 200223 yr

Well of course you should use the damaged file if you were to recover it. The purpose of Recovery is to get the file into sufficiently good shape to remove the data from it.

Sounds as if your file is badly damaged. FIleMAker, Inc. can sometimes repair such files, but there are no guarantees.

Old Advance Man

March 9, 200223 yr

quote:

Originally posted by Old Advance Man:

Well of course you should use the damaged file if you were to recover it...

N.B.: It appears that OAM inadvertently left out a word; I'd bet long odds that he meant to write "Well of course you should not use the damaged file..."

Reminds me of an old Farmer's Almanac list, entitled "18 Rules for Good Riting". One of the rules read, "Check to be sure you don't out any words."

March 9, 200223 yr

It occurs to me that you might try recovering a perfectly good file, just to see if there's anything wrong with your copy of FMP's recovery process.

If all goes well, it may be that the corrupted file is unrecoverable. If not, the only thing I can suggest is reinstalling FMP.

March 9, 200223 yr

I have had files that were so badly mangled that they couldn't be recovered. One problem is that even when Filemaker says it recovered the file, it can still be mangled beyond useabilty. You are ALWAYS better off not taking the chance...use a backup instead.

March 10, 200223 yr

Author

Well that was a smart idea DanJacoby, because I've discovered that I can't recover *any* file. So here's what I've tried:

1.Re-installed 5.0v1 from the original disc. No improvement.

2.Re-downloaded and installed the v3 updater. No improvement.

3.I have a paid upgrade disc of 5.0v3 which I tried to install over the top of 5.0v1. No improvement, because though the upgrade seemed to install OK, when I check the Filemaker Info, it says it's running 5.0v1 (with that version's installation code).

4.I tried overwriting the v1 files with the v3 files copied from the machine where the v3 resides. Then at least the machine thinks it's running v3, but it still won't perform a recovery.

I have 5.0v3 running happily on another pc with Windows ME, and no recovery problems. And the troublesome v1 I have now used to work perfectly OK on the same computer when I had Windows 98. In between the hard disk was reformatted and everything installed with Win2Kpro. This makes me think that this is a Windows issue? I checked the techinfo support dbase at Filemaker and can't find anything.

I'm really grateful for your ideas. Luckily I only had dummy records in the file as I was adding scripts and layouts etc. but I'm nervous about continuing to use a *program* that may be damaged; makes a damaged file seem like small beer.....

March 10, 200223 yr

Alison,

I've had the exact same problem as you and was banging my head against the until I discovered what was wrong:

The path to the damaged file was too long and FileMaker just quit the repair process exactly as you described - just a split second flash, and no error message.

The solution was to simply move the file to a directory higer up in the directory tree (try to move it to the root).

I was using w2000, by the way.

Hope this helps,

Daniel

March 10, 200223 yr

Author

It works! !!! !

Tack! tack! tack! Daniel S (always wondered if you spell 'thanks' like that in Swedish). I'm toasting you in aquavit and wondering how to rate double 5-stars.

How on *earth* did you work that one out? As you know the default position for My Documents in Win2K is one level below Desktop. My file was only 2 levels below that. Is this unreasonable? I think not. How do we let FM people know this?

OK, enough of the euphoria. I'm happy and it's time for bed.

March 10, 200223 yr

The problems is that the *real* path to files on the desktop is something like

c:windowssystemusersprofilespersons namedesktop

(Yes I know this isn't exactly right, I'm on a Mac now so I cannot check...)

Being a Mac person, all my important stuff is on the desktop! (Idea of Mac interface inprovement: create a "floor" where unimportant stuff gets put.)

On PCs I am beginning to put the stuff in the root folder then make a shortcut on the desktop.

March 11, 200223 yr

<sigh>

Of course, I did mean that you should NOT use Recovered files. Thanks to all for catching this.

I need 10 days in Jamaica.

Old Advance Man

March 12, 200223 yr

quote:

It works!

Tack! tack! tack! Daniel S (always wondered if you spell 'thanks' like that in Swedish). I'm toasting you in aquavit and wondering how to rate double 5-stars.

Thanks for the Kudos! It always feels good when you can help somebody! And yes, it's spelled "tack"!

quote:

Well, I've had problems in other places with long file names before...so I tried after trying a lot of other things, just as you did!

I don't know if FileMaker Inc. is aware of the problem, but I did a quick search in the TechInfo database and couldn't find any references of it there anyway. The only thing I found that mentioned long filenames was in the Developer 5.5 readme file:

"2.1. In Windows, the FileMaker Developer Tool will not process files with pathnames longer than 130 characters. If needed, move files closer to the root level of your hard drive before opening them with the Developer Tool."

Maybe the same 130 character limitation applies in the repair process? I haven't had time to check.

I think FileMaker monitors these forums, but maybe someone should send them an e-mail about it...but [email protected] is not monitored, it bounces.

I'm thinking of moving all of my "work" directory structures up to the root instead of "My documents". I've had other problems with long directory paths and Analyzer 3.0 for example when analyzing FileMaker solutions. There I got an error message saying that the input XML file was damaged!

And Vaughan is right when he says that the actual path is longer - in Windows 2000 and XP "My Documents" starts from "C:Documents and Settings<User name>My Documents" which could build up to a quite long path in the end.

Daniel

3 years later...

August 16, 200520 yr

Newbies

With clues from above, I was able to finally recover a file by reducing the length of the folder name containing the file. The folder was this "C:/ECK 05 GLO Nesbit Melissa Input Beginning 081005". I changed it to "C:/ECK" and it recovered.