Document disappeared from computer

[inkberry]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have been working on a large document in 2008, which I have been saving as .doc, at the insistence of my client. I worked on it for nearly 3 hours this morning, saving every 5-10 minutes and with save AutoRecover info is set to every 5 minutes. I saved and closed the document, then quit Word to go to an appointment; computer was sleeping in my absence; when I returned the document was not in the working folder; opening Word, it was not the most recent document listed; trying to open that file from menu resulted in a dialog telling me that it could not be found, would I like to look for it. Spotlight could not find it. Trash is empty. There have been no power outages, building has line conditioner between external electrical and circuit-breaker box.
The other document I had open (with quite dissimilar name) is right where I expected it to be, as are all the previous versions of the document.
Any ideas?

 

[John McGhie]

Sorry, no "real" ideas.

AutoRecover information is deleted when you quit Word, so if it ever was
there, it isn't now.

If the file name begins with certain characters (~, .) the file will be
invisible.

This may be a temporary error in the disk directory. First try a reboot and
see if it suddenly re-appears.

If not, close ALL applications and start Disk Utility. Run "Verify Disk".
This will take a while to run.

Think carefully before proceeding to "Repair". It can make existing files
go away: think carefully whether you have a current backup.

Hope this helps

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I have been working on a large document in 2008, which I have been saving as
.doc, at the insistence of my client. I worked on it for nearly 3 hours this
morning, saving every 5-10 minutes and with save AutoRecover info is set to
every 5 minutes. I saved and closed the document, then quit Word to go to an
appointment; computer was sleeping in my absence; when I returned the document
was not in the working folder; opening Word, it was not the most recent
document listed; trying to open that file from menu resulted in a dialog
telling me that it could not be found, would I like to look for it. Spotlight
could not find it. Trash is empty. There have been no power outages, building
has line conditioner between external electrical and circuit-breaker box.
The other document I had open (with quite dissimilar name) is right where I
expected it to be, as are all the previous versions of the document.
Any ideas?

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[inkberry]

Thank you. Lesson: you can never be too careful --- I should have copied file to another drive before leaving office. Went to a backup file from previous day. Disk Utility did indeed spot a directory inconsistency, which is now repaired --- but lost file is gone, along with two others.

 

[John McGhie]

How old is that hard drive?

They do have a "life" which can vary from one day to 20 years. But for
"earning your living" I would not trust one beyond 3 years...

Run "Verify Disk" once a month: if the drive keeps throwing errors, relace
it before you get REALLY bad news

Cheers

Thank you. Lesson: you can never be too careful --- I should have copied file
to another drive before leaving office. Went to a backup file from previous
day. Disk Utility did indeed spot a directory inconsistency, which is now
repaired --- but lost file is gone, along with two others.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]