Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

Hello everyone.
I'v been writing a project in the last couple of weeks using OOo and i almost finish it but all of a sudden i can not open the file anymore !!
When i try to open it i see this messege:

I have to hand the project next week : ((
Please I need your help ..
the file is here :
http://www.mediafire.com/?7k5tvyik9hxsi9i



Title Edited. Everyone who posts here wants help! (TheGurkha, Moderator)

Hi and welcome to the forum!

Another one! see also : 22 page term paper replaced with pound signs.

Sadly, nothing to be done. The file is dead. You can check the backup folder in case there is a backup: [Tutorial] The OOo user profile.

What OS? Do you remember any specific event? Crash, power failure, ...?

If it is important and you've been working on it for weeks, perhaps you have made your own backups as you've gone along?

Do they still open? Do other files still open?

Thank you Hagar
I tried but I couldn't

---
TheGurkha,
I have an old copy of 4 pages, the research is about 10 pages though
Don't worry guys I started working on the old copy and hopefully i can make it by next week.

AT LEAST NOW I KNOW OOo IS NOT SAFE ENOuGH FOR BIG RESEARSH .. RIGHT ?

I highly recommend you make multiple backup copies. At the very least go to Tools-->Options-->Load/Save-->General and check "Always create a backup copy". This will at least make a copy every time you save in the user profile. The location is given in Hagar's earlier post.

yazeeddd wrote:Thank you Hagar
I tried but I couldn't

---
TheGurkha,
I have an old copy of 4 pages, the research is about 10 pages though
Don't worry guys I started working on the old copy and hopefully i can make it by next week.

AT LEAST NOW I KNOW OOo IS NOT SAFE ENOuGH FOR BIG RESEARSH .. RIGHT ?

No software and no stand-alone PC is safe enough for big research (10 pages is big?). The thing to remember is BACKUP, BACKUP, BACKUP. Also hard copies are good.

A file can go bad, a hard disc can take a lightening strike, a thief can steal the machine and so on. The alternative is to create a backup after any significant amount of work and keep it physically separated from the computer. If it is important enough, keep it off-site just in case of fire or flood or the aforementioned thief.

yazeeddd wrote:AT LEAST NOW I KNOW OOo IS NOT SAFE ENOuGH FOR BIG RESEARSH .. RIGHT ?

I would not say that. I use OOo at work since 2.0, 4 years ago and never had any problem of this kind. I use OOo 8 hrs a day at work and my documents are from 100 to 500 pages long, 5MB. I only have the OOo backup feature and a backup on a separate HD each week (I know, not often enough).

Honestly, I think that there is a problem that is deeply hidden somewhere. If you see the topic where I've listed all the cases I've seen here, you'll notice that it started with 2.3 (no such bug before) and it's often linked to specific events (power failure, ...).

There are some other cases that might involve other software but very difficult to spot such interaction.

I wouldn't be surprised if the bug is that OOo first zeroes the file and then rewrites it - and that the rewrite then fails because of the power failure.

I was thinking the opposite: when a file is ready to overwrite the original one (from the temporary location). The strange thing is that the file usually can't be opened by a zip archiver but OOo can.