Crash during document recovery

[rowan.bradley]

I got into a situation recently where OO was completely unresponsive. In the end the only thing that I could do was to terminate it with Task Manager, and restart it. It then tried to recover all of the open documents from the previous session, but after it had supposedly recovered all the documents (except for one or two that failed), and I have clicked Next, and it was trying to display all of the open documents, before it had displayed them all, it crashed again. I went round this loop several times, and each time it crashed before it could display all of the documents. I suspect that it couldn't handle all of the open documents, maybe ran out of memory or something. Is there a way that I can get out of this situation? And recover some of the open documents? Can I tell it only to recover certain documents in the list, and not to try to recover them all? Can I recover an individual document? Where does it save the (possibly modified) open documents? Are they in a format that can be recovered individually?

On a more general note, surely software should be designed so that if there is not enough memory to do what the user is trying to do, the software warns the user to close some documents, or does so automatically? It should surely not be possible to go on opening documents until the system crashes?

Note - I am using Open Office 4.1.3 under Windows 8.1 (64 bit).

Thanks - Rowan

[John_Ha]

Reboot and try again.

With AOO off, search for any hidden files .~lock.Fred.odt#, where Fred is the file name. Delete all you find. Delete hidden file C:\Users\xxxxx\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\.lock if it is there.

Strange problems are sometimes fixed by resetting the profile - see Resetting the user profile.

[rowan.bradley]

Thank you for your suggestions.
Where do I look for the ~lock files? Are they in the same folders as the original files. or in AppData, or where?
Having deleted these ~lock files, what has happened? Does this mean that OO no longer knows about these files, and that I have therefore lost the chance to recover any of these files? Can I not recover them one at a time? If so, how?

Thanks - Rowan

[Hagar Delest]

The ~lock file is in the same folder as the original file.
Once deleted, AOO will just try to open the last saved file (the one in the original file).

What you could do is copy both each file and its ~lock file in a dedicated folder and then delete the ~lock files in the original folder(s).

Note that there is also the backup folder in the user profile that can include some copies, see [Tutorial] The OpenOffice User Profile.

[rowan.bradley]

Where are the changes that I've made since last saving the document stored?
If I copy the main file and the lock file to a different location, then AOO can't find it, and won't try to open it? How do I then open this file?
Where is the list of currently open files stored, which I assume AOO needs so that these are the files that it tries to restore when it restarts?
Thanks - Rowan

[RoryOF]

Changes made since last document Save are stored inline in a RAM image of the document. If the computer crashes, this image is lost.

Any recovery is based on temporary files that OpenOffice may use during editing; such files are updated in the process of Saving a file, so it is good practice to Save one's file as often as possible. Ctrl S is a quick shortcut to this; one should develop the habit of instinctively pressing Crtl S every time one walks away from a computer or pauses to deal with an interruption such as a phone call.

The list of the last ten files opened is kept in registrymodifications.xcu, which is updated on a successful close of the open files; if there is a program or system crash, this file may not be updated, and may even be damaged in the crash process.

Edit: If you copy the file to a different location, you can open it by starting OpenOffice and using /File /Open and the navigation buttons to point to that file location. Or, if your File Associations are correctly set, simply double clicking on the file will cause OO to start up and open the file. You do not need the lock file in such locations, as its presence will cause the file to open read-only.

[rowan.bradley]

So any changes since the last save are lost in a crash, and cannot be restored? So if I have started a new file which is called Untitled3 or similar, when recovered it will be empty? This seems to make recovery a pretty pointless process. it simply reopens all the files that were open before the crash, but does not restore any changes made to them?

Just trying to understand what my options are after a crash.

Thanks - Rowan

[RoryOF]

You get what you get - it can vary from case to case. It is always the User's responsibility to Save the files regularly and to have backups. A crash is an uncertain event - when one occurs, what happens, what is the current state of files, are all unknown.

[Bill]

So any changes since the last save are lost in a crash, and cannot be restored? So if I have started a new file which is called Untitled3 or similar, when recovered it will be empty? This seems to make recovery a pretty pointless process. it simply reopens all the files that were open before the crash, but does not restore any changes made to them?

Data which has not been saved is stored only in computer memory which requires constant power to retain the data. If the computer crashes and is restarted, power to the memory is interrupted and the data in memory is lost, so it's impossible to recover data which has never been saved in some way.

[rowan.bradley]

>Data which has not been saved is stored only in computer memory which requires constant power to retain the data

This does not actually seem to correspond with the facts. In the directory C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup there are files with names like untitled_18.odt, which contain contents. These files have never been saved (not manually at least). So something is automatically saving the files every time they are changed, or every few minutes or something. Which means that it IS possible to get back (at least some of) the changes that one has made since last save.

Thanks - Rowan

[RoryOF]

A backup file has been set to be created on your computer. This file, if it has been created, is updated on every Save of the main file. Point to it, open it, and see if the content you require is there.

[Bill]

>Data which has not been saved is stored only in computer memory which requires constant power to retain the data

This does not actually seem to correspond with the facts. In the directory C:\Users\RowanB\AppData\Roaming\OpenOffice\4\user\backup there are files with names like untitled_18.odt, which contain contents. These files have never been saved (not manually at least). So something is automatically saving the files every time they are changed, or every few minutes or something. Which means that it IS possible to get back (at least some of) the changes that one has made since last save.

Thanks - Rowan

The file "untitled_18.odt" is a recovery file saved by Writer because the "Save AutoRecovery information..." option was enabled and an interval was specified for saving the information. These files are created at the end of the first interval and thereafter updated at that interval. Before creation and between updates, changes are stored in the computer memory. Updating saves the changes in the recovery file. If the computer crashes, any changes not yet saved in the recovery file will be lost.

The recovery files in backup should be deleted automatically when the document is saved, so there should normally be no .odt files in backup when OpenOffice is closed. Any .odt files in backup at that time should be unrecovered files. If they're not being recovered automatically, then you can try recovering them one-at-a-time manually by moving the .odt files to your Desktop or some other user folder.

There can also be backup files in the backup folder, but backup files should have the .bak file name extension, not .odt. Backup files are the previous version of the file that was saved by the user, not the current version.

[rowan.bradley]

I have in my backup directory a number of files with names like "Brightwell Radiators.ods_0.ods" or untitled_0.ods. If I try to open these a box pops up with the title Filter Selection.

If I select ODF Spreadsheet from the list, it then gives me the error Unknown Graphics Format, followed by General Input/Output Error. What is going on here? How can I open these files (which I fear my contain unsaved work that I would like to recover)?

Thank you - Rowan

[RoryOF]

Usually an ASCII filter selection message indicates that the file is corrupt, or that OO cannot understand the format because it is a strange format. .ods files are often ascii files (.csv, or similar) in disguise. Try opening one with a plain text editor, such as notepad. If you see plain text, separated often by commas, but perhaps tabs or other characters, report back for further help. A sample file uploaded is very helpful - note, an actual file, not a picture of what you see.

[rowan.bradley]

Attached are a couple of files that are causing this problem.

[RoryOF]

Nothing in either - only headers for an MS file. Check sizes of other .ods files - anything of the same size (1.5KB) you can junk.