Incomplete save in Writer on XP

[istracpsboss]

Hi

Using OO 2.3.0 with XP Pro with 512mb of RAM
I tried a search but maybe my terms weren't useful, as it didn't turn up anything.

I have a very distressed translator! She had translated 30 pages of German text when her computer froze. Eventually it had to be rebooted. When it came back on, she had only 16pages of translation. We don't know where the rest has gone. I've checked in properties and it was set to save every 15mins.
The curious thing is that when the file opens, in the bottom left hand corner it actually initially says 1 of 30 pages, then quickly changes to 1 of 16. I've copied the file to my computer and here it just says 16, without the curious little reference to 30.
Does anyone know what could have caused this? Is there a limit on how many pages Writer can save in one go? Does she need to save, say, 10 pages at a time under seperate folders?
The big question ! Are the missing pages likely to be lurking anywhere?

Our PCs also use AVG (updated daily), Spybot S+D and Adaware 2007, both updated weekly and run daily, so I don't think it is a security problem.

Any help appreciated.

Cheers

Peter

[Hagar Delest]

Activate the View>Web display mode. Perhaps the text is in a frame longer than the page.

[thomasjk]

Did she have the Check Box "Always Create Backup Copy" checked in Tools--->Options---->Load/Save---->General. If so a backup copy should be in C:\Documents and Settings\username\Application Data\OpenOffice.org2\user\backup. She may have to turn on View Hidden Files to see the Application Data folder.

[huw]

Make a copy of the file and rename it to a ZIP filetype. Then open the ZIP and extract content.xml. Have a look in there to establish if the missing text was saved. If it was then a repair should be possible.

If it wasn't then have a look in the directory given in the file path given at Tools > Options... > Paths > Backups. The filetype you are looking for is BAK. Again, take a copy and rename it, this time to ODS filetype. That should have the previous version she was trying to save over.

[foxcole]

The .bak file in the backups path is updated when the user does a manual save. If this translator has not actually saved the file instead of relying on autosave, it's possible the .bak was never created or does not have very recent changes. This is a problem for new users and should be made more clear up front somehow, but I'm not sure of the best means to do that. Too many people have lost work expecting their current changes to be in the .bak file, or never turned on the option to create a backup file so no .bak exists.

I'm hoping for the best in Peter's case.

[istracpsboss]

Many thanks for the prompt answers. I'm sorry not to have responded sooner.

Yes, she had save every 15mins set. The back up file was empty.

I've just spotted some further responses that I hadn't spotted earlier. I'll check those in the morning. Thanks again

[floris v]

In the distant past, when computers were slow, people were advised to save every 20 minutes or so, to avoid data loss in case of power outages or computer crashes. I feel that there's nothing wrong with saving every few minutes, and manually. I learned that when Word was unstable, and I don't trust the autosave of OOo at all - in fact I turned it off.
I sympathise with your translator - 14 pages lost is very sad. I hope they can still be found.

[foxcole]

If all else fails, you might be able to recover at least part of the lost data with a data recovery utility such as the one I use, ADRC Data Recovery (http://www.adrc.com/software/data_recovery_tools/). It's freeware and has never failed me yet. But keep in mind that some of the data could have already been overwritten by subsequent uses of the computer.