Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime

How can I lose half a document!

edited October 2012 in Official postings
Hi to everyone who remembers me. The prodigal returns with a problem....

I seem to have lost half a document! The document is saved on the hard drive and on a memory stick but I've gone into both and half of it is missing. It wasn't necessarily the newest section either, as a list of sub-headings I was working from has vanished.

What have I done and can I put it right?

Comments

  • Gulp.

    Have you changed formats? e.g. .docx to .doc or whatever.

    Have you tried searching on those, ie just type .doc into the search box. I find that sometimes helps.

    Can you key in the sub headings individually (as keywords)? That might bring them up.
  • Is it possible that you saved it somewhere else? If your work autosaves, it should be there somewhere.
  • [quote=Mrs Bear]If your work autosaves[/quote]

    True. What version of Word are you running?
  • edited October 2012
    You need to download an Uninstall program, load it on your PC/Laptop, then plug in the USB and let it search out all the "deleted" files; once done, you choose the file you want, re-instate its correct title (you'll know what you called the document?), and it'll be back!

    When we 'delete' files, all it does is remove the title from the System Registry by altering the first character - often with either an underscore, thus: _scf2222.jpg or $scf2222jpg (if a picture, for example), or maybe if the document was a text document called - say - 'tripe.doc', it'd show as something like ' _ripe.doc' or '$ripe.doc' - see what I mean? So, all you need, once the program has dug up the dirt, is to retypre the corrct leading character, then fire it up (hopefully!).

    Google "Undelete Programs", but be careful which one you choose - there are many free downloads, all safe enough, but most will find your files then tell you it's only an evaluation program, and that you'll have to pay for a full version to recover the files...

    I'll look for the one I downloaded later, if ok, and let you know which one I use (can't find it right now, but it's on here somewhere!)...

    For now, don't save or remove/delete files from the drive, in case they over-write the file you want!
  • Oo-er, sounds complicated, BLZ but I'll give it a go.

    I've had a good rummage, PBW but without success.

    I'm hoping you're right, Mrs Bear. I managed to find something I lost on my old desktop a few years ago, but nothing similar appears to be on this laptop.

    Anyway, you've given me a glimmer of hope. Thanks folks.
  • Ok, Anna - pin back yer lug-'oles!!!

    You need to follow this link to get the Freeware Download, then Install it on your PC/Laptop:

    http://www.snapfiles.com/get/pcinspector.html

    This is the safest working Undeleting Program that I've come across - and it's very easy to use, if you read the Help File & Instructions carefully! Honestly, it's a life-saver where missing files are concerned...

    Another possibility is: Have you tried doing a file-specific search of the drive you think it's on? I ask, because my other half keeps mislaying files because she insists on using the touchpad on her laptop, and occasionally gets fumble-fingered and crossed-digits, sending files into wrong folders, transferring from one sector to another...you name it, she's done it...and it can be real fun trying to find them!
    All it takes, though, is that when you plug in the drive (USB stick/drive/memory chip/whatever), a dialogue box pops up asking what you want to do...select "Open Folders To View Files", then at the top right of the next dialogue box, there'll be a "Search For..." box; type the (known) title of the document in there, and it should search the inserted drive and find the file, no matter what folder it's in. If it doesn't, then open each file folder in turn and repeat the search until it pops up...if it does, just click on the shown file, then save it elsewhere!!

    If not...well, that's where PC Inspector comes into play!

    Happy Hunting!! (Any doubts, e-mail me direct via my account e-mail, ok? ;-) )
Sign In or Register to comment.