Affinity Designer file is corrupted suddenly

[Canterslowly]

Hope you don't mind me tagging onto this thread but I've got a problem with corrupt AD files too - on a laptop.   In the summer I had so many corrupt files and, eventually, my hard drive broke so I assumed that was the issue.

My hard drive was replaced with a new one and laptop/software rebuilt (Windows 10).  I've been working on it fine since then and have deleted old corrupt files as and when I find them.  I make lots of scrapbook and greetings card designs and whenever I make an Affinity file (I've used Photo, Publisher and Designer) I also create a JPG file for printing.  The corrupted files were always Affinity files - no JPGs, PDFs, Documents or Photos on my laptop were corrupted.

Over the last few days I've found newly created artboard files in AD to be corrupt.  Fortunately I'm backing up to external drive and (now) a USB too as I lost so much work when the hard drive crashed, so I don't need your help to recover a file but just thought I'd report this issue and find out if anything is obvious to you that's not obvious to me. 

I'm using AD v 1.0
Windows 10 (up-to-date)
NVIDIA Gameforce drivers have been updated 2 days ago (I saw mention of them on another post when I searched for the corrupt file issue)

I've added the latest corrupt file herewith in case you would like to examine it.

1961812939_MyFloralAssetscont(2).afdesign

[Pšenda]

15 hours ago, Canterslowly said:

I'm using AD v 1.0

I recommend updating - the current version of ADesigner is 1.10.4.

[Canterslowly]

My apologies, I looked for the version number in the program and it came up with 1.0 but I am using the newest version - I updated it earlier this week. 

[SuperMrRudolf]

Hi. PLEASE HELP. I have a very important file that just went corrupted.

How can I recover the last edits I made?  I also don't know why it is 2GB in size, all my media is linked.

here is my file I HOPE you can help me else i would have to redo a lot of work.

https://we.tl/t-ZzbRoUN8iU

 

worked on M1 macbook air 8gb ram

affinity 1.10.4

was trying to save then affinity crashed. now file is corrupted.

[machetasmo]

Hello,

same experience here. I finished all the work with my book, copying last two pictures and then it crashed. It says my file is corrupted. I can´t open it to make backup. What should I do? Working with Affinity Publisher on HP AMD Ryzen 5, 8 GB RAM, 2 GB graphics.

632288062_Havarrskkobkytypografiehyphenationodsazen.afpub

Edited November 8, 2021 by machetasmo

[KeithP]

Hi I'm have the same issue with files corrupting and I'm not able to open them. Can you please have the Devs take a look and let me know what's happening ASAP please.

File upload doesn't seem to be working, I've uploaded the files in question to Google Drive

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1JeTKNdaYez6oTnCMv-58vLRvg8pWcQD3?usp=sharing

Edited November 16, 2021 by KeithP

[Canterslowly]

@carl123  Hello - would you know if this thread is being monitored still?  I'm just wondering if the reason for these file corruptions is understood by the Affinity team.  Thank you. 

[carl123]

2 minutes ago, Canterslowly said:

@carl123  Hello - would you know if this thread is being monitored still?  I'm just wondering if the reason for these file corruptions is understood by the Affinity team.  Thank you. 

Most file corruptions occur when the file being worked on is not on a local/internal drive (i.e. a drive inside your computer) due to the connection to the (external) drive being dropped, even temporarily

The Affinity team is aware of the problem but have not as yet solved it and as such their recommendation is to always work on the file locally and then copy/move it to another external drive if that is where you ultimately want to store it.

Further recommendations, by others, is to do regular backups and to do a File > Save as... to a new file name every so often when working on a file, so you can always go back to a previous version should your main document crash and be unrecoverable

PS If you have a corrupt document, you can upload it to the forum to see if someone here can recover it for you or if it is private then request a dropbox link from the support staff and upload it privately to them.

 

[Canterslowly]

@carl123 Thank you for your answer.  I always save direct to my hard drive and do regular "save as" updates.  I also back up to a USB drive once I've finished working on the item.  I'm a hobbyist so it's unlikely I'd have anything important enough to bother the team with 😀😀 (I hope).  It's good to know that the forum threads are being monitored.  I can imagine it's a massive task!  👍

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, carl123 said:

Further recommendations, by others, is to do regular backups and to do a File > Save as... to a new file name every so often when working on a file, so you can always go back to a previous version should your main document crash and be unrecoverable

I suggested Serif's automatic indexing of the previous/backup file name. Maybe they implement it sometimes.

Although I don't hope for it much after a year, even though it's a matter of a few minutes - I use it myself in my applications.

[nats057]

hi, the same thing has happened to one of my files and I really need access to it as i only have a few edits to make. please can you help uncorupt this document 

Marys order1.afdesign

Edited December 9, 2021 by nats057
add a document

[nats057]

11 hours ago, LondonSquirrel said:

Try this attached zip file (extracted onto A3 paper as I didn't know what size your document was).

The problem appears to be caused by this layer: I would suggest not using this image.

Marys order1 - on A3.zip 35.29 MB · 2 downloads

 

thank you so much and i will bare that in mind

[mataio]

Hey, I was working on this earlier, and it was fine. Tried opening it up just now, and it said this. I tried opening all my other affinity photo projects, they all work. but for some reason, this one got corrupted. After reading thru this forum, i now know its most likely because i saved it on an external HDD. I didint know about the local thing. I do now, and have moved them all. Ill be saving on to local from now on. But is there anyway this can be repaired? Its pretty important. Idk why this one, of all my projects, got corrupted. The one I actually need lol, of course.
Also, when I went to add the affinity photo file in this reply, it wouldnt let me. I screenshotted what it said and attached it to this as well. 

[carl123]

 

2 hours ago, mataio said:

But is there anyway this can be repaired?

Create a Dropbox or WeTransfer link to the file, we can't determine anything without it.

 

[mataio]

heres a mega link to the project. idk why i didint do that in the first place lol. 
https://mega.nz/file/25wm3RpY#Zhs6tbXZxeT7zHGa9DlLEsMnw2fTBpsKmZUp8Lg5VPk

[dudu]

Hi there! Does anyone have an idea how I need to fix this? It got me twice in a day!!?? Mac OS Monteray, Affinity Publisher 1.10.4 please if any idea how to solve this! much appreciate it

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, dudu said:

... It got me twice in a day!!?? ... please if any idea how to solve this!

Store working file to local disc.

[dudu]

What you mean store? I was working on local, so can I get my file back? It wrote "access to document file was lost..."

[Canterslowly]

I save to my laptop drive but I've still finding the files are corrupt when I go back to them.  I now save a 2nd time to a USB and haven't found any corrupt (yet) on there.  I'm even finding bits of assets files are corrupt, items within a file (scrapbook kits) which are corrupt.  No photos or documents are corrupt- just my design files.  Already replaced the SSD once and loathed to replace laptop in case the problem is coming from Affinity. 

[dudu]

So the problem was when save on local you had the same problem as mine? So, you mean I need to work on external hard drive?

[Canterslowly]

@dudu when I posted the problem I was having the reply was to make sure I back up my work regularly!  Not very helpful.  I now do full backups regularly but in order to save my designs I also save my work twice - once to local drive and once to USB.  I'm hoping some solution is found soon.  

I'm planning on buying an ipad soon so may discover whether the problem is with affinity or my laptop. 😳😳. Good luck. 

[Pšenda]

3 hours ago, dudu said:

What you mean store?

If you look at the forum, the most common case of damaged files arises when working on external disks - that is, when working files are opened and saved to an external disk, because the connection to the external disk can show errors and connection losses, which then lead to file corruption. To solve the problems, it is enough to transfer your working files from external USB drives, NAS, etc., to a local drive.
If you are working from a local disk, I would check its quality.
Making backups to external media is a matter of course, and it has nothing to do with the problem of file corruption (that is, as long as you back up the correct / functional files, and not the damaged ones with which you overwrite the functional backups).

[Canterslowly]

@Pšenda thank you for this information.  I hadn't picked up on the bit about saving externally being a possible problem.  I have a good laptop but my SSD corrupted.  My friend who gave me the laptop put the original SSD back in (he'd previously upgraded) but perhaps it was faulty.  I can't afford to replace like-for-like as it has a big screen so will try a new SSD.  

[Pšenda]

24 minutes ago, Canterslowly said:

but perhaps it was faulty

Of course, a faulty disk, even if it is local, could cause similar problems - the message "Access was lost" corresponds to this.

However, this can cause a problem with data access as such, so the file may not be damaged yet. Try copying it to an external disk (FLASH) and opening from it.

Edited December 22, 2021 by Pšenda

[Canterslowly]

@Pšenda - I get "this file cannot be opened as it is corrupt" or words to that effect.