File corrupted

[JoaoCarvalho]

I searched for a solution to file corruption and found none it appears that i have to send my file to you. This is not a solution i live in Europe and i hope that you are working at this hour because i need to deliver this by 4pm.

Please tell what i can do to avoid this issue... i am trying very hard to come to terms with an application that corrupts my own files. I am very angry and have no way to explain to my clients in reasonable terms what is happening.

Atlantic_Interactions_5.afpub

[MEB]

Hi @JoaoCarvalho,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Can you give us a few more details please? Where was the file stored - on the local disk, on a USB external drive/stick, on a synchronised cloud folder like Google Drive, etc?

Meanwhile you can recover it if you create a new document (same doc specs) then go to menu Document > Add Pages from File. Select the corrupted file and go trough the dialogs. Don't forget to then delete the Page1 of that new document (it's empty) and check/adjust document settings if needed.

[JoaoCarvalho]

Hi Meb

The internal drive on my late 2012 iMac 21.5 inch died so i use a Samsung T5 ssd. I had no issues prior to this.

[JoaoCarvalho]

By this i mean i had no issues with Publisher not the SSD.

[JoaoCarvalho]

Dam i had no issues until today with the corrupted file. I am tired sorry.

[MEB]

Hi @JoaoCarvalho,
Just to double-check: you are using an external USB Samsung T5 (SSD) as the system main/local drive then (it's where you have the macOS installed as well), correct? I've logged this issue and will check if the dev is able to recover the file for you. In any case the steps i listed in my previous reply should allow you to recover/rebuild the file without much trouble.

[JoaoCarvalho]

Yes. But please tell me what can i do to avoid this and how does it occur. 

[MEB]

Hi JoaoCarvalho,
The corruption pattern seems a bit different than what we are used to see with USB external drives or cloud sync folders so we are not yet sure what could have caused this. Have you done/noticed anything different the last time you saved the document before the corruption - any error messages, crashes or something weird?

[JoaoCarvalho]

 I finished most of the work yesterday and today when i opened the file i got the message that it was corrupted. The only thing that changed was the update on the Affinity apps, aside from that absolutely nothing.

I have to offer a solution to my client i am worried, can you fix it?

[MEB]

I can recover the file for v1.9 Beta - it's bit more complicated recover it for v1.8.6. Do you mind installing Publisher Beta and work from it?

[JoaoCarvalho]

If that is the only option then yes. How do i go about doing that?

[MEB]

Download the latest Beta from this thread and install it. You must keep the retail version installed to be able to install/validate the Beta. Apart from that they are independent from each other (more details on the linked thread).

[JoaoCarvalho]

What can i do to prevent this issue what are the common issues related to this?

[JoaoCarvalho]

Still not working.

[Duoro]

Hi JoaoCarvalho,

Looking at the specs for the 2012 iMac 21.5, the internal drive is a '1 TB (5400 RPM) HDD'. You say it died. Could you not replace it?

I have built a few Windows PC's over the years and have used SSD drives in the last few but only for the OS drive. For data drives I use HDD's. The general consensus is not to mix operating system and working data files on the same drive. I know this doesn't help with your current situation and the corrupt file but could be useful in the future.

[JoaoCarvalho]

Hi Duoro, i was given an 800€ repair estimate but for that price there are other options such as the one i chose which resulted in a faster performance overall.

The thing that surprises me most is that until now i was not given a reason as to why this happens this is news to me and it really is a deal breaker.

I am going to open an earlier version and update everything, i just took a budget hit from the client. This is sucks Affinity.

[MEB]

Hi JoaoCarvalho,
I didn't give you any reason yet because currently we don't know what caused the corruption. Having (working) files in the same drive as the OS itself isn't the reason why this happened. Can you provide us with an earlier version of the file as well - i would like to check a few things if you don't mind. I can provide an upload link if you wish to keep the file private.
Regarding the Beta it will only open the fixed version of the file the dev team is trying to repair, not the corrupted version you have. My apologies for all the trouble/inconvenience this is causing you.

[carl123]

Can someone check if this opens on a Mac?

I only have Windows and it works there OK

It's a 1.8.5 Windows version of Publisher saved file

Atlantic_Interactions-recovered.afpub

 

 

 

[Duoro]

Hi JoaoCarvalho,

Ouch!!  800€. A replacement 2.5" drive would be around £40 (about 44€) to buy yourself. See here https://www.ebuyer.com/760590-seagate-barracuda-laptop-1tb-2-5-hard-drive-7mm-at-ebuyer-com-st1000lm048

How confident are you in replacing it? There's plenty of YouTube videos on how to do it.

[MEB]

@carl123,
Can you confirm you used the Document > Add Pages from File method suggested above to recover the file on Windows please? The file also present issues on Windows and although recoverable, some doc specs are lost/incorrect using that process - which seems to be the case with your file. If you were able to simply open the file and re-save it - as your reply seems to imply - please let us know. Thank you.

[LaJuanda]

OM Goodness!  I jus had the same problem... I was in the middle of creating a new set of graphics in affinity designer that was to be uploaded online this evening.  In the middle of the document it initially stalled... then I did a hard reboot-shutdown... when it came back up ti allowed me to work on the same document for about a minute -- then it crashed out of no where and I got the same msg... 'Failed to load document: nov fall designs...' "The document appears to be corrupted. The document must now be closed."  in all my years of working on affinity designer this has never happened... I need this file.  What can I do to recover it?  As of yet -- the window is still open. I'm also on an iMac 2011 version.  PLEASE -- PLEASE HELP...!!!

[MEB]

Hi @LaJuanda,
Welcome to Affinity Forums
Do you mind uploading the file using this link please?
Where was the file stored - on the local disk, on a USB external drive/stick, on a synchronised cloud folder like Google Drive, etc?

[JoaoCarvalho]

I am redoing everything from a previous version of the file. MEB please give me an upload link for the earlier file you want. I need to know what are the common causes of file corruption so that I can prevent them as best as I can.

Carl123, thank you for the help and yes I can open it. But I prefer to use an earlier version I am suspicious of using that one again.

Duoro, The iMacs display glass is chipped on one of its corners so they can’t reuse it. So new screen plus SSD. Yesterday I bought a new MacBook Pro m1 problem fixed.

LaJuanda, I am sorry to hear about your troubles I thought this was limited to Publisher.

[MEB]

Here's the upload link. Thanks Joao.
Common causes for file corruption are: working directly from external USB drives or stick, cloud synchronised folders (namely Google Drive File Stream), Dropbox etc, and NAS (network attached storage). When working with Affinity files we advise to copy them from these locations to the system/local drive first, work from there, then save the file and copy back to its original location in the external drive/NAS/cloud folders. Affinity apps need permanent access to the files (for performance reasons) while you work on them. Anything that disrupts that access may result in corruption. Since you are working from the system drive (although booting from an external disk) the most common reasons pointed above do not apply. We don't know yet what caused the corruption in your case, sorry.

[LaJuanda]

Hey MEB I jus uploaded it.  I've noticed recently that several ppl with older iMac's seem to be having all sorts of issues, both here on the forums, and ppl I know in general.  I'm even having trouble with my own personal websites that I could access jus a few weeks ago.  Also I ordered from your competitor (sorry, only the photoshop temporarily : ) bc the file I needed was created from there -- however I couldn't load this to my iMac either,  only to my iPad which is limited.  I'm a true loyal fan of affinity designer however and I'm always bragging about how good it is!

Anyway... this may be a stretch but it seems there have been some major system changes (unknown to many of us) that are happening all across and perhaps I (and many others) have to update to newer more advanced computers.  And for clarity -- I was only working on my computer, I didn't do anything weird or strange.  The only thing I do sometimes is type-move pretty fast on the keyboard and that's when i sometimes get that nasty dreaded spinning pinwheel apple icon.  Other than that -- there was nothing crazy or strange going on with my computer.

Thanks a million MEB... I really need this file.  What do you recommend going forward as far as automatic backing up my affinity designer files?  I will get a new computer but not til early 2021.

And sorry for your issues to Joao Carvalho... I certainly hope it works out soon for you.