Corrupted file HELP!!!

[Åsa Jakobsson]

Hi!

I saved my file as usual and now I get a message it's corrupted. It's about three week's work, I'm crying over here...Help?

I've tried and failed to upload the file here as well...Twice. 

[Dan C]

Hi @Åsa Jakobsson,

Welcome to the forums and I'm very sorry to hear you're having trouble!

We’re sorry to hear that your Affinity document is no longer opening for you. Please upload the file to us using the below link and we’ll take a further look at the file to see if we can recover any of its contents.

https://www.dropbox.com/request/GPjdv6qIqNbMTBWDwpuL

We would obviously also like some additional information to see if we can work out the cause of the problem and stop it happening in future. To assist this process, as well as uploading your file, please can you also tell us the following:

1. Which Operating System are you using?
2. Which version of Affinity did the file last get saved in?
3. What drive type was the file last saved to?
Local disk
USB disk/Flash disk
Google Drive folder
OneDrive folder
iCloud folder
Dropbox folder
Network location
Other (please specify)

4. Any other information you think would help us try to find the problem

We suggest that you check to see if you have any backups of the document available in case we’re unable to recover the file. The investigation process can take some time, but we’ll be back in contact with our findings.

[Pšenda]

On 11/23/2020 at 6:10 PM, Dan C said:

We suggest that you check to see if you have any backups of the document available in case we’re unable to recover the file.

Due to the frequency of requests to rescue damaged files (with three weeks of unbackup work) - shouldn't some automatic backup files be considered?
Each file is saved with a copy of the previous file, whose number is limited according to user request.

[Dan C]

15 hours ago, Pšenda said:

shouldn't some automatic backup files be considered?
Each file is saved with a copy of the previous file, whose number is limited according to user request.

That would certainly make for a nice new feature - not only could it help reduce the above type posts, but users may feel more 'secure' knowing there is a backup copy.

I'll add it to our list of feature requests to be considered internally

[RobWu]

In my experience, automatic backups are a pain in the behind and can be a serious diskspace eater (3D apps)....
It sounds good on paper, but I never use it.

It's better to have some working form of 'crash save'  and do the versioning of a file manually, based on certain work done in the file.
I feel for the OP though, as a corrupt file happens to all of us at least once.
The reason is often shrouded somewhere in the combination of a hardware-OS-application hickup.... 

my € 0,02
 

[Jowday]

I experienced file corruption in Microsoft Word in... 2002? 2000? Didn't try it ever since - even with huuuuge files in any program. The first thing to consider for Serif is to avoid the scenario at all.

THEN - to play safe - alternative strategies can be added.

It sounds like someone made a performance choice that doesn't play well with the real world scenarios customers use the programs in.

[Pšenda]

43 minutes ago, RobWu said:

automatic backups are a pain in the behind and can be a serious diskspace eater

Yes, so you can turn it off (set the number of backup files to 0), or set a small number of backups (for example 1) - "just in case".

 

46 minutes ago, RobWu said:

and do the versioning of a file manually, based on certain work done in the file.

Of course, that's what anyone who values their work does (for example, with using SVN).
But even the loss of one-day/one-hour work can be annoying, so automatic saving of previous versions is very useful. After all, using *.bak files is as old as the PC itself.

 

54 minutes ago, Dan C said:

That would certainly make for a nice new feature - not only could it help reduce the above type posts, but users may feel more 'secure' knowing there is a backup copy.

I'll add it to our list of feature requests to be considered internally

Thank you very much 🙂

[Åsa Jakobsson]

Thank you! Sorry for the late response.

The file is on its way, I,m working in windows 10, the latest update of Affinity and the file was saved to an external harddrive. The file is quite big with many inbedded photos, maybe that´s an issue?

I have sure learned to backup my work...

[Dan C]

No problem at all!

Many thanks for uploading your file and providing the additional information.

Now that we have your file and relevant information, we'll investigate this further but please be aware that this process can take some time, so we’ll be back in contact with our findings, and again, we're sorry this has happened.

[Pšenda]

1 hour ago, Åsa Jakobsson said:

The file is quite big with many inbedded photos, maybe that´s an issue?

The problem will rather be the external drive, where there may be a communication problem while storing data.
Serif (and not only him) recommends using external disks for backup and data sharing, while for your own work it is better (faster and safer) to use internal disks.