JimCanfield Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 I spent hours the other night sequencing and saved it every 10 or so min. After I was finished for the evening I saved it again and played it through and all played ok. I closed it after saving it and tonight I went to open it and all my work is GONE. I KNOW for a fact that everything was saved because I went to save it again and it would not let me because I had already saved it. I am sure there is no way to get it back, but does anyone know why this happened? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimCanfield Posted August 3, 2009 Author Share Posted August 3, 2009 Oh, I just realized that I lost parts that have been saved previously! This is rather upsetting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightsbyjoe Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 The experts here will always say make many backup copys.I have found that if i use the windows search feature i can sometimes find the file that im looking for. did you see if it was in your recycle bin? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zman Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 Jim,Yours is the second instance I have seen today about lost work after sequences were saved. Although the other instance happened as a save was in progress, but none the less, about 25 hours had been lost. Not good in any case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimCanfield Posted August 3, 2009 Author Share Posted August 3, 2009 lightsbyjoe wrote: The experts here will always say make many backup copys.I have found that if i use the windows search feature i can sometimes find the file that im looking for. did you see if it was in your recycle bin?I have been meaning to purchase a flash drive and now will for sure! I will check my recycle bin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwertz Posted August 3, 2009 Share Posted August 3, 2009 You can try seeing what the backup file looks like.Open Windows ExplorerLocate the directory where the sequence is savedFind the backup copy (file extension = ".lms.bak")Rename the backup to some other name and change the file extension to ".lms" (remove the ".bak")Open the renamed file and see what is thereMake sure all file extensions are visible From the menu choose Tools/Folder Options Click on the View tab In Advanced Settings, make sure "Hide extensions for known file types" is unchecked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightORamaDan Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Hi,What version of LOR are you using? Please send a copy of the sequence file to support@lightorama.comAs someone mentioned, we have heard a problem with someone loosing data during a save. We need to jump on this immediatly because we have never had an issue with ever loosing data (other than a hardware failure). In general people find the file saved somewhere else or it was some sort of operator error. But we need to understand this!Dan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimCanfield Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 I am using the most recent version of LOR and which file do you want as a copy of the sequence? The lms file or the lms.bak? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightORamaDan Posted August 4, 2009 Share Posted August 4, 2009 Hi,Please send both files.ThanksDan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimCanfield Posted August 4, 2009 Author Share Posted August 4, 2009 E mail sent Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimCanfield Posted August 5, 2009 Author Share Posted August 5, 2009 rwertz wrote: You can try seeing what the backup file looks like.Open Windows ExplorerLocate the directory where the sequence is savedFind the backup copy (file extension = ".lms.bak")Rename the backup to some other name and change the file extension to ".lms" (remove the ".bak")Open the renamed file and see what is thereMake sure all file extensions are visible From the menu choose Tools/Folder Options Click on the View tab In Advanced Settings, make sure "Hide extensions for known file types" is unchecked.I tried that and all I got was the stuff I had already re did. Maybe I should have waited to re do it?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwertz Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 I'm sure the best time to try to recover from a backup is immediately after you see the problem. But, it was worth a try.I'm not sure what conditions trigger LOR to replace the backup. But at some point it happens, and you end up where you're at.(Bummer) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JimCanfield Posted August 5, 2009 Author Share Posted August 5, 2009 Well thanks anyways, it was worth a try! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
-klb- Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Jeff Millard wrote: As soon as I saw that this happened to Jim and Robin, I started to rev back-ups using "Save as" and adding a sequential number to the filename so I get multiple copies as I go. This is nothing more than a workaround until it's determined what's happening. Thanks for pointing out what happened, and... sorry 'bout the work you guys lost....JeffI've been doing that from day 1. I try to make sure I have a new version number for about each half hour of work. Not exact by any means, but it is what I aim for.The second year, I also started including in the file name both the year of the show it belongs to, as well as the acronym indicating if it is the home show, or the city park show. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightzilla Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 I have been using "save as" since I started using Lor......that helps. Also my sequences are backed up on external hard drive, and for free I joined "Windows SkyDive" and all my sequences I did this year so far are uploaded there for safe keeping.SkyDive is worth a try and it is free. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwertz Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 I'm not too big on an autosave feature overwriting original files without notice. But if it created separate recovery files, that would be great.I often take a sequence file and mutilate it just to try something. Last weekend I deleted every channel except for one tree from a sequence so I could play with the tree I have set up in the back yard. I'd be pissed if those changes got saved without my knowledge. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lightzilla Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Backup on CD's help too.Last year as an AL user tought me to be more careful and when I lost a number of sequences during a show (have no clue why they disappeared ) I said that does it, I well back up my sequences every way possible.The funny thing is that the AL sequences I put on Cd's worked one time when I accidentally delected them, but this time after I lost a number of sequences during a show the Cd's would not work again so I could not restore what I lost.Now I am a Lor user and I saved my sequences every where. I do not want my sequences to disappear with cars out front like last year,(very embarrassing) and if they do disappear then at least I can download them again from all kinds of files.3 days before Christmas and half my show was gone. I was this :{ & :X when that happened. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Herberger Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Jeff Millard wrote: As soon as I saw that this happened to Jim and Robin, I started to rev back-ups using "Save as" and adding a sequential number to the filename so I get multiple copies as I go.Thats a great idea, I am going to start doing it that way as well.I just have to remember to back-up on my network drive more often, just in case :shock: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LightORamaDan Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Jeff Millard wrote: rwertz wrote: I'm not too big on an autosave feature overwriting original files without notice. But if it created separate recovery files, that would be great.Reg,When William posted about this feature in the Beta section he requested that it be user selective. You could turn it on and off. I would think that would be a necessity. The bottom line here at this point is to get to the bottom o what happened to Jim's and Robin's files.JYes we want to understand what could have caused these problems and if it is software problem with S2.The two issues wit Robin and Jim are completely different. In Robin's case the file was truncated. The writing stopped part way through the save. I will talk with Bob (he is on vacation) to verify the way we save the files. The file save should be complete with no errors before the file is renamed into place thus replacing the old file. Robin said that something hung on his during his file save so with that information we will make sure all fail-safe code is in place.Jim on the other hand has a completely different scenarios. He says he saved the file many times successfully but at the end of the day the file had reverted back to the state it was in prior to making the changes. In Jim's case either all of his saves never really happened (even though he pushed the button) or the data was saved to some "other" file.We will completely review this area of the code. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rwertz Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Jeff Millard wrote: Reg,When William posted about this feature in the Beta section he requested that it be user selective. You could turn it on and off. I would think that would be a necessity. The bottom line here at this point is to get to the bottom o what happened to Jim's and Robin's files.JThat would work, thanks Jeff.I'm still miffed that VB.NET saves the code every time you run a program in debug mode. That is going to burn me big time one of these days.Hey Jim, I'm sure this has already been suggested. But, did you search your entire hard drive for a possible misplaced copy of the sequence? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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