Help recovering DP project.

[MaksymPrykhodko]

Hello!

I primarily work with DP on a Mac. I just finished working on my DP project for the university and I saved every couple of minutes or so (Command+S). My foot was by the cord beneath the desk, and I accidentally turned off the computer just as I saved the project.

When I restarted the computer and tried to open the file, I got this error message. "Unreadable data encountered while reading the file." When I asked my professor, he told me that I must have saved the file just as I shut off the computer. He thinks this resulted in creating a corrupted file.

The autosave was not activated in the preferences. Therefore, I have no way to use that option. Is there ANYTHING at all that I can do to recover my project? I put in about 15 hours of work into this fixed media 8 channel piece. My professor told me that it looks like I will have to do the work all over again. However, I would like to at least exhaust all of my options before I do so. If there is something I can do to fix it, I would love to try.

Please let me know if there is anything at all that I can do. I would greatly appreciate. My heart literally sank when I learned that the file no longer opened. I'm trying to take deep breaths here. Please let me know. Thank you!

[stubbsonic]

Try starting a new file, then click on the LOAD... option from the File Menu. This will allow you to try to bring in single chunks and elements from the file.

Check for time-machine backups somewhere? Also look in the trash for a folder called
"recovered files".

I'm curious about things like using DIskWarrior to rebuild a directory, or Disk First Aid (in disk utility). But I'm not sure if those should be done and in what order.

I think most of us on here can relate to what you are going through. It is brutal. And while it is all to easy to hop up on a soap box and say you learned a life lesson about back -ups, that of course doesn't need to be said (to you anyway).

I do wish you the best of luck at recovering at least most of your work.

Report back let us know if you have any luck. If you don't... so sorry.

[MaksymPrykhodko]

Thank you for replying and the high hopes!

I will definitely try to do that! Actually I did find a folder like that in the trash. What would I do with it? Would I want to open it?

[MaksymPrykhodko]

Does anybody happen to know what to do with the recovered file? I found it in my trashcan. When I try to open it, I get the same error message though. What can I do from here?

[mikehalloran]

I'm curious about things like using DIskWarrior to rebuild a directory, or Disk First Aid (in disk utility). But I'm not sure if those should be done and in what order.

Disk Warrior is useless here.

Apple's Disk Utility may help - definitely run it from another drive. If Disk Utility finds errors, keep running it until the result is the same three times in a row. Then, even if you fix the problem, replace your hard drive. I speak from a great deal of experience.

Will the basic audio clips still play? If so, you can still rebuild the project.

[woodyreed]

I'm with your professor on this one. You'll have to start over. Corrupt files like this, in my experience, can not be recovered. I had this happen several times over the years, and it wasn't because the power died. Since you are in school, chalk it up to a great lesson learned. Things to prevent this in the future?
1. Don't just command S all the time. Do a "save as" and rename the file every so often.
2. Turn auto save on!!!!!!!! Why on earth would it have been off? At least that way, you won't loose more then 5 minutes work.
3. Secure power cords where they can't be knocked out.
4. Have Time Machine or some similar backup program running.
5. Be sure to copy your project to a backup drive each day you finish working.

I've learned all these things the hard way.