DP 7.24 saved project, DP crashed. Project file gone!

[stevenew]

Hi,

Major panic, been working on a project all day (DP 7.24), just saved DP, got an error message saying it couldn't save, resource fork missing, then the project crashed, now the project file has gone - vanished, not in the trash. I have a backup but I have done a lot of work today. Also I might be totally confused but I thought when you saved DP created a copy of the project file, I can't find any so I guess I must be dreaming!

Any thoughts anyone.

Thanks

Steve

[Radiogal]

Aaaaggrrrhh.. I feel your pain.
Try to repair permissions first on the OSX disc.
Try to open the project using the LOAD function.
Hope this helps.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

That is a tough one. I don't have suggestions for recovery but if you want to insure against future similar disasters you might consider adding a Time Machine backup disk to your system. You would only be and hour or two behind - assuming you save regularly. It's cheap insurance if you can't afford to loose the data.

Then again, when I've suffered similar issues in the past I've found that in recreating the file the new version was much improved over the one that was lost.

[stevenew]

Hi,

Thanks for the replies, unfortunately I have been unable to recover the file. It has just gone, vanished, totally disappeared off the system. In the DP project folder, the audio folder is there, the analyse & undo folders but no project file. I ran Data Rescue application (owned this for years updating each to version but have never used it) but it would take about 6-8 hours to scan the system, I gave up after a few hours, looked at what it recovered but there was nothing there.

I had a time machine backup but it was a few days old - I know I should be doing it everyday, so now I am running it every couple of hours, plus I 'save a copy' out every so often (as I am now totally paranoid I do this about every 30mins).

I have all the audio files but lost all the MIDI tracks I was working on a new arrangement, so I have redone most of that, yes the new version is much improved:-)

DP 7.24 autosave: I had this set to save 'document.autosave' but I have no files in that format saved anywhere, I thought it saved them in the project folder but there is nothing there. I am sure it used to work, I must look in my old project folders.

I have to say, been using a Mac for 11 years now and DP for about 3 years, this is the worst data loss I have ever experienced.

Must go and backup again.....

Steve

[MIDI Life Crisis]

One more completely stupid idea... Use the Finder search feature and select "invisible" files. Perhaps a dot "." was inadvertently placed in the name by the app and it's a hidden file. Probably not but it might be worth trying.:

[Radiogal]

Hmm makes me think you saved the project file in a different place. Open DP and create a new project and see where it is heading.. this happened to me once...

[Radiogal]

Also check your OSX disk and MOTU and document folders.

[Radiogal]

Did you check: OPEN RECENT?

[mikehalloran]

If using Spotlight to find your missing files, try Find under the File menu in the Finder.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

Why is that Mike?

[mikehalloran]

Spotlight is useless for in depth searches. It arranges things on the likelihood of what it thinks you need. Also, your search item must be indexed.

Find, otoh can be used to locate anything including system files. If it exist on your system on any connected drive, it can be located. You must go through the filters at times.

Had Time Machine been used correctly, your absolute worst case would have been the loss of up to your last hour's work. Correctly means automatically in the background.

I bought Data Rescue and used it once before OS 10.5. It took a couple of days but worked. My wife had trashed a lot of work accidentally. She found the text but had to rebuild documents. TM made it redundant and I didn't upgrade when I was offered the opportunity.

[MIDI Life Crisis]

I didn't know that about Find v Spotlight. Is that documented anywhere? I do index my drives so perhaps it doesn't matter for me, but I'd still like to know where to find stuff like that.

And I agree, for Time Machine to be effective it should be left on and allowed to do it's thing. Which reminds me me to turn it back on. If I am loading a temporary movie to reduce in size of something like that, I disable it so it won't backup a large file I won't be using again. It's easy to forget it's there so it's easy to forget it's turned off. It has been a life saver, but not because an app screwed up, but because I did.

[mikehalloran]

Documented? All I can figure is that you don't have the search needs that I do.

Spotlight finds the obvious. If I need something and remember only a couple of key words from, say, a letter I sent 6 years ago, Find will locate it. Spotlight is useless for such things. I could give examples but, outside the context of my work, it would be meaningless. Suffice to say that I always try Spotlight first as it is fast. Recently, I was looking for a certain letter that Spotlight couldn't locate; Find showed all four copies on my hard drive - and about 700 other items. I am pretty good at using it after all these years.

If the OP saved that project file, it can be located. I am certain. But... Did he save it initially?

[MIDI Life Crisis]

IOW it's anecdotal, not a documented feature? That's cool, just want to be clear here.

[stevenew]

Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies.

I had been working on the open project all day, saving all the time (using cmd s), the project file was located in the project folder I had created for it as it had always been, I have been working on it on and off for about 4 weeks, which is why I had a Time Machine backup of it, albeit a few days old.

I had just written a short MIDI part, I think it was for a Kontakt 5 instrument, likely the Sonic Couture Broken Wurli, I pressed cmd s to save (as I had done all day), DP gave a error message about not being able to save because the resource fork was missing then promptly crashed.

I then opened DP went to the recent list and the project name was greyed out. I then went to the project folder and saw that the audio, analyse and undo folders were there but not the project file.

I searched the system straight away with Spotlight and with search from finder - nothing. I then used a FTP program to search the project folder and then the system because it would show hidden files - nothing.

Anyway I have now re-built the project, I save & save a copy as often as I can and run a time machine backup every hour, I have learnt my lesson:-(

As soon as IK bring out Sampletank 64bit & Gforce M-tron Pro 64bit (yes I have tried Jbridge but with mixed results, I feel happier using DP7.24 for now), I'm over to DP 8.00 & hopefully versions will make this kind of problem redundant.

Steve

BTW here is the top part of the DP crash log for this incident, if it means anything to anyone:

Process: Digital Performer [1032]
Path: /Applications/Digital Performer 7.24.app/Contents/MacOS/Digital Performer
Identifier: com.motu.DigitalPerformer
Version: 7.24 (7.24)
Code Type: X86 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [151]
User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2013-05-01 20:45:51.422 +0100
OS Version: Mac OS X 10.8.3 (12D78)
Report Version: 10

Crashed Thread: 57 Dispatch queue: com.apple.root.default-priority

Exception Type: EXC_CRASH (SIGABRT)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000

Application Specific Information:
Assertion failed: (addr != MAP_FAILED), function _open_and_mmap_for_reading, file /SourceCache/LanguageIdentifier/LanguageIdentifier-116/LanguageIdentifier.c, line 593.