(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Is there any file recovery software available for Puppy?

I saved an Abiword document to a flashdrive last night, but it hasn't saved.

There was an error message on my first save attempt, but I tried again and thought it had taken.

It didn't.

I opened the file today to find it hasn't updated with the new material.

Will the information be on the stick, and if so, can Puppy recover it for me?

I'm running live from RAM with a daily boot from CD, so if it ain't on the stick, it ain't anywhere.

PS. I have ZERO computer skills. I can install a PET but that's my limit.

Folks should know which pup and the file system in use..

Don't know about any file recovery software, but first things first, let's check if your file hasn't been saved somewhere else by any chance, or whether there's another instance of it on your stick.

Go to Menu, then to Filesystem. Then go to Pfind. Type the name of your document in the Define filename field, and check the All files (slow) option. The click search.

Check if there are any results other than the one you would expect to find in the list.

If there are, you may want go to that folder with ROX File manager to investigate that file.

If there aren't any unexpected results, then at least you have made sure there is an absolute need for other measures.

Thanks Solo, that's about the level of instructions I need.

Unfortunately, no, there's nothing unexpected there.


Semme, I'm using Wary 5.1.4.1. Where would I find what file system I'm using?

Well, I really hate to tell you this, but I'm afraid your work may be unrecoverable.
You see, data recovery kind of relies on the fact that the data was once saved as a file on a drive. Data recovery is useful when a data file becomes corrupt, has errors on it, or if somebody has deleted it by mistake. It relies on the data still being there on the drive somehow, in some form, and can be retraced or reassembled through some methods.
However, if the data has never actually been saved in the first place, there is nothing to recover.

This is why a lot of Word Processors have this timed automatic save feature, which allows them to perform a save at regular intervals. I don't know if Abiword has a setting like that. It would be something to look into, if your configuration is prone to hiccups like this.

One thing I would strongly advise you to do is to regularly make copies of all your vital documents and files, and place one set of copies outside of your safe file somewhere on your flash drive, and save another set of copies on your hard drive.
And actually, this is something you would want to do with your whole safe file as well, becaue it gives you the freedom to fumble about and make mistakes with the comfort of knowing that you can always go back to a previous version.

Thanks Solo. That's a PITA!

Yes, I keep backups, but as you say, that's dependent on the info being there in the first place. I'd just been working on the document (for a bit too long, probably) and when I tried to save the new material, it glitched. Probably lost about 30 minutes typing.

However, now you mention it, Abiword does do periodic automatic saves, but I don't know what happens to them when you switch off.

So, thinking as I go, here, it's possible that the information may have been written to the stick automatically, but I don't know if there's some way of recovering the last autosave (which may or may not have most of the missing data...)

I'll poke about in Abiword and see if I can find a 'read last save' option.

So far, I haven't done anything with that stick since the save - apart from opening the file and finding it hadn't saved.

I just read somewhere that Abiword creates a file called .crashed whenever it crashes, as a emergency save file.
So if you could go to Menu, Filesystem, Pfind, and type in .crashed, check the All files option and then do a search, who knows, it might give a result.

Nope, no .crashed files found.

Looks like it never made it to the drive at all.

I suppose I'll have to get remembering and re-typing what little I can.


Thanks, moderators, for the thread name change.

1. Have you ever heard of "the docu-centric method"?
If you don't already use this method, then you aught to do things this way in the future, as follows:
a. You use your file explore to navigate to a folder where you would like to save the file.

b. You right-click in the folder and make a new file, with a suitable name and file extension, and save it.

c. [Right-click the file and] Open the file using your program of choice.
Your program should be configured to make auto-saves at some handy interval [Word was the program I used to do this in Windows].

d. Right before you close the program you make your final manual save.

2. The advantages of the above method:
a. Before you even begin typing [or whatever] the file you are working within is in a known location, with a known name and file extension.

b. Changes made within the file are being auto-saved at an interval YOU specified.

c. You are much less likely to forget to do the necessary.

Thanks, Sylvander, but if I'm understanding you correctly, I was already doing that.

I'd previously saved a version of the file in a known location, then I opened it, did some further work on it and re-saved.

The re-save didn't take. I'm left with the old version, and there is no sign of any autosave files.