Serious Disk error

[Scott]

A friend of mine (without Internet access) is getting

serious disk error on file "Word Work File D_5"

on a Powerbook G4, 10.4.x, and Word 2004. The closes I found to this
issue in this group's archives is
<http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.mac.office.word/browse_t
hread/thread/1c97498781d97843/0282110aa55b6323?lnk=st&q=serious+disk+erro
r+group:microsoft.public.mac.office.word&rnum=1&hl=en#0282110aa55b6323>

Except that a RAID drive isn't being used, and the person is working on
single files, though I understand that the open files issue refers to
temporary files, ones not obviously open. Besides also having Endnote
installed, this person's system is relatively basic (no anti-virus or
other such trickery).

Anyone else have this problem?

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Under what circumstances does the message appear? What happens then?

Try repairing permissions.

Temporarily remove the EndNote add-in and see if the message still occurs.
What version of EndNote? EndNote is notorious for causing difficulties,
though it's not been linked to this one, as far as I know.
[how? http://word.mvps.org/MacWordNew/Add-Ins.htm]
(hit refresh a few times in Safari, or use a different browser)

 

[John McGhie [MVP - Word and Word Macintosh]]

Hi Scott:

Yeah, that happens from time to time. It usually means the hard disk
suffered an I/O error and possibly indicates that the hard disk is on the
way out.

Close (Save the document!) and re-open Word. Word will then stop trying to
read the temporary file (it should close and delete it, but it may not be
able to delete it if it's really gone...)

Use a disk utility to check the hard disk soonish

EndNote is legendary for causing document corruption, which can prevent Word
from reading the main file. But it doesn't usually affect the work files.
Word creates work files as needed to store the edits to the document. This
enables the UNDO feature. They should be cleaned up and deleted when the
file is saved and closed.

Cheers

A friend of mine (without Internet access) is getting

serious disk error on file "Word Work File D_5"

on a Powerbook G4, 10.4.x, and Word 2004. The closes I found to this
issue in this group's archives is
<http://groups.google.com/group/microsoft.public.mac.office.word/browse_t
hread/thread/1c97498781d97843/0282110aa55b6323?lnk=st&q=serious+disk+erro
r+group:microsoft.public.mac.office.word&rnum=1&hl=en#0282110aa55b6323>

Except that a RAID drive isn't being used, and the person is working on
single files, though I understand that the open files issue refers to
temporary files, ones not obviously open. Besides also having Endnote
installed, this person's system is relatively basic (no anti-virus or
other such trickery).

Anyone else have this problem?

--

Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

 

[Corentin Cras-Méneur]

Hi Scott:

Yeah, that happens from time to time. It usually means the hard disk
suffered an I/O error and possibly indicates that the hard disk is on the
way out.

I would boot on my MacOS X install CD/DVD (eg: the Tiger DVD) and use
Disk Utility from there. There is a chance it's *only* a directory
structure damage that can be fixed.

Boot on the CD/DVD. In the menus, look for Disk Utility. Repair the
drive (Don't EVER repair a Tiger disk with a Panther CD!!!!!). Once
you're done, use the command to select boot drive from the menu and
select your internal drive. Reboot.

Corentin