Where are the temp files stored, and can they help me

[bdemoss]

Was running OS X with service pack 1 installed on a Power Mac G4 dual
1.42 Ghz under OS 10.3.9. Up to now, no problems. Then upgraded to
10.4.2, and all hell broke loose, not the least of which is repeated
kernel panics.

Then the behavior affected Word in a critical way. Went to save a
document, and was asked if I wanted to replace the old one. Naturally,
I said yes. However, it didn't save the changes. When loading the
document, it's a version from days ago. DAYS of work were lost and
we're under deadline here!

Where does WorD X store its temp files? Is it possible I could find
the missing document, with the changes, there?

 

[matt neuburg]

Was running OS X with service pack 1 installed on a Power Mac G4 dual
1.42 Ghz under OS 10.3.9. Up to now, no problems. Then upgraded to
10.4.2, and all hell broke loose, not the least of which is repeated
kernel panics.

That's almost certainly a hardware problem. For example, you may have
bad RAM but the problem was not exposed until Tiger.

Then the behavior affected Word in a critical way. Went to save a
document, and was asked if I wanted to replace the old one. Naturally,
I said yes. However, it didn't save the changes

I find it hard to believe that this is related to the kernel panics. But
I would not, if I were you, use for one minute longer a computer that is
getting kernel panics, since that is not normal or correct behavior
(plus you can lose your work at any time). m.

 

[bdemoss]

Thanks for the tip on the kernel panics, but I was hoping to get
information on how to restore the word file. Word claimed that it was
overwriting an earlier version, but it did not. It reverted to the
older version, and lost hours worth of changes. I thought that there
might be temporary files I could find that would be able to restore
even some of these changes.

 

[Beth Rosengard]

Hi bdemoss,

Obviously, you have relaunched Word since the kernel panic occurred. If you
then quit it again normally, you have wiped out all temporary files and
there's no point in looking for them.

However, it's possible that you have a backup of the original file (accurate
to the last time you did a save of the original), IF you had "Always make
backup" checked in your preferences. If that's the case, the backup file
will be in the same folder where the original document resides.

If you have *not* quit Word again, then it's possible that the temporary
files still exist. To get to them, you would first have to use Terminal and
log in as root. Then inspect the System's temporary files folder, remove
the -h attribute from each of the Word temporary files you find there and
then attempt to open each one in Word using File>Open. One or more of those
files *might* contain some or all of the text from your document. Just be
aware that the probability that the files you're looking for still exist is
very low.

Sorry.

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Beth Rosengard
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[bdemoss]

How would I change those attributes? What would the terminal command
be? Would I be able to use the command using sudo for root access, or
would I actually have to be logged into the comptuer as root?

 

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

sudo would have been fine for looking in the /Temporary Items folder, but
that's not where your file is.

Reading back over this thread, I am afraid you have had a hardware error at
a critical moment. The file has been saved "somewhere" on your hard disk,
but the "header" on the disk is still pointing to the old version.

As Matt suggested, I would suspect a memory chip failure.

I am afraid you will have to restore the file from your daily backup
(hopefully you are running a daily backup...). And in
Word>Preferences>Save, turn on "Always Make Backup". This ensures that Word
leaves a backup file beside the original. Each time you save the document,
Word replaces the backup file with the old version.

Sorry...

How would I change those attributes? What would the terminal command
be? Would I be able to use the command using sudo for root access, or
would I actually have to be logged into the comptuer as root?

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Please reply to the newsgroup to maintain the thread. Please do not email
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John McGhie <[email protected]>
Microsoft MVP, Word and Word for Macintosh. Consultant Technical Writer
Sydney, Australia +61 4 1209 1410

 

[Rob Daly [MSFT]]

Any idea what caused the Kernel Panic? Can you reproduce it?


--
Rob Daly
Macintosh Business Unit
Word Test

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