Updated and lost all...
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Howdy!
Okay, I just updated Notepad++ to version 7.5.8 (32 bit) and lost all the data I had in a document I was working on. I searched and searched (even came here to look and found one article that did not help) and finally found a “kinda-sorta” backup in my %app folder under “Roaming” but it was from 4 days back (I updated Notepad++ last night).
Is there a way to get yesterday’s file back?
Thanks!
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I use SyncBack on all my Windows machines and CronTab on all my Linux machines.
I learned LONG ago that the FIRST priority with computers is to set up a thorough back up system.
In the early 90’s, I saw a company lose over $1,000,000 because of a failed hard drive.
Not sure if they ever recovered from that.As for your present situation, I wish I could help. You may not get “Yesterdays” file(s) back, but you can definitely keep that from happening to tomorrows file. Thank me later :-)
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welcome to the notepad++ community, @Michael4141
if you have not saved your data, there will be a very low chance of getting your data back.
please do not perform updates on applications like microsoft office or notepad++, as long as one or more files or new documents are still unsaved.
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@Meta-Chuh said:
do not perform updates on applications like microsoft office or notepad++, as long as one or more files or new documents are still unsaved.
Golden advice…but people aren’t going to listen! :P
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as long as we have fun, writing the same sentence in a million variations, it’s ok i guess.
for a change, no brain needed to write, and often funny to read.
so people, please do not ever listen to our advice, i need this repetitive fun part ;-) -
@Meta-Chuh
You can create a list of standard answers and then copy them and insert them into the answers … so as not to torment the keyboard))) -
Oh, he’s for sure got his boilerplate!! :)
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A while back I was finding old edited temp files in %temp% ( c:\users[user]\appdata\local\temp ). The file names matched edited files and were numbered like 01 02 03, prolly one of the NPP backup options was leaving them there. I was probably shutting down that system without exiting npp first.
I have none of those files in temp on this PC today.
NPP keeps a temp file of the one you are working on… it saves it without saving = to another folder. Look in roaming and local folders, and temp, maybe it’s there.
I’d do that before doing anything else, and make a copy of them right away. Course now it’s been 4 days…
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Okay, all you oh so bright geniuses, tell me this:
Why, when the program is set to make a backup every 9 (NINE) SECONDS, it does NOT do so??
And, yes, due to all your fun you have had at my expense (without knowing why I had the problem to begin with), I uninstalled and reinstalled the program, but it still does NOT do what it is supposed to do.
Now.
Let the fun begin, anew.
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@Michael4141 said:
I uninstalled and reinstalled the program, but it still does NOT do what it is supposed to do.
When working with lost/missing data, if your goal is to recover the data, that’s about the worst possible thing to do.
%temp%is not where Notepad++ keeps the periodic backups. Those are kept in%appdata%\Notepad++\backup\.In case you don’t know, the periodic backups (Settings > Preferences > Backup > Enable session snapshot and periodic backups and backups every ___ seconds) store in that
%appdata%\Notepad++\backup\directory (which it reiterates in the dialog box) until you hit SAVE. Once you save the file, the periodic backup goes away, until the next time you edit that file. The periodic backup will allow you to pick up where you left off editing even if you forgot to hit save… though if there’s a windows crash, it is possible that the periodic backup won’t contain what you think it should. That’s a risk you take by not hitting save and writing to disk in a location where you know.The backup on save option in that same dialog box will create a backup every time you hit save. With Simple Backup, if you are editing file
c:\path\to\file.txt, it will create the backupc:\path\to\file.txt.bak. If you edit and save again, it will overwrite that same file. If you use Verbose Backup, it will createc:\path\to\NppBackup\file.txt.######.bak, where ###### is based on the date/time. If you define the Custom Backup Directory in that dialog, it will use that directory for simple’sfile.txt.bak(instead of using the file’s directory), and will use that directory instead of<current>\NppBackup\for verbose backup.Do your experiments match this? If not, please give us the ?-menu’s Debug Info > Copy debug info into clipboard, as well as giving us screenshots of the config boxes, and appropriate directories listings. (Screenshots can be uploaded onto imgur.com or similar, and then embedded into the post with the syntax
=>
– make sure to use your own URL, and that you pick the i.imgur.com“direct link” URL from imgur, which is the actual image, and not imgur’s wrapper webpage.If you have more questions, come back with the information I have requested. I hope this helps
–
PS: for formatting help, @Scott-Sumner’s post in the “how to markdown code on this forum” topic -
urgh, the link rendered correctly in preview. Trying again:
PS: for formatting help, @Scott-Sumner’s post in the “how to markdown code on this forum” topic
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and one further info, which might be obvious but seems to be ignored by some of the users,
is, that if you edit a temporary file and do not save it you do NOT have a backup even if you checked
the corresponding configurations settings.
You do have only one file, which has been created by the backup functionality, but no backup file.
If this file gets corrupted, no reason to assume that there is another file which could be used instead.A backup file is ONLY created if the file has been saved before, as pointed out by @PeterJones.
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save…Save…SAVE !!!
Don’t have a bunch of unnamed files sitting around with valuable data in them!
Is Notepad++ supposed to lose that data? No, of course not, but…things happen…
Look out for yourself and your data.
OMG it is 2019 I can’t believe it.
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i miss the times, when strong, magnetic paper-clip holders were labeled with an “avoid proximity to floppy disks and credit cards” warning.
maybe there’s a kind of tri-decennial pattern to all of that:
1989: strong magnetism destroys data.
2019: data destruction has become strongly magnetic. -
@PeterJones Thank you.
I did, however, copy all the files from all notepad++ directories before uninstalling, so that’s out of the way.
However, if the program has a specific box to check that says “backup”, isn’t it reasonable to take it that the program actually makes the backup it confirms it is supposed to be making? Otherwise it’s an obviously useless bit of the program that should be taken out as it quite obviously does absolutely no good. Hmmmm?
BTW, another program I use is Libre Office and it actually does make a backup of the file currently open, when it is supposed to. So…
(And, for any interested, the reason for the “non-backup of a file currently being worked on that Notepad++ was supposed to be backing up but really wasn’t programed to be able to” was an unexpected power outage and Windows, in all its glory, told me my backup had come back online when it really hadn’t. Everything else was extremely, extremely minor, so only the Notepad++ doc got screwed over.)
Maybe I just expect too much. {sigh}
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I’m not really sure but I get the feeling, that we are talking past each other.
Npp will, of course, create a backup from a file you are currently edit if everything is correctly setup.
But there is no backup if you edit a document which hasn’t been saved. In such a case npp creates a file and
it is located in the configured backup directory but it isn’t a real backup as there is no other file and as we know,
a backup needs to have a origin file which where used to create this backup.Maybe you wanna give a more detailed description about what you are doing and what you are expecting.
Something like, I open file xyz.txt, edit it and no backup is created or I create a new document, edit it but don’t save it and no backup is createdBtw, did you check you %appdata% directory as well?
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@Michael4141 said:
isn’t it reasonable to take it that the program actually makes the backup it confirms it is supposed to be making
Did you read my description of what goes on under each of the different options? I made that description based on experiments I performed in the midst of writing up yesterday’s post. Those options behave exactly as I described when I used them as described. As I said before, Periodic Backups is the “Notepad++ will save a copy of the file in a temporary location every # seconds, until such time as SAVE is hit, at which point, its job is done so it can be deleted”. Backup on save is the “Notepad++ will save an extra copy of your file, either in the same directory as your file (simple), or a subdirectory with multiple copies (verbose), or in a custom backup directory for either simple or verbose”.
If you use those settings, and they behave as I described, then I don’t understand why you are still complaining. If you use those settings, and they don’t behave as I described, then you are ignoring me (*), and / or otherwise not providing the information requested to help us help you. If you don’t want help, that’s fine; but just admit that, and move into the Boycott Notepad++ section of the forum if you want to continue complaining. If you do want help, then we are quite happy to help you: I wouldn’t have spent so much time on that response if I didn’t want to help. If you do want help, then provide the description of what’s not working for you – exactly what the behavior is that you see, and exactly what settings you have when you see that behavior.
*: To quote what I said earlier:
Do your experiments match this? If not, please give us the ?-menu’s Debug Info > Copy debug info into clipboard, as well as giving us screenshots of the config boxes, and appropriate directories listings.
You also said,
BTW, another program I use is Libre Office and it actually does make a backup of the file currently open, when it is supposed to. So…
As far as I can tell, Notepad++ is behaving exactly as I expect. If I turn on periodic backup, it keeps a temporary backup of any file I haven’t saved yet, in the
%appdata%\notepad++\backup. If I turn on backup-on-save, every time I hit save, it updates the backup file in either the same folder as the original file, in the NppBackup subfolder of that folder, or in the directory I specify. If that’s not what it’s doing for you, describe your exact settings, and what files you see in those locations at the various points in time (while there are files that are edited but not saved, and immediately after hitting save)Maybe I just expect too much. {sigh}
You haven’t told us how it is not behaving according to your expectations.
But maybe I expect to much of people asking for help. {sigh}
