some files can't be found will cause project can't be opened

[sdsumike619]

I was working on my project on an external firewire drive and after I full saved and exited the program I proceeded to unplug the power from the drive (like I usually do when i turn the computer off since it has no on/off button) after I did so, I got a windows thing in the try saying there was an error writing to drive F, can't remember exactly what it said...

But now when i go to open the project I get this in DVDWS:

"some files can't be found will cause project can't be opened."
"unable to open the file F:\............"
[2003572]
[200358:113242:689]

I tried to delete the file that it said it couldn't find (it was one of the files in the Menus foler) but that just gave me another error message saying since that file can't be found the project can't be opened.. so i restored it...

is there any way to get my project to open ?

[heinz-oz]

Your problem has been caused by the write behind caching of the external drive. You switched off the power before the cache was fully written to the disk. There are now corrupted files linked to your project. Try renaming it in WIN explorer and see if it opens then. Do you have any backups of your project? You should create manual back ups every so often, saving the project with different names. This way at least you would have something to work with and only lose a small portion of your work. If you do not have any backup and get no success in trying to open the file after renaming, I'm afraid, you will have to start over. Your original source files will be ok though since VS only links to these. Its those links that are stuffed up. As far as VS is concerned, all is well, because it is not involved in writing the WINDOWS caches to disk.

You should never switch off the power without properly completing the normal shut down procedure of WINDOWS.

[sdsumike619]

you mean just renaming the .dws file? I tried THAT and it didn't work,, the file that it says it's unable to open is :

f:\...\Menu\1fb27d70-192c-47b1-acc0-5f14f865e7c5.upx

from the looks of it, I guess I have to start over like you said unless there's something else to try?

[heinz-oz]

I'm afraid there ain't, short of praying and hoping for a miracle.

[sdsumike619]

I thought a firewire device was "hot pluggable" meaning you can unplug and plug it in while the OS is running? I thought as long as I save the file, and exit the program it's safe to unplug, well apparently not....

This is a good forum! So I think I'l ask another question

[avpeterjohn]

I Know this is a late post but it still might be of some help.
Having lost files through a firewire drive cut off, I have now set my firewire drives with write caching disabled & so optimised for safe removal.Then you can just switch off the drive.
You can do this through Device Mananager. Find your Drive Properties & then the Policies tab