.xls file dumped out of existence

[PhilNotVeryHappy]

With Vista Ultimate I had Excel 2000 (who can afford an upgrade?) dump a file
I was working on - would not let me save it. Since closing down Excel the
file has simply vanished from my hard drive. There are no shadows, no .tmp
files, no backups, nothing in the rubbish bin, no hidden or system fiiles -
it's as if this file never existed. I have never experienced such a clinical
dumping of data before coming to Vista.

Please explain...?

 

[R. C. White]

Hi, Phil.

One last try before you give up on finding your lost file. Sometimes, the
old "brute force" methods will work when the GUI methods don't.

Open a Command Prompt window. At the prompt, type:
dir c:\*.xls /s/a

If you have a lot of files and folders on C:, you may have time for a cup of
coffee, but if there is ANY .xls file ANYWHERE on Drive C:, this should find
it.

This is the most elemental form of the command, but many variations are
possible. Dir is the old MS-DOS command from days when folders were known
as directories. The C:\ says to start in the Root of Drive C:. The *.xls
says to list all files with that extension, no matter the filename. The /s
switch says to search subdirectories, all the way to the bottom. And the /a
switch lists ALL files, even those with Hidden or System or any other
Attributes.

Of course, you can search Drive D: or X: or any other volume, and you can
use wildcards to search for .xl* files, in case it used a different Excel
extension. As with any command in the "DOS" window, type the command
followed by /? to see a mini-Help file listing all the switches and
parameters you can use with that command.

To access locations that might require Administrator credentials, you can
right-click Cmd.exe and Run as Administrator to open an
Administrator:Command Prompt window. In this window, all commands and
applications run elevated.

If this doesn't find your missing file, it ain't there. :>(

RC
--
R. C. White, CPA
San Marcos, TX
(e-mail address removed)
Microsoft Windows MVP
(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64)

 

[PhilNotVeryHappy]

Thanks for that R.C. - yes, I'd completely forgotten about DOS commands.

The file is gone - apparently erased from existence forever. It
demonstrates that modern operating systems are not completely trustworthy.

Let this be a warning to all Vista Users, and a timely reminder to MS to get
its act together with a service pack.

 

[Julian]

Abandon hope all ye who enter... but only *after* going through...

Excel sometimes creates strange looking numerically (hex) named temp files
whose extension is not, IIRC ".xls"...

I would search again for files created/modified at about the time you were
working on the missing spreadsheet - and ask whether you had the
Autorecovery on (was it available in 2000? I'm looking at Excel 2002)

If so, have a look in the location specifed for autorecovers (mine is at
C:\Users\Me.MyPC\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Excel\ but you could also look
under \AppData\Local just in case).

Failing all the above scan the disk (must be a free utility out there
somewhere) for any unique strings to find out what file(s) they are in, or
you could - god forbid - tell Vista to index everything... though whether
that would work I'm not sure as there might not be a "PersistentHandler" to
tell Vista how to read the key file type)

I'd hang around outside just a little longer...

HTH

 

[PhilNotVeryHappy]

Thanks Julian - I've had a good look around, but nothing. Anyway I've now
spent the past 24 hours re-doing all the work I lost, so the recovery is no
longer necessary. However, 2 days worth of VB coding for a non coder is no
small loss Mr Windows Vista, whoever you are...

Incidentally, Excel2000 appears not to have autorecover but does have a
backup facility, which I didn't have switced on because it's hidden away in
the never never land of unnoticed menu tabs in secondary windows. Let me
just say this: It is now switched on.