Word files corrupted on memory sticks

  • Thread starter Thread starter Mikoyan
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Mikoyan

Vista SP1, Word 2003

If I copy a file from another PC to my USB memory stick, then open it on my
Vista laptop, make some changes and click save I get an error message saying
the file is now G:\~[134].tmp and is corrupted. I cannot recover the
document, and it disappears entirely from the memory stick.

If I copy the document directly to my laptop hard drive, then make changes
all is well.

I work as a teacher in a small school and 3 of my colleagues have reported
the same issue. All use Vista, Word 2003, but different makes of laptop. We
have tried using new/different memory sticks but the problem continues. Our
XP desktops are unaffected.

Regards, Anastas.
 
Mikoyan said:
Vista SP1, Word 2003

If I copy a file from another PC to my USB memory stick, then open it on
my Vista laptop, make some changes and click save I get an error message
saying the file is now G:\~[134].tmp and is corrupted. I cannot recover
the document, and it disappears entirely from the memory stick.

If I copy the document directly to my laptop hard drive, then make changes
all is well.
Click to expand...

And you don't see the pattern here?
 
Thanks for the reply.
And try changing current setting, there should be at least 2 options
listed:
a) Optimize ffor quick removal
b) Optimize for performance.
Click to expand...

Which of these two should I choose?

I hope you are not *driving* the car whilst on your mobile device ;-)

Anastas.
 
Mikoyan said:
Thanks for the reply.


Which of these two should I choose?
Click to expand...

Neither. If you'd bothered to post in a WORD group you would have been told
"never edit a Word document on a removable device".
That is why they are being corrupted. DON'T DO IT!!!!
 
Mikoyan said:
Vista SP1, Word 2003

If I copy a file from another PC to my USB memory stick, then open it on
my Vista laptop, make some changes and click save I get an error message
saying the file is now G:\~[134].tmp and is corrupted. I cannot recover
the document, and it disappears entirely from the memory stick.

If I copy the document directly to my laptop hard drive, then make changes
all is well.

I work as a teacher in a small school and 3 of my colleagues have reported
the same issue. All use Vista, Word 2003, but different makes of laptop.
We have tried using new/different memory sticks but the problem continues.
Our XP desktops are unaffected.

Regards, Anastas.
Click to expand...


You should never rely on a flash device as the primary storage media for any
changed file.

If you open the file in Word it will create a temporary file to the location
that the file was opened from, in your case a flash drive. This is what is
getting corrupted.

Flash drives have a limited read and write cycle life and while this is not
the reason you get file corruption (which can be caused by any number of
reasons) it is better to always save to a hard drive locally then open, make
corrections and save locally then copy back to the flash drive. Yes it is a
PIA but it is much more reliable. A simple batch file to copy the files to
a fixed location, pause to allow Word to process the files and save back to
the local location and then a copy back is what I use to transfer and copy
files from one location to another.

An example would be:

@echo off
xcopy X:\transfer\*.* C:\transfer /e /c /y /r
pause This is where you start Word and edit
and save the files. When word is closed press any key to copy back to flash
xcopy C:\transfer\*.* X:\transfer /e /c /y /r
exit



X:\ would be your flash drive's drive letter and "Transfer" would be the
folder name where the files to change would be placed and retrieved from.
 
Gordon,

Thank you for your help. Makes sense not to edit Word Documents on a memory
stick. I will share your advice with my colleagues.

Anastas.
 
Thanks for the the reply LVTravel

Regards, Anastas
LVTravel said:
Mikoyan said:
Vista SP1, Word 2003

If I copy a file from another PC to my USB memory stick, then open it on
my Vista laptop, make some changes and click save I get an error message
saying the file is now G:\~[134].tmp and is corrupted. I cannot recover
the document, and it disappears entirely from the memory stick.

If I copy the document directly to my laptop hard drive, then make
changes all is well.

I work as a teacher in a small school and 3 of my colleagues have
reported the same issue. All use Vista, Word 2003, but different makes of
laptop. We have tried using new/different memory sticks but the problem
continues. Our XP desktops are unaffected.

Regards, Anastas.
Click to expand...


You should never rely on a flash device as the primary storage media for
any changed file.

If you open the file in Word it will create a temporary file to the
location that the file was opened from, in your case a flash drive. This
is what is getting corrupted.

Flash drives have a limited read and write cycle life and while this is
not the reason you get file corruption (which can be caused by any number
of reasons) it is better to always save to a hard drive locally then open,
make corrections and save locally then copy back to the flash drive. Yes
it is a PIA but it is much more reliable. A simple batch file to copy the
files to a fixed location, pause to allow Word to process the files and
save back to the local location and then a copy back is what I use to
transfer and copy files from one location to another.

An example would be:

@echo off
xcopy X:\transfer\*.* C:\transfer /e /c /y /r
pause This is where you start Word and edit
and save the files. When word is closed press any key to copy back to
flash
xcopy C:\transfer\*.* X:\transfer /e /c /y /r
exit



X:\ would be your flash drive's drive letter and "Transfer" would be the
folder name where the files to change would be placed and retrieved from.
Click to expand...
 
Ignore Gordon is a registered idiot.

Now do this, when USBstick is inserted/recognized, goto DeviceManager-->
find it there, rightclick or somehow get to its properties.
In properties select one of the tabs (don't remember which - is it
"POLICIES"?).
And try changing current setting, there should be at least 2 options listed:
a) Optimize ffor quick removal
b) Optimize for performance.

If you can't change (option is dimmed), then out of luck, this drive is
pre-set for certain policy.
Ok then try doing what you did with OTHER file typoes, e.g. JPG's pictures.

I had repeated failures with PNY USB sticks, until I got so anrgy, I trhew
out $200 worth of 2 sticks, not even complaining to PNY cuz it takes agaes,
blacklisted PNY and started using an small external USB HARDDISK (NOT
flashmemory, bu tharddisk) - it works perfectly, downside is I've been using
USBsticks for several years, due to size, compare to bulky harddisk, but I
dont have time to find explanation for corruption.

it happens with certain USB manufacturers, are your sticks PNY?
if not... try USB harddisk, not flash memory, but first off try changing
disk wiritng Policy (caching) in Device Manager I explaiend on top of this
article.
yeah my spelling is insane but I am in a car, on mobile device.....
bye

Waqit did you say it doesn't happen on WindowsXP? XP is a more mature
serious OS, than Vista.
maybe you could try in Vista turning off Packet Windows Autotuning, maybe
you'r etrying USbsticks from the same CHEAP. manufacturer

My working and best sticks were made by CORSAIR or KINGSTON. Kingston is
best for that, Corsair is best for RAM, not Flashmemory.
 
Mikoyan said:
Thanks for the reply.


Which of these two should I choose?

I hope you are not *driving* the car whilst on your mobile device ;-)

Anastas.
Click to expand...

Many here actually hope he is, but alone on a bridge where no one else can
get hurt.
 
Tell us how to fix pale background color of selected text in MSWord2007,
especially when your coloscheme is Black (aka dark)0?

Few people know this:

Edit Registry HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Options
Add a new DWORD or modify this keyword if already exists:
" NoTranslucentSelection" = 1 (in other words ENABLE it)
 
Here's a grea ttip:

Is your Word2007 showing selected text with lame PALE bachground hard to
read? You can make it to contrast font color and as easy to read as in
Word2003:

Edit Registry HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Word\Options
Add a new DWORD or modify this keyword if already exists:
" NoTranslucentSelection" = 1 (in other words ENABLE it)
 
DID YOU NOTICE HOW GORDON IGNORED THE FACT your USBsticks work on WinXP?

It proves many peoplkes opinion that he's an arrogant & registered idiot.
It works on WinXP, so what th eheck does temproary file problem have todo
with the fact Vista is worse than XP?

Something in Vista storage management, with one possibility being wrong
Policy set for yiur USB drive (optimized for quick removal or performance -
i.e. cache management), does it.
I proposed a theory but not 100% solution, I know.

However Gordon's idea is that it's all USBstick's fault and its inability to
be used for working with LIVE MSWord files..
Then why does it work under WInXP as you said?

Anyways, check out Cache Policies.
Also if it's set for "performance"., NEVER UNPLUG USB stick by hand - always
use "disable", "eject", 'safely remove' or whatever menu you have there.
If policy is set for quick removal you can unplug w/o clicking any menus,
but still don't until activity light stops flashing - pretty obvious you can
damage filesystem otherwise and lose not just Word but all files on that
device. I had bad luck with PNY, and great experience with Corsair &
KINGSTON. Ionly buy American bands now to save our jobs, enough is enough
of Asians slowly enslaving us.
No more Sandisk, Sony or whatever... unfortunately PNY is based here in New
York and they do make crappy products!
 
Mikoyan said:
Vista SP1, Word 2003

If I copy a file from another PC to my USB memory stick, then open it
on my Vista laptop, make some changes and click save I get an error
message saying the file is now G:\~[134].tmp and is corrupted. I
cannot recover the document, and it disappears entirely from the
memory stick.

If I copy the document directly to my laptop hard drive, then make
changes all is well.

I work as a teacher in a small school and 3 of my colleagues have
reported the same issue. All use Vista, Word 2003, but different
makes of laptop. We have tried using new/different memory sticks but
the problem continues. Our XP desktops are unaffected.

Regards, Anastas.
Click to expand...


You should never rely on a flash device as the primary storage media
for any changed file.

If you open the file in Word it will create a temporary file to the
location that the file was opened from, in your case a flash drive.
This is what is getting corrupted.

Flash drives have a limited read and write cycle life and while this
is not the reason you get file corruption (which can be caused by any
number of reasons) it is better to always save to a hard drive locally
then open, make corrections and save locally then copy back to the
flash drive. Yes it is a PIA but it is much more reliable. A simple
batch file to copy the files to a fixed location, pause to allow Word
to process the files and save back to the local location and then a
copy back is what I use to transfer and copy files from one location
to another.
Click to expand...

While I hate to agree with JewBoy, there has to be some issue with Vista
that 'corrupts' the files. If data can read and written successfully to a
memory stick for 'ReadyBoost', there should be absolutely no reason it
should have a problem periodically updating an open Word temp file.

A drive is a drive, regardless of the medium, and if Vista 'corrupts'
Word documents opened on a USB thumb drive, and XP doesn't, then
obviously there is something wrong in Vista.

And no, there aren't many reason's a file would get corrupted, there's a
couple. 1) A bug in the program. But to the program, it just looks like
any drive....2) bad non-ECC RAM that doesn't properly hold it's
data....3) a flaky CPU or 4) just some OS issue.

I'm guessing #4.
 
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