I cannot open any recent files, all files corrupted x14

[ShultisInterior]

This is what is popping up. Even my back up copies cannot be opened. Here is the message I am getting. 

 

DocumentFactory.cpp(586): Warning #272015538

"Unable to read the file "C:/Users/savin/Documents/Chief Architect Premier X14 Data/Archives/Erik Bell Kitchen Design_17068810183653364763/Erik Bell Kitchen Design_auto_save_bak.plan". This file does not have a valid header record."

05/22/2023 06:35:56 PM

Build: 24.3.0.84 Windows 64-bit

 

What am I doing wrong? Anyone else have this happen? A couple of days worth of work lost.  I've been using Chief for the last 4-5 years and never had this happen. 

 

 

[Gawdzira]

I have not had this. Have you:

1. rebooted your computer?

2. reinstalled CA14?

3. Are you opening the files from Chief or clicking on the file in Explorer?

[Jonathan3891]

Have you checked your automatic archives to see if any of them work?

[ShultisInterior]

Gawdzira

I rebooted my computer and tried the files from both Chief and Explorer. I'll try reinstalling Chief.

 

Johnathan 3891,

All new files from the last week are corrupted. It's just so weird. I'm going to reinstall and see if that helps thing going forward. 

 

Thanks for brainstorming! I'll let you know if reinstalling works. 

[DBCooper]

There is a pretty generic tech article about corrupted files here:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/support/article/KB-00960/message-the-plan-file-you-are-attempting-to-open-appears-to-be-corrupted.html

 

I did a search on the forum and apparently this has only come up a few times over the last several years.  Here is a post from 2020 talking about the same problem:

 

My best guess is that this is happening because there is something wrong on your system that is causing the file corruption.  If you are saving your files directly to your hard disk, then maybe the hard disk has a problem or is going bad.  If you are saving your files over a network, then maybe something is interfering with the save.  Could even be a virus or maybe your firewall.  Did you change anything on your system or how you save/backup files in the last week?  If so, that would be the first thing I would look into.

 

The bottom line is that if the file is corrupted, then there is probably nothing that can be done to recover it.  Finding a backup or archive file that not is corrupted is what you are going to have to do.  If all of your backups are also corrupt, I'm not sure there is anything else you can do other than to redraw it.  Hopefully, you at least have something like a pdf that you could trace over.

 

[ShultisInterior]

@DBCooperThank you for doing a forum search. It's just a fluke thing. I haven't changed the way I've done anything, that I know of. Might be the hard drive?  I'll start saving to a USB for now. I'm right on the verge of buying a new laptop but was hoping for another couple of months for research and finding the best price. I may have to move that purchase up. 

 

I removed X14 and installed X15. I haven't shut down Chief to see if that worked, I'm too afraid of losing all my work!

[DBCooper]

Just to clarify, I wouldn't try to actually work from a file saved on a USB because I think that might cause different problems.  But I think keeping regular backups of your plans on a different drive might be a really good idea.  If you were to manually save a backup of your plan files at the end of every day, then in theory you would never lose more than a day's work.  Of course to do this right you should also test your backups every now and then to make sure they are not getting corrupted either.  I keep all my backups on an external hard drive but I don't always remember to do this on a regular basis.