I know that there is a sensitivity in the Dorico Forum about those of us who are not completely enchanted with the program.
But you need to understand that some of us do not go onto the Forum unless there is a serious problem.
I have now had two occasions when I have shut down Dorico normally and then when I have reopened it, I have been presented with a screen telling me that Dorico shut down incorrectly (or some such verbiage) and would I rather: “Discard” the file I was working on or “Recover” it.
So, obviously, I want to keep my work, so I opt for “Recover,” and what has happened to me twice now? The “Recovered” file is from two days previously, even though I have been saving my files on a regular basis – like every 30 minutes. (No, I don’t like auto-save).
How is it that Dorico can erase days worth of work just because it has crashed?
Pardon me for being frustrated but, as I’ve said, this is the second time that a Dorico crash and “recovery” has OBLITERATED an entire day’s work even though I have been SAVING my work regularly.
How does Dorico manage to delete already existing files?
That is really frustrating if such a loss of work occurs, but it seems it does not happen regularily, if I understand you correctly.
Dorico is not deleting files intentionally, so there must be some other reason for this. My first point to look at would be, where are the files stored.
What Operating system are you using, MacOS or Windows? What release of Dorico do you have at the moment?
Are you storing the data on a local disk in your computer, or is it an external disk? If it is an external disk, what kind of disk is it? Is it USB drive, is it some Cloud storage (iCloud, OneDrive, etc.) or is it some other network storage?
Do you have a screenshot of the error message that appears when the failure happens?
Sorry for all these questions, but that helps in narrowing down the issue.
A recovered file is opened as Untitled, after which you can choose to save it wherever you want under a name of your choosing. Only then does it potentially override any manual saves. And if you don’t use auto-save, obviously the recovered file will not be the most recent version.
Have you actually checked in the folder where you saved your original file? The last save you manually made should still be there; and won’t get destroyed. Dorico is just showing you the ‘backup’ file instead.
I’m sorry to hear that you have apparently lost work, Stephen, but hopefully in fact it’s not as dire as it seems. Provided you have been saving your work manually, and provided (for example) you clicked Save when prompted when you went to close the program, you should find that your work is all where it’s meant to be. As Ben recommends, go to the folder where you saved your projects, and open them from there.
You should also check the Backup Projects folder inside your Dorico Projects folder, where Dorico keeps backups of the last 10 (by default) saves of each of your projects, in named folders. You should find the most recent saved versions in there, too.
You can check your Recycle Bin if you’re on Windows. There are a lot of Dorico files there especially if I’ve worked a whole day on a project. It’s saved me a couple times. If you’re on Mac, I’m not sure if that’s the case.
FWIW I have had some bad days with files - like toasted hardware - that were not in any way related to Dorico. I should have professionally known better, but at least I did learn.
I have auto backups to cloud for Dorico’s backup directory and my normal scores directory (which are on different drives) Along with auto cloud backup where I store my expression maps, a copy of VST license files where applicable, Vst patches or presets I may have made, scripts, samples or video I may need…. Two different clouds actually.
Lots of backup choices out there where setting it up takes less time and effort than recreating one lost score.
Thank you, I could thank your ass a thousand times right now. I panicked, I lost literally days of work in a crash and it was in my recycle bin like you said, I’m sooo greatful right now.