Hi,
I’m using scrivener since some month, but on thursday last week, I used it the last time, saved and closed. Today I’d like to open it and I got the Information: Project not found No Project could be found at the specified path. - OK Could not open project. No valid Scrivener 1.x project could be found at the specified path.
I tried it to open with Acrobat reader, graphic converter and others… not working. I downloaded scrivener a 2nd time - nothing helps. I tried it on two more apples… It won’t work.
The size of the actual project is 1,1 MB, so the content is there, but not to open.
Sounds you like you got it all sorted out! Just out of curiosity, are you saving your projects on your iDisk, DropBox, or a similar service? If so, you might wish to reconsider, as they can cause problems like this (which is why I ask). A better way of working with these services is to keep your projects on your local disk, and produce zipped backups (using the File/Backup Project To menu command) to your synchronised folders. Then you can grab the latest zip backup on the second computer, drag it to a local spot on it, decompress it, and repeat.
Hello! I found this topic through search and while the user in question has figured out their own solution, I would like some additional information on this, if possible, as my problem is that I don’t have the backups, only the files that won’t open. These files have been stored in DropBox.
Is there any way I can get these projects back? It’s not the end of the world if not (the only present projects are relatively small and I still have the stored files that I could just copy/paste), and I will consider this merely a lesson learned if that’s the case, but if it’s possible to “fix” these projects, I’d very much like to know!
A possibility, which may be slim depending on whether or not you are using the free version of Dropbox, is to use the web application to go into the project file and restore older versions, prior to whatever happened to corrupt it. This is a difficult procedure to describe with zero knowledge of what your projects look like internally on the Dropbox server. Even if you know what you are doing, it can be a bit difficult and require some trial and error. The first thing to look for is any files with datestamps and the word “conflicted” in it. That means two computers had different versions, and so Dropbox created duplicates for each version. Figuring out which one is the correct version, and removing the older or bad copy is what you have to do in that case, and then rename the file back to what it should be. Beyond that, there are other issues that can exist, like files that were created on one computer but not the other, so the central project file is not aware of them, or files deleted on one computer and not the other, and so the binder file is confused about why they are missing.
Unfortunately, Dropbox doesn’t have a folder-level “restore everything to 2010-09-15” tool, so a date when the project last worked must be decided upon, and then all of the internal files matched to that date as closely as possible.
It’s non-trivial, as you can see. I’ve done it before with a project that got corrupted, but it was a mess and fortunately it happened on the same day that it had been damaged by Dropbox, so I knew roughly what to do.
If you do decide to try this, what I recommend doing is first resolve any conflicted files, and then drag a copy of the project to your Desktop and try to open it. This way you don’t add more versioning data to the Dropbox server whenever you try to test the resolution. Repeat this process for each attempt to fix it from that point on, but whatever you do don’t try to open the project in the DB folder, or accidentally move it out. You could end up losing your history data. And as said at the top, you might be completely out of luck if you are using a free account, as they only save 5 of the last versions of each file. This means the corrupted versions might have pushed the good version off the history and there is nothing good to restore.
Right O, well considering I am using the free version, I think I’ll just strip out the text and research files out of the package and start over. Lesson learned!
Another instance of the dreaded “No Project Could Be Found”…
After closing all programs, including Scrivener, and doing a restart this morning, I attempted to reopen my main project file–and got the “No Project Could Be Found” error message. As this is a 245 mb file, and two years of work, I was more than a little alarmed. Still am, to be honest; what could have happened?
Before the restart, I closed each project within Scrivener, then quit the program, as usual. I use SugarSync as a remote backup, and I assume it was working in the background, but it has NEVER occurred to me that in its backing up process, it could or would corrupt the original data file on my hard drive. Is that what you’re saying? That just the act of running a program such as this in the background could damage my original files, making them unreadable or inaccessible?
Luckily, I use TimeMachine to an external disk periodically, and have a day-old copy of my file, but still; how is this possible? If I hadn’t backed up so recently, this could have been disastrous. Any advice or insight into how best to avoid this in future?
Since I work on a MBP, it’s not feasible to run TimeMachine on a regular, automated basis, but now I’m terrified–is this likely to repeat? What do you suggest as an effective, idiot-proof backup method?
Sorry for the hysteria, but I’ve had a bad hour–this could have been horrible. Thank you for whatever reassurance or advice you can give, CG
Rule of thumb: NEVER back up any package files (Scrivener among many others) that aren’t ZIPPED into one file. Then, you know immediately if the file had been corrupted and the original package is not touched by sugarsync/dropbox etc. And yes, the files can be corrupted if there is a burp during either the upload or the download. There is a zip option under the File menu called “backup project to.” It is your best friend.
Hey William,
That’s a valid question, one I have no good answer for. All I can say is I write on the go a lot, and have a tendency to deposit my laptop down on whatever surface is nearby–quite often ripping any attached external drive onto the floor without thinking. After quite a few bangs, I switched to backing up at night–when and if I remember. My rudimentary understanding is that I can’t use my local HD for Time Machine, necessitating the external, and my klutzy and forgetful habits.
Do you have a backup flow that works for you? I’m open to any and all suggestions, including one that demands I tie strings around my fingers to remind me to perform routine backups–I’m just not optimistic that one will work. Thanks for the reply, CG
Well, this one requires a string: but a great way to make backups while you are on the go is to bring a few writable CDs or DVDs with you. Finder makes it pretty easy to burn your dailies at the end of the day and store them somewhere relatively safe. A thumb drive could substitute for the plastic if you want.
You could also use SugarSync! Just use it as a backup, not as a disk. As Apollo16 suggests, use that Backup Project feature in Scrivener with the zip option periodically or at the end of the day, and leave the timestamps on. That way you have a sequence of files instead of one project getting overwritten.
Thank you Amber, I forget I can use a DVD as a backup medium. That’s a good suggestion for when I’m on the road.
As for SugarSync, I must again plead ignorance–can you explain the difference between using it as a disk, versus a backup? The way it’s set up now (I believe), is I’ve selected folders on my local disk that I wish to have “backed up”, and every time a file within those folders changes, the change is supposedly sync’d up to the cloud. Is that using it as a backup or as a disk?
And why, for the love of all that is holy, would it take it upon itself to alter/damage/corrupt any of the original files on my hard disk? That’s the part that still has me frightened–why would a .scriv file (that’s been properly saved and closed) suddenly go bad? As in, Scrivener refuses to acknowledge it as one of its own? Is this truly a problem caused by SugarSync, or something else?
Anyway, thanks for the patient replies. I’ve lost a bit of work, but nothing insurmountable; what I’ve lost more is confidence. It seems in spite of myself, I’ve endangered my work, and that’s a frightening prospect. Oh well, onward and upward. Take care, and thanks again.
It’s a bit complicated, but the main reason for this comes with a clue in the name itself, SugarSync. It’s not actually a backup service, like some kind of Internet based Time Capsule. That would be one-way and periodic, not constant. Instead, these services constantly monitor your selected folders for changes, and start uploading the moment they detect a change. The other part of the equation is the “Sync” part in that name. It writes as well as reads—this is what makes it possible for a change on one computer to show up on another computer a few seconds later. Without getting into the nitty gritty, this sort of system works pretty good for ordinary single-files that you load into an application’s memory, and then periodically save out back to the disk. For applications that use many files in concert and are constantly updating them, it can overwhelm the service. Corruption isn’t something that always happens, but it can happen surprisingly easy. Since a Scrivener project is bunches of files, all it takes is one part of that complex of files to be out of sync with the rest for problems to start cropping up. A partial upload here (sleeping the computer before it finishes uploading); a conflicted update from a second machine there; or just a botched or partial upload means that because this is a sync service, the error instantly gets spammed to every computer connected to the service since it is read/write, not just read like an ordinary backup.
If the project exists only in that one spot, where it is performing this automation, there effectively is no backup anywhere and all changes will be immediately made in place. If you work outside of these designated folders (i.e. not using them as a disk), and never load copies of your project out of these folders, then they become true copies, backups. Since you can’t just load a zip file in Scrivener, zipping them up as you save them reduces the chance of accidentally loading them, and with the datestamp it produces a trail of changes rather than an “always latest” singular copy. The latter isn’t really a backup, especially if you are working off of it.
Ah, at last, this makes perfect sense! I’d forgotten about the read/write aspect; I was aware of that component, of course, but persisted in thinking of it as read-only–a dangerous error. I’ve corrected the sync parameters (I hope), and will be more cautious going forward. A good lesson learned, with little-enough angst. Thank you.
well Amber has of course answered it better than I ever could (go Amber) but I can confirm that what I do is save my Scrivener project in an ordinary location on the local disk in my MB. And that’s what I work off. That’s the file I open when I start work at the beginning of the day.
BUT, at regular intervals - ie whenever I think of it - I hive off a zipped backup to my Dropbox folder (which is the same kind of service as Sugarsync I imagine). Because, as Amber says, the zipped-up .scriv file is not a scriv file any more but a zip file and thus not prone to damage or corruption in the same way that the complex (and beautiful) scrivener project package is.
This works especially well for someone like me because unlike your good self I am always in one location and using the same computer. If I was using different computers it would still work but be a little bit more fiddly - when I started work on a different computer I’d need to get the zip file out of Dropbox, unzip it, work on it (saving the scriv file to that computer, NOT dropbox) then continue zipping it back to Dropbox at frequent intervals, as previously.
So the Sugarsync/Dropbox option is only there a) to protect against lost data or hardware failure, and b) to provide portability when needed, but NOT as the “main place where you keep your stuff.” This being a technical term.
Added bonus if (when!) you upgrade to 2.0, word on the street* is that there will be some kind of automated backup-as-zip option, so when you open or close a project you can have Scrivener do the backup for you to whatever folder you want (which could be Dropbox or something similar). A nice feature to save having to remember to make the backup manually. Yay!
[size=85]* You know, in some post by some official person somewhere in some thread.[/size]
Scrivener 2.0 will help remove some of the “fiddly” aspects of using these services. It will have an automatic backup feature—which basically does exactly what “Backup Project To” does, but according to your preferences. You can have a backup created when you open the project, close it, or each time you manually save it. Since you’ll be able to choose where these backups go, you could easily select your SugarSync or Dropbox folder and never even think about it. When you switch to a different computer, just pull down the last auto-zip to your non-synced working area and work away.
