Dreamweaver Erased my files

[TheHumanProjekt]

Essentially the statement above. I was working on a website in Dreamweaver for a client (one of the few times I even bother with dreamweaver) and everything was going well  and I was working in my CSS document until dreamweaver froze for a second, and then everything was gone. My entire stylesheet, 6 hours of work, gone. So I closed the program and restarted it and it was still gone. Suffice it to say I am absolutely livid at the moment and I would like to know if there is a way to restore a file erased by dreamweaver? Otherwise is there a way to get a refund for this useless excuse for a program?

[John Waller]

After you have calmed down, please advise:

1. which version of Dreamweaver
2. which operating system

[TheHumanProjekt]

Dreamweaver CS5.5
Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit

[John Waller]

When you say everything was gone, do you mean in the DW Files Panel?

Are the files still present on your hard drive when the folder is viewed in Windows Explorer?

[TheHumanProjekt]

The files are still there. Except all the code in the CSS file is gone. I didn't even save it when the code was erased, I just closed the program.

[John Waller]

So if you open the CSS file in a plain text editor such as Notepad, it is empty?

[TheHumanProjekt]

Yes. I've opened it in note pade and other programs such as M$ web developer and the file is empty. I've even tried to use the file restore via windows properties. Does dreamweaver keep some sort of cache of recent files?

[John Waller]

Firstly, I'm astounded that the file is empty. Are you sure it's not corrupted by Windows? When was the file last saved?

DW does not autosave user files to my knowledge.

For future reference, have you tried using a utility such as http://www.ajcsoft.com/active-backup.htm?

[TheHumanProjekt]

It is most deffinately not Windows. This has happened several times before on both my Mac and PC (using 5.5) except they were old files I was working on and I had copies of them on portable HDD so it wasn't a huge issue (since I had only made minor changes) and I have called Adobe about this before but of course their useless tech support knew nothing and denied the issue. Ugh, great so I've now lost a day's worth of work. This is a joke. Is  there any way to return this program for a refund?

[John Waller]

Sorry I can't help you any further at this stage short of accessing your computer myself.

You'd have to contact Adobe Customer Support regarding refunds.

Must say though that it's the first time I've ever heard of the issues you mention in 12+ years of using DW on Mac and PC. Not to say it doesn't happen. Just that you're the first I'm aware of losing an entire file via a freeze event in Dreamweaver.

[rgbdna]

This just happened to me tonight. A days worth of work. I saved iterations of an email template I have been working on for a client but my most recent saved copy just quit unexpectedly and when i reopened it - blank. on a macbook pro OS 10.6.8 DW CS6. Livid right now.

[BenPleysier]

It is hard to believe that DW would do that.

DW obtains the content of the file and puts it into memory; the original content of the file remains untouched and unchanged until the content from memory is saved to disk.

The only explanation is that you managed to save a blank content to the original file. Another explanation could be that the content in memory could be corrupted by an external factor.

Gramps

[rgbdna]

Well...the facts are that I was editing in DW. I had been saving VERY frequently so the file was up-to-date. DW quit unexpectedly and when I reopened DW and reopened the file - blank. I mean blank. Yes there are are always factors on one's computer that varies, creating some kind of perfect storm (OS, Apps, Ram, Configurations) but i can tell you one thing...this has NEVER happened before and it was DW handling the open file - not any other program.  So DW evangelists can say whatever they want, but it WAS the program handling the file when it corrupted and erased.  I generally LOVE dw and the suite...this is why this is so surprising, usually really solid. I am scared sh*tless now of this happening again.

[Jon Fritz]

Is it actually blank (no code) or is DW just having some kind of rendering problem in design view?

[rgbdna]

Actually blank. It was the weirdest thing. All other txt/html editors show it blank and the file size is zero. Probably got corrupted somehow, but usually corrupted files have "something" in them - they just won't open right?  This was completely stripped. No data what-so-ever, yet it retained being an html file and the file does open in all programs...just blank.

[krisz49227661]

I am having the exact same issue, except that my files still look like they have content in Windows Explorer (file size 236 kb), but when i try to open them (I had 3 files open at the time of the crash, and all are having the same issue now) they appear completely blank, whether I open them in DW or in a browser.

Given that this type of thing has been going on for several years and Adobe staff has not a single solution, I am not very hopeful, but here are my specs: Windows 7, DW 2015.2

[Nancy OShea]

<Adobe staff has not a single solution, I am not very hopeful...>

Actually they do.  Auto File Recovery was introduced in CC 2017. 

How to manage and transfer files to remote servers from within Dreamweaver

Nancy

[krisz49227661]

Thanks, but that doesn't help much. The weird thing about this is that I was saving frequently (as I always do), and the time stamp and size of my files shown in Windows Explorer implies that my files are current and full of data, but when I open them in DW or a browser, they appear completely blank. This implies to me that they are not entirely lost, but were corrupted during the shutdown process. Do you know of any way to recover them?

[BenPleysier]

W10, DW2017. After the crash (2x) my files were

Notice the two extra files created by Dreamweaver because of the crashes?

[krisz49227661]

Thank you, Ben. Unfortunately I am using DW 2015.2, not 2017. How are you viewing that file list?

[Nancy OShea]

krisz49227661 wrote:

How are you viewing that file list?

In the CC 2017 Files Panel.

Nancy

[krisz49227661]

Thanks. If only I had upgraded before this all happened

I still think that there must be some way to recover these files.....but I can't get any help

[Nancy OShea]

Did you try opening in a plain text editor like text wrangler?

Or this file recovery app for Mac?

Recuva for Mac - Recover Files on Mac |File Recovery App

Nancy

[krisz49227661]

I did try opening it in Notepad, and it is still blank.

I did not try the file recovery app for Mac, since I am on a PC.

[Nancy OShea]

They make one for Windows too.

Recuva - Free Download - Piriform

Or you might want to try Windows Restore to see if you can recover files prior to the event.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/17119/windows-7-recover-lost-deleted-files