Hours of lost work after a MuseScore crash
I was reading the forum post about whole-measure rests in voices other than 1, and decided to try it on one of my own scores (FWIW I had independently discovered the "exchange voices" hack). I then selected "save" from the file menu and MuseScore crashed, bringing up me the "program is not responding" Windows dialog box, and I selected the "close" option. When I restarted MuseScore it popped up a dialog saying that the previous session had terminated abnormally, and I selected the option to restore the session.
When MuseScore opened, it displayed a blank screen (no open files), so I manually opened the file I'd been working on when the crash occurred, and discovered that I'd lost about 6 to 8 hours' worth of work. It turns out the version of the file in the MuseScore2/Scores directory is dated last night at about 5 pm (i.e., over 21 hours ago) and the backup file in the same directory is even older. I also checked the session directory (AppData/Local/MuseScore/MuseScore2) and the most recent backup file there is almost as old: 6:30 pm yesterday. All the changes I made since that time are gone, and I'm certain I saved many times since yesterday afternoon.
I'm very distressed about this. Any idea what happened? Any chance of recovering any of my lost work?
I'm running MuseScore 2.0 on WIndows 8.1.
Comments
MuseScore normally auto-saves every two minutes, so the auto-save version should be present - but that is also what it *should* have recovered automatically, so it is possible the auto-save version is corrupt.
Still, I don't understand how you could have lost 6-8 hours work unless you had literally never saved since last night. If a crash happened in the middle of a save, you'd either have the most recently-successfully-saved version - if the crash happened before MuseScore overwrote it - or else the version you just tried to save, which may or may not corrupt. But I can't think of what would cause MuseScore or Windows to try to serve you a file you supposedly had overwritten many times over the last 21 hours. So somehow, this doesn't quite make sense. You sure that wasn't the *backup* version (starting with period, ending with comma)? Or perhaps you had saved to a different folder.
EDIT: if you are using or have ever used a nightly build, try MuseScoreDevelopment instead of MsueScore2 - both for your Scores folder and for the auto-save folder.
In reply to MuseScore normally auto-saves by Marc Sabatella
I don't know what to tell you. I'm certain I saved many times since 6:30 last night, but if you're skeptical about that then I can't think of a way to convince you. I don't have a videotape or a keystroke log.
I have three relevant files:
1) Documents/MuseScore2/Scores/Violin_Concerto_in_G,_Op._95.mscz - last modified 4/18/2015 5:20 PM
2) Documents/MuseScore2/Scores/.Violin_Concerto_in_G,_Op._95.mscz, - last modified 4/17/2015 10:30 PM (note: Friday nght)
3) AppData/Local/MuseScore/MuseScore2/scea5528.mscz - last modified 4/18/2015 6:31 PM
I have a separate directory for some of my older MuseScore scores, but it doesn't appear in my general preferences and I've checked it and it contains nothing relevant. All my work on the current score has been in the default directories. I have no directory named MuseScoreDevelopment.
I was actually editing the file until nearly 2:00 this morning, or about 7 1/2 hours after the last saved version in the session folder. I checked my preferences and it is in fact set up to do an auto save every 2 minutes. Why isn't there an auto-saved version newer than 6:31 PM yesterday?
In reply to I don't know what to tell by ghicks
Those autosave ones are only kept if MuseScore crashes on you, on clean save/exit they get removed. At least I think they do... So don't do any of these 3 files help you? Ain't any of those better than one that is lost completely?
In reply to Those autosave ones are only by Jojo-Schmitz
I don't understand the question. Certainly the file timestamped 6:31 is somewhat better than the one timestamped 5:20, but that still represents 7+ hours of lost work. Are you asking me to compare my current situation to a hypothetical situation in which I'd lost all the work I ever did on that score?
Also, MuseScore *did* crash on me. I'd expect to find an auto-save file from no more than 2 minutes before the crash.
In reply to I don't understand the by ghicks
Indeed you should find an autosave file from less than 2 minutes before the crash.
In reply to I don't know what to tell by ghicks
I believe that you saved the file. But I would think you would be just as skeptical as me that MuseScore does not have magic ability to recover a previous file once it has been saved over. So if you are seeing a file that is a day old, then this *cannot be* the file you saved more recently. Somehow, somehwere, MuseScore saved your file elsehwere, and you are not looking in the right place. That's the only possible explanation that fits what you are describing. If you really saved a file less than a day ago ago, there is simply nothing MuseScore could possibly do that would "undo" that and somehow restore the file to where it was 24 hours ago. Even if we *wanted* to, we couldn't. So if there is an older version of the file on your system and you know you have saved it more recently than that, then there is no other possible explanation than this: you saved the file somewhere else.
I think the same applies to your auto save. I don't know enough about the specifics of your system configuration to know where to look, but somehow, the aut-save must have been created somewhere else. Which is why I was wondering about nightly versus official builds and MuseScore2 versus MuseScoreDevelopment.
In reply to I believe that you saved the by Marc Sabatella
I just did a complete search of my hard drive and I did find a copy of the score with all my edits, including the very last edit I made, the "exchange voices" hack to create a full-measure rest in Voice 2. But although I'm thrilled to have all my work back, I'm more confused than I was before, because it's in a place where I would never have looked, with a name I would never have expected:
C:\Users\Grant\AppData\Local\VirtualStore\Progtam Files (x86)\MuseScore 2\bin\_Users_Grant_Documents_MuseScore2_Scores_Violin_Concerto_in_G,_Op._95.mscz
Is this expected? Certainly there's no mention of this path on the page about recovering backup scores (https://musescore.org/en/node/52116).
There is no other copy of the score anywhere else on my hard drive more recent than 6:31 last night, so the question is still open where all the saves I did after that time went to. If they went to the file named above, it was certainly not because of anything I consciously did. I didn't even know that path existed before finding my score backed up there.
The history of my MuseScore use on my current machine is dirt simple: I installed MuseScore 2.0 on April 10. There were no previous MuseScore installations on this machine (the older scores I mentioned above were from another machine, which died several months ago). Since installation I have edited preferences only once, and that was to change the keyboard shortcut for "Zoom in". Everything else, including folders, is unchanged since installation.
In reply to I just did a complete search by ghicks
Hmm, sees it tried to store to C:\Program Files (x86)\MuseScore 2\bin\_Users_Grant_Documents_MuseScore2_Scores_Violin_Concerto_in_G,_Op._95.mscz and because this is not permitted (to non Administrators, presumably), Windows placed into that 'VirtualStore'. Windows does do this kind of things...
Well worth being added to that HowTo page.
In reply to Hmm, sees it tried to store by Jojo-Schmitz
Who is the "it" in your first sentence? MuseScore? Windows?
In reply to I just did a complete search by ghicks
That looks like the name that was reconstructed by MuseScore after recovery - when it asked if you wanted to restore the previous session and you said yes. Maybe something went wrong during the recovery and that was is why it was unable to show you the file normally when you first tried. Not sure what Virtual Store is - some third party program you have installed to manage file versions, perhaps? Anyhow, glad you found it!
In reply to That looks like the name that by Marc Sabatella
Apparently "Virtual Store" is a Windows feature. It is a place where files go when applications try to write where they're not allowed (because they'd need Admin privileges). Is MuseScore trying to do this?
Edit: A thought occurs to me. If this is the file MuseScore tried to recover when it recovered my crashed session, maybe the reason MuseScore came up with a blank screen was that it was looking for the file in the same location where it had tried to write it, but it couldn't find it because Windows had redirected the write to Virtual Store. In that case perhaps MuseScore should be taught to look in the Virtual Store directory on Windows, or (better) not to try to create the file in a protected directory in the first place.
In reply to Apparently "Virtual Store" is by ghicks
Yes, I think you're on to something. I don't know enough of the detail of how the recovery thing works in MuseScore or how Virtual Store works to know what really happened here. It still seems strange to me that you have a day-old version of the file in the folder you were expecting to find this in. This suggests to me that the saves you have been doing the last 24 hours have not been in that folder for that long, which in turns makes me think that the change of location happened 24(+) hours ago, as a result of some other operation, not as a result of the crash or subsequent recovery.
In other words, it looks like something you did *yesterday* caused your saves for the past 24 hours to go somewhere other than where you were expecting, and probably that is the point they started going to Virtual Store. Otherwise, you would not still have a day-old version of the file in the folder you thought you were saving to.
In reply to Yes, I think you're on to by Marc Sabatella
If there's a way in MuseScore to accidentally change your file location to a place that can't be written to, then I'd think you'd have to call that a bug in its own right. And I presume the prepended directory information on the file name wasn't added by Windows when it redirected the write to VirtualStore, because it names a directory that I have full access privileges to, and which is in fact the default Score folder in my MuseScore preferences (Users/Grant/Documents/MuseScore2/Scores). I think the odds are that the prepended directory information was added by MuseScore itself during the recovery process, but if so, then it was trying to recover the score in the directory where I thought it was all along. And the recovered file contains all my edits, so clearly my saves after 6:31 last night weren't going to some other location.
In reply to If there's a way in MuseScore by ghicks
The prepended directory info is added to the filename on the recovery after the crash based on the location the file was in when the crash occured. So indeed, it appears MuseScore *thought* your file was in the normal location. But since there a file there with a time stamp of 6:31, very clearly, the writes were *not* going there for the past 24+ hours. That's just basic common sense. And that is what I am trying to understand - what happened shortly after 6:31 to cause the writes to start going somewhere else, while still allowing MuseScore to be fooled into thinking the writes were going to the normal location. I have no insight into that because I wasn't there, but I find it highly unlikely that MuseScore just decided all by itself to start writing somewhere else. It seems much more likely that something happened - whether a disk faliure, a network outage, a power spike, who knows - to throw things into disarray. The questions are *what* and *why*. But right now, what seems most plausible to me is that random disk error occurred resulting in a write failure, and this caused Virtual Store to kick in and move the file unbeknownst to MuseScore.
In reply to The prepended directory info by Marc Sabatella
I assume that the directory path under VirtualStore where the recovered file is located is a guide to where the bad write was attempted. If so, then the target directory was C:\Progtam Files (x86)\MuseScore 2\bin, and I can understand why Windows might not want to allow a write to that location. But I've never heard of a disk failure or the like causing an application to start trying to write a file to its own bin directory instead of to the file's previous location.
In reply to I assume that the directory by ghicks
I don't know enough about Virtual Store to know. I'd say one guess is that the path has to to do with where the write was attempted - in which case, then indeed, as you suggested, there may well be a bug in MuseScore that led to this location being chosen. But it also seems within the realm of possibility that the path in Virtual Store is actually just a reference to the pathname of the executable that attempted the write, in which case, this isn't telling us anything we didn't already know.
This seems enough of a fluke - ie, I have never ever heard of anything like this happening - that I'm not personally too worried about it. More troublesome is the crash you had on save in the first place - although realistically, that could also somehow be related to whatever caused the location to change and get Virtual Store involved. I don't suppose you have steps to reproduce that crash?
Anyhow, it's still all very mysterious, but the good news is, at least you do have a recent version of your score!
In reply to I don't know enough about by Marc Sabatella
No idea how to reproduce it. The session had been open all night, so there was a lot of history there. If something got corrupted at some point, it could have been hours before the crash.
The most recent set of steps right before the crash was:
1. Select a measure with only one voice
2. Edit/Voices/Exchange Voice 1-2
3. Edit/Voices/Exchange Voice 1-2
4. File/Save
That's it. I've tried this in a fresh session and it doesn't cause any problems.
In reply to No idea how to reproduce it. by ghicks
i DID IT!
In reply to i DID IT! by jophiel
Indeed. You replied to a 4 years old thread ;-)
In reply to I just did a complete search by ghicks
This happened to me!
I've search and couldn't find all the hours of work I've done. It only shows an old modified file.
In reply to This happened to me! by elyoung
Where did you look? What version of Musecore and what OS? Did you read the instructions on finding the autosave version?
In reply to Where did you look? What by Marc Sabatella
I found it. (Thank God) Thanks
In reply to I just did a complete search by ghicks
I know this is an old thread, but you sir just saved my @$$. Exact same scenario (slightly less time passed, 11pm to 4am; also, I don't remember what made mine crash, but I was playing around with switching things between voices not long before. probably a coincidence, as that can't possibly be related to the saving issue. right?). Saved all night, all of a sudden a 5-hour old version was all I had and I frantically emailed the client asking what time the dress rehearsal is scheduled for! Located right where you found yours. G-d bless the internet, google, and especially you for posting your fortuitous resolution. Hope more people are/have-been/will-be helped by it.
jw
In reply to I know this is an old thread, by jtweissbrot
Hopefully we'll fix this and patch together a better solution for the next version of MuseScore: #81711: Scores saved in unexpected location if saved after MuseScore crashes and restores session
In reply to Hopefully we'll fix this and by Isaac Weiss
I want to personally thank you as well, because MYYYY GOOOODNEESSSS! I went through so much trouble trying to recover my lost data! I followed all these step-by-step processes and none of them worked until I read this thread. You saved me so much pain, well, besides the flipping tables and smashing windows when I found out I lost almost all my progress part. I'm so relieved, thank you guys, like you have no idea, or maybe you do, I dunno.
Thanks again!
In reply to I don't know what to tell by ghicks
The same thing happened to me. I save my work every few minutes, but the same thing happened. I lost two days of work.
In reply to The same thing happened to… by Ken Prazak
I’m sorry to hear you are having trouble, and it’s definitely frustrating when it appears work is lost. but this thread is about an older version of MuseScore, and much has changed a it now things work, so I advise you to start a new thread and describe your specific problem in more detail. If you saved the file, it is still present - it is probably just not in the folder you are expecting. chances are very good we can help you figure out what happened if you do start that new thread with more information.
Thank you for this thread. I have just spent two days working in Musescore, when it suddenly reverted to a previous form. I closed this then went to search for the updated form which I thought I had been saving as I went, but even if I hadn't, I then couldn't find it in any form. If it hadn't been for this thread I would have spoiled a family lunch with my moaning and groaning.
Thanks to this I was able to find my up to date work in the bin folder exactly as this described, Phew!
Don't know if this will help or not, but when I closed MuseScore and restored the session, I clickled 'Save' instead of 'Save as'. This meant that the file (now with a different name) was saved to another location, so I couldn't find it.
This link fixed my problem.
https://musescore.org/en/handbook/recovered-files
I know this is old, but if anyone is running on Mac and had an issue with this (saving an autosave and not being able to find it later), you should be able to find it in your Applications folder with a bizarre name.
ie. Mac HD > Applications > File
Hope this helps, and when you do find it, use Save As to add it to your scores list.
In reply to I know this is old, but if… by Nathan Bell 2
That bizarre name is true on all platforms, only it's location differs.
I'm crying right now ;-;
In reply to I'm crying right now ;-; by jophiel
See https://musescore.org/en/node/52116
In reply to See https://musescore.org/en… by Jojo-Schmitz
When the file crashed and I reopened it again, I closed it and forgot about the rule auto save every 2 minutes, and now it's gone. I'm only 9, not an adult, I don't understand .-. Don't give me these nodes please, they're hidden files anyways....
In reply to When the file crashed and I… by jophiel
You need to talk to an adult who can help you.
In reply to You need to talk to an adult… by mike320
I did it, already....
That's Tarantula.
In reply to I did it, already.... That's… by jophiel
I'm very glad to hear you have it fixed :)
No matter what software you are using (MuseScore, MS Word, video-creation software) you should create backups as you go. If you do not create backups and you lose all your work you can complain about the software as much as you want but you will not get your work back and you will just have to accept that you could have done better and created backups as you went.
I'm having similar problems for many months.
When i get files to load at all they crash on playback.I've lost count of the number of times windows gas reported the issues to microsoft for a solution.
Ive been working on two lengthy transcription projects to help me learn musescore.
Tonight the software issues assistant restored my software to a previous version. In the process i lost months of development work. This is completely unacceptable!!
Curiously i still have access to the up to date app versions when viewing my last uploads in the app.
But when i use the laptop software i only have access to previous restored versions of my files from several months ago.
Whatever has happened to this software has rendered it useless for musicians like me to use.
Despite upgrading to pro version i'm serious regretting perservering with Musescore.
I'm so frustrated with it and i'm seriously considering buying amadeus software as reliable musical source software.
In reply to I'm having similar problems… by user144378646
Despite upgrading to pro version there is no PRo version of MuseScore software, see: https://musescore.org/en/faq#faq-20657
In reply to I'm having similar problems… by user144378646
Sorry to hear you're having problems! If you have a score that crashes on playback, we'd love to fix it, but we would need you to attach the score in question and steps to reproduce the problem.
Not sure what you mean about losing months of work though. Are you saying you ran some third party "software issues assistant" program that went into your Documents folder and deleted your files? That would indeed be unacceptable! But that wouldn't be MuseScore's doing - MuseScore never ever under any circumstances deletes your files. If one of your files was deleted by this "software issues assistant", you'd need to complain to the folks who created that program. Sounds suspiciously like malware to me...
But to be clear: MuseScore remains an incredibly valuable tool used by millions of people every day. If you have a file that produces a crash, we're here to help. But we can't help you with the other program where some unrelated program deleted your files, I'm afraid
In reply to I'm having similar problems… by user144378646
If you're having problems since months, you really should have come here months ago...
If something on yopur PC reporeted issues to Microsift, that indicates this not to be a MuseScore problem at all
No idea what " software issues assistant" is or might be, bit I don't see how it might possible relate to MuseScore.
Having a Pro account or not has no bearing here at all