Approximately 120 images have disappeared from a RW7.1.7 project that’s in progress (hasn’t been published yet), while other images on different Stacks pages remain. It seems the images disappeared shortly after I selected the “Enable Autosave and Versions,” under the RapidWeaver > Preferences > Advanced > Enable Autosave and Versions.
I enabled that Autosave feature because I was experiencing crashes for work that wasn’t backed up or manually saved. (I don’t know where the “Autosave” files are on my computer to see if I can revert to an earlier saved version.)
The images were png or jpg, that were dragged-and-dropped into (typically) a “Columns” (Elixir Graphics v1.0.3) or a (YourHead v3.0.0) “2 Columns” responsive stack using Tesla Pro theme on (YourHead V3.0.0) Stack 3 pages.
I created a folder to store my Project assets for items such as my Images, and PDFs, so I didn’t move the images from one file location to another. The images were dragged-and-dropped onto an image icon on the Stacks pages; they were not imported into the “Resources” section of RW7.
The missing images do not appear in the Finder > single right-click on my Project File > “Show Package Contents” > “Pages” directory > “Data.”
• Why did so many images disappear while some remained?
• Is there any way to revert to a RW ‘Autosave’ copy (I don’t see or know where to look for an Autosave RW folder), or do I have to go back to an (old) TimeMachine backup?
I hope you can help solve this issue, thank you. -Ernie Marsh
• El Capitan Version 10.11.6
• Seems the Stacks (Addon) is Version 3.2.6b3 even though the Stack “Columns” such as the responsive “2 Column” by YourHead, shows as 2 Column Version 3.0.0.
• Folder resides on my computer and is not stored on iCloud or dropbox.
• Pluggin from Elixir Graphics is “Columns” Version 1.0.3
I believe Stacks 3.2.6 was released as a final version, not sure if b3 is the same as the release version or not. You can always get the latest here http://yourhead.com/stacks
I downloaded and installed Stacks 3.2.6. While the installation of Stacks 3.2.6 didn’t bring back the missing images, seems like a good thing to have the latest Stacks version.
I’ll start using TimeMachine to backup my work more often. I didn’t follow best-practice; I made a mistake.
Looks like I will resolve the missing images issue by dragging-and-dropping the images all over again, rather than reverting to an old, TimeMachine backup. And, as a precaution, I won’t use RapidWeaver’s “Enable Autosave and Version” anymore. I don’t know if that had anything to do with the missing images, but everything was fine until a short time after I enabled Autosave.
The bad news: When data loss or file corruption occurs, then it is usually best to go back to a backup or to recreate the missing bits from scratch. The data is likely really gone.
The good news: I’ve known about two data loss bugs for about a week. I’ve reported them to Realmac and I believe they have been working on them. Fingers crossed for a quick resolution.
So so news: I learned of another similar one this this morning. I’ve reported this to Realmac as well.
The last one works like this: If a document is saved (with or without autosave) and then closed shortly thereafter it can cause RW to crash. I have seen some data also be lost in this case.
You can try this yourself:
open any document
type cmd-s and then cmd-w in quick succession.
It will likely crash. The larger the document, the more likely.
I don’t have any way of knowing for certain that this is what happened to your document – but there are enough similarities that it seems like it is the most likely culprit. Autosave will certainly make this crash more common.
What I do know for sure: This has nothing to do with beta you were using. The code for saving document images has not changed, not even by one character, since August 2015 (yes, I double checked, this morning, just to be 100% certain).
I’d also like to say that although I think it’s very likely this is related to the 3 bugs I’ve reported, there is still a chance this is an entirely unique bug that has just been lying dormant for a long time (and woke up very angry). It might even be inside Stacks. Or related to other things we haven’t even thought of.
If you (or anyone else) has any more info about this I’d please let me know.
Whether it’s my bug, Realmac’s, or someone else’s I’d like to find it ASAP and get it fixed before it hurts anyone else.
You could be right about the issue of saving a project then immediately closing it could have caused my (images-only) data loss. But I can’t say for certain. I do know that the night before, I saved the RW project manually (RW’s Autosave was enabled at that time) by pressing cmd-S keys to save, immediately followed by cmd-Q to quit RW. The next morning is when I noticed that about 120 images (png and jpg) were gone.
I’ve only dealt with issues of data loss a few times – but it’s generally very difficult to know much for certain.
You find out about the issue after-the-fact – sometimes a long while after – and by then all logs and data and recollection of the event that triggered the bug have faded.
I think, for now, all we can say is this is our best guess. Under that assumption a good way forward would be to:
enable time machine and ensure it’s working saving backups regularly
replace missing images – and other data types that may be susceptible:
blog posts
photo album photos
Collage photos
be more vigilant than usual – on the lookout for similar problems
If you do run into new problems there are probably a few things that can help all the developers looking into this:
the before/after files – seeing both the backed up OK file and a file post corruption can give a clue as to how the corruption occurred
the console logs – if you notice a problem right away open the console and copy your logs
crash reports – these sorts of things don’t always cause crashes, but sometimes they do. if that happens, save the crash report – or send it using the built in crash report – include info about what you were doing when the crash occurred – be as detailed as possible.
I’d also like to give a to the devs working on this. Not easy stuff. If there’s anything I can do to help you guys out let me know.
I’ll run Time Machine regularly, instead of the intermittent way I have been.
I did’t send the crash logs from the last few days.
Moving forward, I’ll use Time Machine so it will help if future issues come up, such as:
the before/after files
the console logs
and crash reports. I was slack because I didn’t want to fill out my e-mail address and take the time to list the events leading up to the crashes.
I consider this issue resolved/closed. I will re-add the photos to the image placeholders and re-add their file names and alt meta tags. Ugh-- 120 photos will take a few hours to redo-- I should’ve kept Time Machine running.
Is there an option I should select to ‘close’ this thread, or mark it as ‘solved’ or admit ‘I should’ve kept Time Machine running at all times and submitted the crash reports and/or hired a real website designer who knows what they’re doing.’?
Again, thank you for helping and looking into this.
to the devs working on this. Not easy stuff. If there’s anything I can do to help you guys out let me know.