BS: Tech: Excel problem

Subject: BS: Excel problem
From: GUEST,Red Eye
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 10:24 AM

I saved some important data onto a floppy disc and now it refuses to open up, saying that it may be 'read only file', or I may be trying to access a read only location. Or, the server the document is stored on may not be responding.

Can anyone please help.

Regards

R E

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 10:29 AM

open it as a read only file - then save it someplace else under a differnet name.

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: wysiwyg
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 10:31 AM

And if it doesn't want to let you do that, open a blank doc or worksheet, then open the read-only one, copy it to clipboard and paste to the new one, save that.

~S~

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: GUEST,Red Eye
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 10:39 AM

Open as a read only. How do I do that?

Regards

Tom.

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: Amos
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 10:59 AM

Usually if you doubleclick a R/O file, it will produce a message saying the file is read only and do you want to open it as such -- meaning can't edit. If you say yes, it opens as read only.

You may need to choose Tools==>Protection and unprotect the file once in it to be able to save it under a different name.

You might try dragging the file to your hard disk (if you can see the icon on the floppy disk) and then opening it on your hard disk.

You should always try opening from within Excel usingt File==>Open in addition to clicking on the file directly before giving up.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: GUEST,Red Eye
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 11:09 AM

Tried all that with no joy Amos. Why has it done this to me as it was ok yesterday?

Anyone else help?

Regards

Tom.

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: Amos
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 11:17 AM

WHen you open the floppy disk can you see the file? Is it represented as an Excel file by icon?

Another possible path is to open a blank Excel file and than insert the misbehaving file into it. Not likely to work, though.

DId you drag the file on to the hard disk, only to have it misbehave there the same way?

I suggest if you have dragged it to the hard disk that you then shut down the computer and restart it before trying to access the file on the hard disk.

Other than that the best I can think of is to try to use some kind of data recovery software to recover the file data.

Floppies are easily corrupted and one bit changed incorrectly can render a file inaccessible.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 11:21 AM

It's a stupid idea, but....

...you didn't happen to flip the "read-only" tab on the floppy disk after you wrote the document there?

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: GUEST
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 11:23 AM

Amos

Yes, can see the icon.

Tried the blank excel file, you're right it did not work.

Drag the file onto the hard disk? I opened C drive and tried to put it in there. No response.

Getting worried now!

Regs

RE

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: Amos
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 11:26 AM

Try just dragging the image of the file over to the desktop.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: GUEST,Red Eye
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 11:40 AM

Tried that A

Message appearing saying 'cannot copy named file. system cannot read from the specified device.

Regards

Tom.

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: GUEST,Red Eye
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 11:41 AM

also tried e-mailing it to work but meaasge appears saying 'error cannot send'.

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: Amos
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 11:45 AM

IT is not reading the file at all, apparantly. Check the locking tab on the floppy as recommended above. Aside from that I am afraid the file is corrupted. This can happen if the size is close to the floppy's limit or if the floppy has been exposed to a lot of random environmental magnetics, or been written to and erased often. Sometimes it is just a damned gamma ray passing by.

Anyway, if you have a data recovery application you may be able to extract the data from the file.

There may be some other approach, but I can't think of it.

A

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: Rasener
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 01:08 PM

If the flip the read only tab, this will have no affect in terms of opening the file. Only when you come to save it do you have the problem.

Tom
Have you tried another floppy that you think is OK in your A drive?
Can you access a file from it?

One way would be to place a brand new floppy in your drive - one that has been pre formatted.
Open Excel and type Tom into cell A1.
Then save the file to the A drive.
Close the file and then try opening it again.
Did that work?

One assumes you don't have a problem with your floppy disk drive!

Have you tried your floppy on somebody else's machine?

NOW THIS IS IMPORTANT if the above didn't work.

Have a look at this website and get in touch with them. Tell them your problem. They will get your data recovered if it is that valuable. Ask them for a sort of quote so you can decide if it is worth doing.


http://www.fields-data-recovery.co.uk/

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: GUEST,Red Eye
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 01:36 PM

Alas none of the above has worked. I will be taking it into work tonight to see if I can open it on the system there.

Thanks for your efforts

Tom.

Subject: RE: BS: Excel problem
From: JohnInKansas
Date: 02 Jun 04 - 06:20 PM

Your most practical solution here would be to make a new copy from the original file - if it still exists.

Most Office program files have an "in-use" bit that's set if one user has the file open. When the "in-use" bit is set, only the first person to open the file is allowed to change the file.

Obviously the file was open when you saved it to the floppy. When you close the file (close Excel) the "in-use" bit would ordinarily be reset so that the file is available to other users; but if you remove the floppy from the drive before you close the file, the bit can't be reset and other users (including you) may have difficulty opening it.

In some versions of Excel and other Office programs, Windows will refuse to close the file/program until you put the floppy back in, although rarely the whole system locks up. The file that you save to floppy remains open until it's "closed" on the machine. If you "abort" in order to close Excel, the file may be so corrupted that it can't be re-opened.

Note that if you want to remove the floppy before you close the Excel file, you can "Save As" somewhere else (hard drive?), using a new file name after you save to the floppy, and the file on the floppy will be "closed." If you only want to keep the "copy on the floppy" (song title?) you delete the one on the hard drive after you've closed it.

Usually the "error" you get when you try to reopen will be "file is in use," but in some cases it will be just that "file cannot be opened." In either case Windows/Office should offer to "open as read only" and/or "open a copy." (This works best in more recent Office versions.) In either case, if the file opens, you cannot save the file back to the floppy using the same file name, but you can use "File - Save As" and save a copy of the file under a new name.

If the file won't open under any of the options offered, then it's likely that the file has been corrupted, and you're not likely to be able to recover it (with reasonable methods). You should try to get the file up using the same version of Excel that made it. If that fails and you can find a machine with a later version of Excel, you may have a chance of getting it back there, since newer versions are a little more "flexible" about this stuff, but a corrupted file may not come up in any version.

John

Subject: RE: BS: Tech: Excel problem
From: GUEST,Red Eye
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 10:43 AM

Thanks for all your efforts. Went to work last night and found the said doc on the system (tg).

Lesson well learnt though.

Kind Regards

Tom.

Subject: RE: BS: Tech: Excel problem
From: Amos
Date: 03 Jun 04 - 11:48 AM

Wotta relief, then!!

A