* Corrupt Gedcom and Lost Media

[JKC]

Preamble: Whilst I was entering data taken from a web-page into an Individual record the computer suddenly "froze" for no apparent reason. I use Windows 7 on a fairly powerful laptop. I have not experienced this before. I tried Ctrl-Alt-Del but no response. I then switched off the power and restarted Windows. There were various messages on opening FH. I then used the validate tool which initially had a list of items which then cleared. I then got a message that there was an FH update from 6.2 to 6.21 (?) which I accepted and FH reloaded.

My Gedcom opened OK and the data appears to be intact (but I appear to have lost a few hours data entry work). However all the media files are not showing. The windows folder containing the media files appears to be intact and media files show correctly on an old version of my gedcom. The FH Media button does not list any media files.

I am reluctant to use my latest backup taken on 5/5/16 as I dont want to lose the data entered since then. Please advise if there is a way to restore the links to the media files and the latest data entries.

[tatewise]

Can you recall any of the initial FH messages, and/or the Validate messages?

That fact that you have lost a few hours data entry work suggests that you have disabled the Tools > Preferences > File Load/Save > Enable Autosave option that is designed to avoid such losses.

You say you opened your Gedcom, but does it open as a Project via the File > Project Window so that the very top of FH main window says - Family Historian Project - and NOT - Family Historian Gedcom -?

You say the Media button literally does not list ANY Media Records.
Does the Records Window > Media tab also list nothing?
If so, then all the Media Records are missing, and that is what all those initial messages were complaining about.

The prognosis does not look good, but check the .fh_data folder that contains the Gedcom file, and report back or attach screenshot of all the files found there (NOT the folders such as Books, Charts, Media, Plugin Data, Settings).

The only other option that may be better than your 5/5/2016 Backup is the daily Snapshot, that should restore everything up to the day before the problem, if not earlier on the same day as the problem.

[JKC]

The Autosave option is enabled at 5 minutes. On more careful examination I think I lost less than one hour but certainly more than 5 minutes of data entry. About 6 new individuals with notes I had just added are not present (which took more than 5 minutes to enter) but I will add these manually from my notes.
The top of the FH window is "...Family Historian Project"

I checked the Windows media folder and the images were still in place. As an experiment I copied and pasted the images into the "View All Media" so the media button does now show all the images as does the Records Media window. However none of the images appear in the Individual Records. The Records list shows a "0" against each image in the Links column. The Media Record Id runs from 223 to 664 in increments of 1.

I have the feeling that I could restore the images to the Project by adding the images one by one into the appropriate Individual Record. This would be tedious but perhaps better than losing any data which is not recorded elsewhere. Problem with that is that I may not remember which image goes with which Individual although the file name is some help. Is there any way I could locate and restore the original links?

I guess that the moral of this is that I should do a full backup much more frequently as an insurance against computer/Windows crashes. All my files are also backed up in Dropbox. Thank you.

[tatewise]

Yes, just importing the Media will not recreate the Media Record links to other records.
The more you fiddle around with your data then the less likely I can help you recover.

I think Dropbox has an old version feature that may recover a recent Gedcom.
Somebody more familiar with Dropbox may be able to advise.

If you want a chance to avoid all that manual relinking PLEASE provide the feedback I requested.

Check the .fh_data folder that contains the Gedcom file, and report back or attach screenshot of all the files found there with their date-time stamps (NOT the folders such as Books, Charts, Media, Plugin Data, Settings). There may be files there that are copies of your Gedcom under a different filename. What is in the Snapshots folder, and with what date-time stamps?

The only other option that may be better than your 5/5/2016 Backup is the daily Snapshot, that should restore everything up to the day before the problem, if not earlier on the same day as the problem.

You may need to File > Merge the Snapshots > Gedcom with you current Gedcom to recover the Media Records with Links. But until you advise what is in your .fh_data folder I cannot help you.

[JKC]

I attach the .fh_data file

Since my last message I have discovered that all the links between Individuals are also missing.

[tatewise]

And the Snapshots folder contents?

The missing Individual links suggest the Family Records are all missing too.
I presume you mean that no Spouse or Children relationships exist?

Are the Source Records and their Citations also missing?
What does File > Statistics say about numbers of records?

Anyway, it looks like the current Gedcom is virtually useless with so much missing, so the the only possibilities are Snapshops, Backups, and maybe DropBox archive versions.

BTW: I have renamed the thread because the Media are not actually lost.

[JKC]

Snapshots folder contents attached.

Yes the links between individuals and spouses, parents and children are all missing.

My source and citation records are in the Notes (inherited from my previous old genealogy program) and Notes do not appear to have been corrupted.

File Stats attached.

I will expore the Dropbox option and advise.

[JKC]

Please see a small sample list of Dropbox files attached. I assume that the Gedcom file is potentially amended by autosave every 5 minutes and when a change occurs the file is automatically uploaded to Dropbox. (I have 1 CB of store available)

There are a large number of previously saved files in Dropbox. I notice that at 6/6/16 2.50 pm the file size is 15.94MB whereas the next saved file is 13.83 MB. This transition is around the time of my computer crash. Could the loss of circa 2 MB of data be explained by the loss of the links and media?

I am nervous about making any more errors . Do you think I should try downloading the 2.50 pm file to run in FH? Perhaps I should try to rename the file first so I can keep track?

If this works it seems a good belt and braces approach to backup.

I could "share" the Dropbox folder with you if that would help. I would need an email address to do that.

[tatewise]

I think your analysis is correct, and is consistent with the daily Snapshots files that are your Gedcom files with a different filename and suddenly shrink by 2MB at the same time.

If you think it worth preserving then Backup your current corrupt Gedcom file.
Then as you suggest, download the DropBox 6/6/16 2.50 pm file to overwrite your current Gedcom.
That will almost certainly get you back to the best state possible at yesterday afternoon.
I am confident that will be a 'good' solution.

[JKC]

I restored the Dropbox 2.50 pm Gedcom file and it ran without any issues and appears to contain all the data I can remember including. The whole process only took a few seconds. Incidentally Dropbox keeps all the other files in place so it is possible to revert if necessary. Very many thanks for your help!