Genealogy Chat

I know this is probably the wrong board but daughter is tearing her hair out.
She is a school teacher and has just done all her class reports on Word, she has then transferred them onto a memory stick but the stick has malfunctioned, she has tried it on 3 different computers but still cannot retrieve the data, is it possible that somewhere on her computer this work will be 'hidden'

Even though she put in on a memory stick the original should still be on her PC , saving it doesnt delete it from her PC

Everything seems to have disappeared

I am no expert, but first tell her not to panic.

I have no idea what software she is using, but on my Windows XP, if I go to Start, the list that pops up has a Search option (looks like a magnifying glass). If she clicks on that she can choose to search Documents, and putting in "updated within the last week" and part of the name of the document, click on Search, and wait a while. Depending on how much stuff she has on her computer, it can take a few minutes to pull up a list of all files that meet that criteria.

Then I suggest she notes where they are saved, perhaps move them to a better location, and try copying them again to the memory stick (a new one!).

she is using xp.
We have followed your instructions and no luck i am afraid.
what she has done is as follows.
she has entered each indvidual childs report showing graphs etc (how reports are done nowdays) and then gone back and typed in all her comments. The reports themselves can be found but all the comments she typed in are not shown

having a hell of a storm so i am closing down, already lost 1 comp through a power surge!!

But Jonesy, it seems she hasn't got the files on her hard drive. Don't we need to find them first?

She says the reports are there, but not the comments, indicating more than one version of the file has been saved,

Can we try and help this lady? I know lots of teachers. They have been thrust into using IT with no training, and have all these reports to do. Being a teacher is not an easy job any more.

Anybody else got any ideas please?

It sounds to me that she has used two different types of software. One doesn't type graphs into Word. Excel is more likely used to produce graphs.

She may have a Word document with her comments, and an Excel document with her figures and the resultant graphs. So she has two documents to save for each file.

I know it is no help, cost she probably needs these for tomorrow, but School should be providing their staff with training on this.

Who would be a teacher eh? They are stars.

Margaret

Maureen, I have to laugh, though it isn't funny, but I remember a similar crisis myself some years ago (I was a lecturer) having a problem, and my mum said "Just tell them you can't do it". End of problem as far as she was concerned. Wonder if it will work?

Reading through this I don't think the problem is with the memory stick at all.

Is it possible that she didn't save her changes after typing in the comments, if so then they might be lost forever.

I think we need to know a bit more as to what software was used to create the reports and graph, and how many files were involved in the process.

Is everything stored in a single file and if so, what type of file is it? Or, are there multiple files involved? Can she locate the file(s) on the pc that was used to create them?

Margaret, Why do you assume there would be two files per document. One can quite happily create graphs in Word, and is the way to go if you need graphs etc in situ within a report. Maybe less options on formatting, but can produce perfectly serviceable graphs and charts. Try the Insert menu (exact position varies depending on version of Word).
Also, using Pauline's tip to safely remove your memory stick means it is unlikely (but not impossible) that you have problems with the stick itself. They are far more stable than normal, hard drives.

FWIW I agree with IGP

Hi Everyone
Managed to just get back to computer and was amazed as to the conversations been going on!!
To be honest this is all a little bit beyond me.
Daughter had spent weeks doing these reports, she thought they were on the stick and came round yesterday afternoon with her laptop provided by the school for me to have a look over them. As soon as she put the stick in the laptop it came up showing malfunctioning stick. She then tried it in my husbands laptop but that hasn't got word on it - neither has my PC come to that so back to her place she went to put the stick in her own laptop but it still came up with the same message.
To be honest i don't know how she got the main reports on the computer. They had got the child's name, every subject listed with little coloured dots against the level they had obtained. This is what i had called a graph but technically maybe that is the wrong word. Underneath are boxes for comments to be typed in.
My parents got used to 'could do better etc' but oh no, that isn't good enough anymore, a comment has to be made about every subject and whether they have improved or not and if they have reached an expected level. Its a hell of a lot of toing and froing (?) and takes an absolute age.
The school supplied the stick - that's the best bit!! It is supposed to be handed in this Friday, there are over 500 children in the school, i presume the head looks and these sticks and then the reports are printed from them.

She left here last night saying if she couldn't find them on her computer indoors she was going to have to go sick for 3 days to redo them all!!
From what i can gather all she did was type them out and then used the stick, for some reason the typing has gone but the reports are still on there, she admits she didn't back them up like she should have done but she didn't think the stick removed them.
Thanks for that web address Jonesey, she couldn't do anything with it last night as the only way of downloading anything onto school laptop is connecting it to whatever ISP they use at school.
I haven't heard anything today, yet ,so i don't know how she is getting on.

I agree, i would not have this job for all the world, people that think teachers have it easy really don't know what is involved. She regularly does a ten hour day and spends every Sunday planning lessons for the next week. All to be told to f.... off by the little darlings if you dare to discipline them in any way.
She has even got a Head that will walk in the staff room and state she wants this and this done and if they don't like it they know where the f...ing door is!!

She is due to leave there in 6 weeks thank god and i hope that her new school is rather better!!

Many Thanks to everyone who has tried to help!!!
Maureen

Well, it's too late now, and we all do it, but EVERYTHING should be backed up, and especially something that you've worked for hours or weeks on.

Hope she managed to sort something today - let us know.

I think it is just a case of doing the reports and not saving them as she went along. So the final transfer didn't do anything. So..... I can be so cruel!

Did she manage to sort it, Maureen? I would like to know.

She won't make the same mistake again, but I'd still be happier if I knew she'd sorted it.

Memory sticks fail from time to time so its always best to make sure you have a copy your files on the computer as well as a copy on the memory stick. If the memory stick or computer fails then you will always have a copy remaining.

For the extra careful, I would recommend keeping the memory stick in a different place to the computer as I reckon if someone steals the computer and the memory stick is nearby then they will take that as well.

I wouldn't want to lose 5 years worth of research that way!

I have had sticks where it has misfuntioned, probaly due to files being left open before it is removed, but I also have one which seems to have mechancal fault. The PC doesn't recognize it, it does not show up im "My Computer" but if I bend it up gently, it shows in "My Computer" and I could then transsfer all my files.

So did we help at all or did Maureen's daughter sort it all out with the aid of an expert, which we are clearly not!

This is over a week ago. Meanwhile I have been worrying about it every day. This poor teacher, no support, worried stiff, stressed to the hilt, dreading admitting the truth, crying at night, not kmowing how to cope, desperate for help, so desperate that a week on and there is no contact. Sorry to appear sarcastic, and I do appreciate the stresses of teachers, but I HAVE been genuinely worried.

I have also been worried and would like to know how things worked out. As a fairly recently retired teacher I fully understand what she was going through and have every sympathy for her .It would have been a complete nightmare. Maybe Maureen will let us know soon.