Flashcards gone!

[fplanjer]

I upgraded to the latest version because I wanted to use the new options for flashcards (Limit number of unlearned cards, etc.) I used it a week or so, and it's a great new option.

Today I did one session, and starting it again, all my flashcards are gone.... also the profiles, scorefiles, settings are all default or missing.

The only thing I did different from last time, is accidentaly click the "add/edit custom entry" option, but immediately I clicked "cancel".

Is there any way to recover my flashcards, profiles, scorfiles and settings?

regards, Felix

BTW using Pleco 2.0 on Ipaq 214, Windows Mobile 6

 

[fplanjer]

I found out the following:

I once moved the flashcard datafile to my 'Ipaq Filestore' (which is a sort of non-removable storage card). So it would be safe when hard resets etc. needed to be done.

Now I find that Pleco creates a new Flashcard database in 'My Documents'. Hence there are no more flashcards profiles etc. in Pleco.

I tried to copy the old flashcard pdb over the new one, but pleco gives an error:
"Sorry, the flashcard system failed to initialize correctly-please exit Pleco, soft reset (reboot) you handheld and try again."

Soft-resetting however does not make this go away.

Why does pleco suddenly want to use a different Flashcard database, while the old one kept working correctly and how can I fix the flashcard database, so I can use it again?

 

[mikelove]

Exit Pleco (using the Quit command in the Dict menu), then delete the new database in My Documents, move the old database from "iPAQ File Store" back to there, and reopen Pleco and that should restore your flashcards.

Storing flashcards anywhere other than "My Documents" is a tricky proposition on Windows Mobile - the filesystem driver for expansion cards (even built-in ones like the iPAQ File Store) is very unreliable. Your best bet to protect against hard resets would be to make regular backup copies of the database on your computer - the instruction manual has steps for this at http://www.pleco.com/manual/wminst.html#backrest. Backing the database up on your computer is considerably safer than putting it in iPAQ File Store anyway, since I believe it's possible for that to be erased too in some circumstances and of course if your PDA was lost / broken that would destroy the database too.

There are also a number of automated backup utilities available for Windows Mobile if you prefer not to have to think about making backups - some of them can even work online, I believe.

 

[fplanjer]

Hi Mike,

I tried what you described but got the following error:

"Sorry, the flashcard system failed to initialize correctly-please exit Pleco, soft reset (reboot) you handheld and try again."

Is the database got corrupt?

 

[mikelove]

Hmm... did you make sure to exit Pleco using the Quit command in the Dict menu? DON'T just click on the X at the top right corner of the screen, that doesn't actually exit completely. It seems unlikely that the database would get corrupted simply by being copied from one place to another, but perhaps there's a glitch in your iPAQ's flash memory that might have screwed up the file - if you email me the file I can take a look at it for you.

 

[martin78]

Dear Mike,

due to some weird reason, all flashcards, categories, etc are "erased" not existing anymore. There wasn't any crash or something. I guess it happend one morning when I switched on the mobile again. I think it might be even a WM6.1 problem.

The flashcards file itself is still present and from the date of the day it stopped working.

I read the thread and tried to fix it by copying a new file, but it seems that Pleco is not using the Pleco Flashcards file in my documents anymore!?!

Obviously I want to restore the file as the work of several months of studying etc pp will be destroyed... Any good idea?

Many thank in advance!


I just made a couple of tests, so old backup files seem to work, but the present file seems to be corrupt. Is there a way to recover it?

 

[mikelove]

Sounds like the file might have been corrupted - if you e-mail it to me, I can take a look at it and see if it's repairable (should be possible to get most of the cards out of it at least).