Serious (i think) archive problems

[natman]

This problem has to do with my last post in my previous topic. This is an entirely different problem. You see, I was using Omnicalc and i decided to try out the "Ram Recovery" command and my calc went back to the programs that I had on my calc a few weeks ago. that was fine. But then I saw that one of my group files was suspiciously small, about 17 bytes. So I ungrouped it and that is when it started. An "Archived" error happened and then all my programs were gone or hidden or something. When I go to the program menu now, all of my programs are hidden. And whenever I download a program, it is also hidden. Also when I go into Mirage OS, there is supposed to be a folder called "MAIN", but instead it is blank which is weird. I am wondering whether I lost a crucial appvar or something else is wrong. Should I reinstall, my OS, or should I try something else? Please help.

[Xphoenix]

If you can see files in the memory menu, archive the stuff you want to keep and try a RAM clear.

[DarkerLine]

The problem with the RAM Recovery feature is that it does not back up Flash (so any archive manipulations are preserved), but does back up the VAT, where pointers to archived variables are kept. Restoring from the backup could cause any of the following effects:

If a variable was archived since the last backup, it will be restored back in RAM. The data in archive may not be marked for deletion. I'm not sure if this will cause problems in the long run, but it's overall not the worst outcome.

If a variable was unarchived since the last backup, it will be restored pointing back to where the data was in archive. The data may or may not actually be there. If it's not, that will make the variable corrupt.

If the GarbageCollect tool was used since the last backup, variables in archive will have been switched around, but will be restored pointing to where the data used to be. This will make any number of archived variables corrupt.

A corrupt variable will not only have junk data stored in it, but will also be an arbitrary size, because the size bytes of an archived variable aren't kept in RAM, and therefore aren't backed up. This accounts for the strangely-sized variables you will see.

Now, all of these problems could be resolved by a backup being made often enough. Unfortunately, it seems that some (all?) versions of Omnicalc don't make backups automatically when the RAM recovery feature is enabled. This is the problem in your case: no backup was made for several weeks, so all archive manipulations since then were lost.

Skip to here if you don't care what's going on, just how best to fix it.

The best thing to do if this happened to you: do a full memory clear and restore every file you want from your computer. If you have any critical files that aren't on your computer, and aren't corrupt, send them to the computer or to another calculator first. Avoid messing with the corrupt files at all cost.

Applications will always be fine after RAM recovery fails, so you may just want to delete all programs and leave the apps alone.

[haun]

Note. you should always do a backup every now and again

[natman]

sorry i'm a real noob to ti calcs even though i've been using it for about a year.
i did a ram reset and it worked.

sorry for bothering anyone.