VS 2010 throws away source files ! !

[WSinc]

I made the mistake of trying to work on two different projects that share a set of source files.

This morning I noticed that several were missing. There were NO warnings.

I did an exhaustive search of my internal disk drive, but they were not found anywhere.

Not even in the TRASH bin.

It would have been nice to have some kind of dialog that at least asks me first if

its going to delete any files, and if it did , they should be in the RECYCLE bin, should they not?

The genmod stuff it generated was still there, but the actual source files disappeared.

Fortunately I did have a backup of the work on an external drive, so I could recover most of what was lost.

I am wondering why the previous versions didn't appear in the BACKUP folder, that is 

apparently supplied by VS 2010.

Its too bad that INTEL cant address this problem directly, rather that us having to deal with those clowns at Microsoft.

Of course they're never going to admit to any problems.

]

[IanH]

I've used VS 2010 with the ifort integration intensively for the last couple of years, and have never experienced what you describe.  How are your files and projects structured?

[WSinc]

I had two projects sharing the same solution space.

As far as I know, there isn't anything illegal about that.

Or is there?

[WSinc]

Actually, even if it DID ask me if I want to delete a file,

why wouldn't it at least be put in the RECYCLE bin?

When it asks you if you want to "remove" a file from a project,

you get a choice, either REMOVE or Delete it permanently.

[IanH]

I have several projects within a solution (and probably projects across different solutions, but I'm less sure about that) that share the same file. 
I have not experienced any issues with files disappearing.

Where are the files located relative to the intermediate and output directories for the projects?

If you remove an item from a project, you need to make sure that you give the right answer to the dialog box that pops up (it asks something like "do you want to remove the item from the project or delete the file?").

[WSinc]

I understand that -

but I never got any dialog either way.

The files just disappeared.

The files were under two separate folders under "PROJECTS"

How would I make sure  the solution space included BOTH folders?

And if I did say (by accident) DELETE the file, wouldn't it go into the RECYCLE bin?

Why don't previous versions appear in the BACKUP folder?

[IanH]

The recycle bin is a concept maintained by the graphical shell ("explorer"), not by Visual Studio.  Off the top of my head I don't see why Visual Studio couldn't use the shell's facilities for deleting things to the recycle bin for a delete action (after noting that the recycle bin isn't available for some locations), but obviously a design decision has been made to not go that way.

(One complication is that Visual Studio has support for source code control systems, and "deleting a file" in that context might be more complicated than what the shell does.  Use of a source code control system is a partial defence against inadvertently deleting a file - because you always have the ability to recover the most recently checked-in version of a file.)

I don't know what you mean by a backup folder.  Is that related to the Auto-recover function?  I don't think I've ever had to rely on that.

My question around file locations was to see if there was a possibility that running or compiling one project might inadvertently trash source files.

If I had mysteriously disappearing files, mysteriously appearing pop-up while browsing, etc, I'd be sending my computer off quick-smart for a thorough check-up and probable repair.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

As far as I know, the Recycle Bin is only for files you delete from Windows Explorer. I recall reading reports of VS2005 (or maybe 2003) deleting source files when they were edited, but I have never heard of mass deletion. I wonder if you have set one of the source folders as the intermediate folder for another project - that could theoretically put source files at risk on a build, but even then ordinary sources should not be touched. You may have a hard disk problem, and to be honest, based on other behaviors you have asked about here, I'd strongly suspect a malware infestation on your PC or some serious disk corruption.

You do have backups, right?

[WSinc]

I wanted to blame my computer, but I have two of them I use for these projects,

and both have had at one time or another had this same issue.

As far as the BACKUP folder, that is right under the Visual studio 2010 folder.

It has folders under that that correspond to the two projects I was working on, but those are all empty.

If its there , why doesn't VS ever use it? That would seem to be a good way to recover a file if

there is a disaster of some type.

The other thing is - I don't ever see disappearing files with any APPS other than Visual Studio.

I have a backup drive, so the disappearing files can be recovered.

It's just a big nuisance.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

I have not seen any BACKUP folder that Visual Studio creates or uses.

[IanH]

There's the Backup Files folder under ...\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\ that appears to be associated with Auto-recover.

[WSinc]

Yes, that's the one I was referring to -

But I am wondering why the subfolders are always empty.

They correspond to projects I was working on recently.

What is "auto recover" exactly ?

Does it have any purpose ?

[IanH]

It is used by Visual Studio to recover from crashes of Visual Studio.  In there Visual Studio saves a copy of files that were modified more than a certain number of minutes previous and that are yet to be saved.

(Make a change to a file in your project without saving it, then go and have a cup of coffee, then come back and have a look in that folder.)

[bmchenry]

I'm a wee bit late into this however i wanted to chime in that I've used VS 2010 for years without encountering anything like you mention and i share a lot of projects between solutions all under source control. My guess is that perhaps when you change a project you allow files to be 'deleted' rather than simply 'removed' from the project? or also when you restore? a project? not sure what steps preceded the loss of source files.

please better define how you 'lost source files' : you said 'this morning i found source files missing':

first question is how? what had you done in the previous day that might have caused source files to be removed?

why couldn't you use source control to load the prior version of the source files? (I guess question is, are you using source control?)

Isn't that the whole point of source control?

sorry for the issues but would appreciate a better explanation so down the road i don't encounter something like that (i do also perform frequent updates so i am glad that helped you recover)