.psh file gone

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.psh file gone

Postby hcajones » Thu Sep 18, 2014 2:34 pm

I have created a series of four shows, all relating to the same trip, which I saved about two months ago. Since then, I have upgraded from PSG to PSP, but I don't think that should have anything to do with this problem. The problem is that the .psh file for one of the shows is just not there. The .psh file is there for the other three shows, but not this one. There are _psdata and .pxc files for the show without a .psh file, but no .psh file.

I have searched the computer as a whole to see if I somehow stuck it in the wrong place, but it can't be found, and since the _psdata and .psc files are where they are supposed to be, it wouldn't make sense for the .pxc file to have ended up somewhere else.

Is there a way, using the two files that are there or doing something else, to restore or recreate the show without having to start from scratch? It's 56 minutes long. It took several days to make it. I burned one Blu Ray disc of the show and was going to burn another for some friends, which is when I discovered that the show isn't there.

Any help would be much appreciated.

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Re: .psh file gone

Postby im42n8 » Thu Sep 18, 2014 4:06 pm

Nope. Without the PSH file, there's nothing you can do but start from scratch (unless the .bak and b01 - b09 files for that missing show can be found ... in which case, change the extension desired to psh; then start editing. The file name preceding the bak and b0# should be the same as the missing psh file...).

Dale
What's New: Tools for ProShow: v11.42a Access ProShow capabilities Photodex doesn't provide (For PSG & PSP).
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Re: .psh file gone

Postby cherub » Thu Sep 18, 2014 4:40 pm

As Dale says, from the files that you still have, you cannot get back your show to work with it in ProShow.
But if all you want is to give a copy of your disk to your friends, then by all means make a copy of your DVD. :D

You don't need ProShow for this. All you need is a burning program.
Use ImgBurn or Nero or whatever, to make an image of your DVD (an iso file).
Then Burn that iso file for your friends. :D

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Re: .psh file gone

Postby hcajones » Thu Sep 18, 2014 4:44 pm

I have facilities to copy a DVD, but not a Blu Ray. I suppose I could get that. But the show was designed to be customized a little for everyone who received it. Lots and lots of people were involved in this trip. So I was setting out to open and customize when I discovered there was no show there.

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Re: .psh file gone

Postby cherub » Thu Sep 18, 2014 6:01 pm

hcajones wrote:I have facilities to copy a DVD, but not a Blu Ray. I suppose I could get that. But the show was designed to be customized a little for everyone who received it. Lots and lots of people were involved in this trip. So I was setting out to open and customize when I discovered there was no show there.


I see.
But, somehow it's hard for me to understand how a psh file could have disappeared, all of a sudden.
Also, try to find the backups, as Dale mentioned. Apart from the file with the extension psh, that you say that you looked for, there should be 10 (ten) additional files: one with the extension bak, and 9 more named with the extension .b01 up to .b09. They must be there somewhere.

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Re: .psh file gone

Postby hcajones » Thu Sep 18, 2014 6:50 pm

I thought I mentioned this in an earlier post about this problem, but I guess I didn't. I have done a general search for .bak, .b02, etc. This turned up a few backup files for other shows, but not for the one that's missing the .psh file.

I am also mystified about this. When I save a show, I only click once. PS then saves the files it needs to save and, supposedly, an independent backup. So a couple of months ago I saved this show as I always do, and that can be confirmed because two other files for that show (created by the single "save" command) are there. Only the .psh file isn't.

But then again, PS has done several mysterious things since I started using it, and although I love what PS can do and what I can end up with when it works right, I am more and more frustrated. I've already posted about having 5 - 10 crashes per days since I installed PSP. Nothing else on my computer ever crashes, and I don't do anything weird in PS, so there must be something wrong with PS, and waiting for autosave to restore the show 5 - 10 times a day is becoming very frustrating.

Now I discover that a .psh file that I must have saved correctly, since the other two show-related files are right where they're supposed to be, has disappeared, and that what I thought was an automatic backup system independent of of what I do also apparently isn't working since the missing show can't be found as either a .psh or a .bak file. It took days to create that show, and I am more than frustrated that I have to re-create it. I suppose I can save every iteration of every show two or three times with different names, but that will eventually end up confusing the heck out of me and if one .psh file can disappear, why can't a second of the same show but with a different name?

I'm venting, but I'm frustrated.

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Re: .psh file gone

Postby im42n8 » Thu Sep 18, 2014 7:09 pm

You might want to contact Photodex. I do know that Photodex states that ProShow does NOT delete PSH files on its own and, if a PSH does disappear, the probability is most likely something to do with the operating system, not ProShow.

Yes, ProShow is not as stable as we'd like it to be. However, it's substantially more stable that it was a few years ago. That said, some of the new features in the latest versions have created problems. Keyframe length relative to total slide time could a problem. Using typefaces that are not TrueType could cause problems. Text Layers are not free of bugs yet. Then, there's some of the output problems. Yep, it's not perfect and the problems are (we hear) being worked on. However, the crashes that result is one of the reasons that ProShow keeps so many backups.

The fact that your PSH, .bak, and associated .b## files are all gone is indicative of an OS related problem, not something that ProShow did. Still, contact Photodex and see what advice they may have for you...

Bummer about the loss tho. Good luck .. .. ..

Dale
What's New: Tools for ProShow: v11.42a Access ProShow capabilities Photodex doesn't provide (For PSG & PSP).
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Re: .psh file gone

Postby gpsmikey » Fri Sep 19, 2014 1:00 am

I vaguely remembered hearing about something like this in the past, so I searched the forum and found the incident I was thinking of. Strangely enough, it was hcajones again with the same issue. ( see the original thread viewtopic.php?f=9&t=20845 ). That is the only time I remember hearing of the .psh file (and associated backups) "vanishing". Seems very odd - I have never had one vanish - other strange things, but never vanish including backups. I would suggest checking the recycle bin as well as making sure you are doing a search of the whole system, not just one drive.

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
Lots of PIC and Arduino microprocessor stuff too !!

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Re: .psh file gone

Postby hcajones » Fri Sep 19, 2014 9:38 am

Something like this did happen to me at the very beginning of using PS, but since then I have completely replaced my computer with a new and much better one. It would be very surprising to me that two different computers or their OSs would cause .psh files to disappear. And the first time, everything related to the show disappeared. This time, everything is there except the .psh file.

I have checked the recycle bin and I have searched the entire system for the .psh file and for .bak and .bxx files. I found files, but none related to the lost .psh file.

I'm going to call the PS help people later today. I don't know if they will be able to do anything about this but at least they are available and helpful. A very rare thing these days.

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Re: .psh file gone

Postby hcajones » Fri Sep 19, 2014 2:51 pm

The problem is partially resolved, but the mystery deepens. ProShow, as expected, was very customer friendly, but couldn't help. They agree with all of you that if the .psh file is gone, there is no way to retrieve a show.

It then belatedly occurred to me to try to use Carbonite, which is supposed to be backing up everything. I tried to find and restore the missing .psh file myself, but couldn't find it. A very helpful and courteous phone rep from Carbonite then spent an hour on the phone with me. Bottom line is that Carbonite has been backing up lots of psh. files automatically, as it should. Also .psdata and .pxc and .bak files. It backed up the .psdata and .psc files for the show where we can't find the .psh file, but Carbonite can't find the .psh file either, or a .bak or bxx file for that iteration of the show. Somehow, when I entered the save command, two of the three files (.psdata and .psc) were saved as they were supposed to be but the .psh file disappeared into thin air and apparently no .bak file was created. The Carbonite guy tried six ways from Sunday to find them either on my computer or in the Carbonite backup, and they just aren't there.

But the good news - Carbonite was able to recover an earlier version of the show. The show was far enough along by then that this will save me many days of work.

Now, if PS could just fix whatever it is that is causing serial crashes . . . And if I could be sure this won't happen again . . .

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Re: .psh file gone

Postby gpsmikey » Fri Sep 19, 2014 3:42 pm

The fact that Carbonite didn't have it either tells me you are looking under the wrong rock. If Carbonite was not backing it up, then it must have been somewhere else - you weren't by chance saving it to a flash or usb drive of some sort were you ? (although I would have thought the .pxc and other files would be in the same location, but have not experimented with that). I have all my shows in the directory tree on my "Projects" drive (F:) which is an internal hard drive on my desktop (well, a partition on one of my hard drives).

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
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Re: .psh file gone

Postby hcajones » Fri Sep 19, 2014 4:10 pm

When I finished working on the show (temporarily) about two months ago, I clicked on "save as," gave it a name (my practice is to give each show a name and then add the date and time I am saving the show to the name whenever I save another iteration -- e.g., "Bill's Wedding 2014. 9-19-14. 5:01 PM") , and chose the generic Videos files location, which is where I save everything I do in Pro Show. I then clicked to save it and never want back to it until a few days ago. Obviously, the "save as" command worked to some extent, because the .pxc and .psdata files were both right where I sent them with exactly the right names. But there was no .psh file, and we now know there is no .bak file either. I wouldn't know how to send the .psh file to any place other than where the .pxd and .psdata files end up even if I wanted to, and my guess is that you can't do that because all three files are created and saved based on a single click.

If I saved to the wrong place, how did the .pxd and .psdata files end up at the right place after that single click? And no matter where I sent them, why can't Carbonite or I find any .psh or .bak file for that iteration of the show anywhere on any drive in my system?

I am baffled.

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Re: .psh file gone

Postby gpsmikey » Fri Sep 19, 2014 4:54 pm

I don't know if this is part of the problem, however, I would STRONGLY suggest using file names that do NOT involve special characters (I have spent too many years working with different operating systems and their quirks not to be suspicious). Instead of "Bill's Wedding 2014. 9-19-14. 5:01 PM", I would do something like "Bills_wedding_140919_1701" - translates to the same thing, but does not use any special characters (colon's are especially suspect in my book although spaces cause interesting problems as well). Hmmm - I wonder if you somehow managed to create a file name without the .psh extension ? I just tried my idea - windows 7 does allow me to create a file name with no extension, however in proshow 6.0.3410 anyway, if I use "Save As" and give it a name without the extension, it sticks the extension back on when it saves it however, your naming convention with spaces, dots and colons in it may have confused it. Sooner or later, using funny characters in file names (or spaces) will come back to bite you. Been there, done that !!

mikey
You can't have too many gadgets or too much disk space !!
mikey (PSP6, Photoshop CS6, Vegas Pro 14, Acid 7, BluffTitler, Nikon D300s, D810)
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Re: .psh file gone

Postby cherub » Fri Sep 19, 2014 5:20 pm

hcajones wrote:When I finished working on the show (temporarily) about two months ago, I clicked on "save as," gave it a name (my practice is to give each show a name and then add the date and time I am saving the show to the name whenever I save another iteration -- e.g., "Bill's Wedding 2014. 9-19-14. 5:01 PM") , ...Obviously, the "save as" command worked to some extent, because the .pxc and .psdata files were both right where I sent them with exactly the right names. But there was no .psh file..



Image

This is what you get if you try to save a name like that in ProShow.
Moreover, psdata folders do not get created when you save a show. They get created when you burn a disk (either a real disk or an iso file)

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Re: .psh file gone

Postby hcajones » Fri Sep 19, 2014 6:34 pm

In whipping out an example of a show title, I used forbidden characters that I actually never use. If I actually did that while trying to save a show, ProShow wouldn't let me. So the example I used would actually end up like this rather than like my hurried example:

Bills wedding 2014. 9-19-14. 5-01 PM.

The next iteration of the show might be titled:

Bills wedding 2014. 9-22-14. 1-31 PM.

There are no problem characters in this, but I have noted the suggestion that I not use spaces. That's an easy thing to do, so in the future I will do that. I will either use no spaces or replace spaces with underlines.

I also get the point about the disconnect between when I click on "save" or "save as" and when the .psdata files is created saved. But I still do not understand where the .psh and .bak files ended up, especially since the .psc filed ended up in the right place with the right name. Doesn't that only happen when you are saving a show and thereby automatically also generating a .psh file?

To make sure I'm clear about forests and trees: I really do like PS, and I'm enjoying learning the advantages of PSP over PSG. I actually have fun working with it most of the time now that I'm over the basic learning curve. But I have had a series of frustrating and odd glitches, each one creating major headaches. I'm trying to figure out the sources, fixes, or end-runs of the glitches so that I can continue to use the program I enjoy so much.

And in that regard, I am very grateful for the help from all of you.

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