PI SWAP file error, could not save proyect SOLVED

[gvanhau]

Hello

I got the attached message when I wanted to save my proyect.
I am using the latest version (1.8.4.1195)

I checked the path in windows, there was plenty of space in drive c: there were no issues in writing to nor reading from the drive, etc.

After the error, there was no way to save the proyect... even creating a new one.
I could open every image and every process Icon in the workspace, why did it need the swap file?
I saved the process icons and images individually, and then had to build a new  proyect by scratch.  In that action, I lost the whole process history.

Geert

[Juan Conejero]

The error message describes the problem: a required swap file either does not exist, or it cannot be accessed for any reason. A PixInsight project uses swap files to store image states. Swap files, along with the process instances that originate them, are the most critical elements of a project.

Swap files should never be removed or damaged while a running instance of PixInsight depends on them. However, errors happen. It's difficult to say more without knowing what happened when you were working with your data. This could be a system error, a software conflict (typical invasive behavior of some virus protection software on Windows), a hardware error, and of course a PixInsight bug. In the latter case, we need a repeatable pattern in order to understand and eventually fix any nontrivial issue.

[MikeOates]

Geert,

Yes as Juan says, it happened to me after I have moved the swap files to another drive while having a project open, a silly thing to do, in hindsight!!

Mike

[gvanhau]

Hello Juan

I did not remove any file and did not get any warning of my Anti virus program telling me it had removed some file (I will look in the event log to see if something appears).
Also, until now, I've not had any HW Issues with this Work Station either.
This is the first issue of this kind....and until now can't  reproduce the error ....
Is there any log file we can inspect to see what happened? or is there any log we can enable to diagnose any future event?

By the way, I had configured PI to use swap files in drive S: (ssd drive) but don't know when it changed again to C:, most probabily during the last version change....

Geert

[gvanhau]

Hello
I revised the log of my Norton Internet Security, and foud that it deleted a lot of temporal files, including the PixInsight swp files.
Now it is clear why this never happened before,  S: is not considered as temporay, but the location choosen by deffault by PixInsight is teporay....

My sugestion would be that PixInsight chooses another location for its deffault swap and other files.

Regards
Geert

[Juan Conejero]

My sugestion would be that PixInsight chooses another location for its deffault swap and other files.

There is no other valid default location to store temporary working files. The only one is the standard system's (or the user's) temporary directory, which exists on all platforms precisely to this purpose. However, you can select a different directory to store swap files with EDIT > Global Preferences > Directories and Network > Swap storage directories.

I revised the log of my Norton Internet Security, and foud that it deleted a lot of temporal files, including the PixInsight swp files.

This is a serious error. Temporary files should never be deleted while one or more applications are running. Doing this at regular time intervals while the system is running applications is suicide. The fact that a file exists on a temporary directory does not mean that it is no longer necessary. It may be a working file storing important data, as you have just experienced.

Automatic removal of temporary files is a critical system administration task that should only be performed under strict control. For example, most UNIX/Linux systems (OS X being a wicked exception) perform this task only at boot time by default, and in all cases only for files that have not been accessed for a long time. Most system administrators running large systems write their own maintenance scripts to perform these tasks nightly under controlled conditions.

[gvanhau]

However, you can select a different directory to store swap files with EDIT > Global Preferences > Directories and Network > Swap storage directories.

That is ok, but as I said above, for some reason PI changed it to default location without any warning.

I disabled Norton Internet Security's automatic cleaning feature. and will also report it to them.

Geert