Re: copied graphics become grey boxes - Reply - Reply

[Paul Schulte <paul.k.schulte@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

More snippage:

There's not a whole lot to add.  When you import by copying, you are
subject to the total loss of the imported graphic at any time.  You
will have no warning and there is no recovery.  It happens with all
platforms, in all versions since at least 3.x, and with all formats.
That's why I say there is no workaround; there isn't.  It's simple.
This feature is broken.  Note that pasting is the same as import by
copying; makes no difference to the risk.

The risk seems to be higher when graphics are large and workstation
memory is small, but there are no values at which safety is assured.

I fully appreciate the reluctance on the part of managers to deal
with this fact.  Denial is much easier, right up until the day it
happens to you, and you have no backup plan...  Since the problem
appears to happen when the file is saved, without any sign of the
trouble, when you open the document and see it you may not have
an undamaged copy left.  What about your auto backup, you ask?
Fine, if the damage didn't happen before it was made; but it's
real easy to open a doc, edit something, and close it without
ever going to an affected page, and therefore without knowing
anything is wrong.  By the time you *do* see it, you may be many
backups removed from the last good copy.  Recovery from a system
backup, if you have one, may be your only recourse, and it may
be a very old copy you get back.

end this snippage section

And more snippage:

I'd love to hear of better advice.  Constant backups, all maintained (not
overwritten) for long periods, would be one possibility, but the amount of
disk space required would be very large, and the discipline exacting.  No
matter how much you want copied-in graphics to work, they just don't.  As
long as you understand that risk, and are prepared to accept the loss when,
not if, it happens, go right ahead and do it.  I do not have that luxury,
myself; such a loss could be devastating.  So I import by reference...

end this section

This round deals with how remarkably unaffected I seem to have been by this
broken feature. I've been on Unix (Solaris) FrameMaker for over 5 years at
Medtronic, and have had very, very few instances where I have had this
occur. (I started on version 3.) And we have had some large Sun raster
scans as some of the graphics we've incoroporated into the engineering
specs I've worked on. It's a very stable feature for me and most of my Unix
users. (That doesn't mean problems don't happen; I just don't seem to get
them.)

Our network is backed up all the time. If I need a file restored, I get it
restored. It works for me.

So I'm reporting a different experience from Jeremy's. And it's hard to
argue about fixing a problem when we have no problem to fix at this stage.
That's why I reject the advice as being 100% applicable. Don't assume that
your advice will fit all situations exactly.

Paul

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