Share via

Why Word Corruptions on Removable Media

Anonymous
2021-04-22T12:58:14+00:00

I have read several posts about how bad it is to modify Word documents while on a removable device (e.g. a memory stick). I don't doubt this but I want to understand the underlying problem as those posts don't really explain. For instance, is the underlying issue word-specific?

I am getting periodic corruptions of a large docx file on a 4GB USB memory stick using Word 2007, but (as far as I know) I am handling the device properly so I want to know more details. I always close-down Word properly, I always 'Eject' the stick in order to flush changes from the cache, and I always wait for the "It is now safe to remove..." message. The stick is optimised for quick removal (default), although I never do that.

Luckily, I always make copies so I'm not in trouble -- just frustrated and confused. You see the copies should be identical as they are made after shutting down word. But when the corruption error occurs, it's always on the original memory stick and never in the copies, irrespective of whether those copies are on a normal drive or on another memory stick. Last night, I even checked that the master file was still accessible before ejecting the stick, but the next morning I got the corruption error.

I have checked that particular memory stick for corruptions, and scanned it for potential threats, but everything appears to be OK. I do not appear to get corruptions of other (non-Word) data on that memory stick. The only difference I can think of is the amount of free space on that stick (259MB on a 4GB stick), but I don't see why that should be a danger. The docx file is 3594 KB.

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments

7 answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2021-04-23T15:05:30+00:00

    The temporary files created by Word (and other Office programs) may grow quite large, and I believe that is part of the (potential) problem. 

    I completely agree with Stephan on that point.

    .

    I have a dual drive laptop both internal SSD + HD. My SSD is relatively small, so I store most of Office documents on the HD.  I regularly (monthly) have to stop and clear "orphaned" Word (2010) and Excel temp files from the SSD. The temp files are orphaned because I have a consistent problem with both Word and Excel crashing (very annoying).

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Stefan Blom 342.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2021-04-23T11:42:19+00:00

    The temporary files created by Word (and other Office programs) may grow quite large, and I believe that is part of the (potential) problem.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2021-04-22T20:15:57+00:00

    FYI: I use "Flash drive" and "USB device" interchangeably. 

    Actually, I don't know for sure if the issue still exists.

    .

    About 2 years ago (? more or less) MS made a change to a default Windows setting. 

    .

    Background:

    "Flash" drives, any device that uses RAM chips (OK may not be RAM , but some other type of chip) that USB connectors to the computer have a limited number of "write cycles".   15-20 years ago when the devices were small (ie $100 for 72MB, not GB!) the chips they used had a VERY limited number of times each sub unit on the chip could be written.  They had "limited lives".  Word is very "chatty". It writes updates to the drive often, it creates temp files and BAK files in the same folder that the document resides. It added up to a LOT of writes.  Editing a document (even other application files) could very quickly "burn out" the USB drive.

    This is opposed to "traditional" spinning magnetic disks which have massively larger number of write cycles. 

    Back to the Explanation:

    Back when chip based USB / Flash drives came out Windows made a tweak to protect the USB devices.  Instead of writing every single write to the USB device Windows would save changes to be written to the file, Windows would write  to a (temp) cache on the local (magnetic) hard drive. Then when "enough" content had to be written to the cache, Windows would write the whole cache to the device in one write operation. 

    .

    This was good for extending USB chip life, but this is where the problem came in.  If the user did not use the Windows proper function to "shut down" the flash drive before unplugging it, part of the file was left behind in the cache on the HD.  oops!  It was even worse, because the way DOCX files are organized, the body text of the file is the last part of the file written.  So you could have a stub of a file with all of the images and formatting, but with little to none of the actual body text the user really needed.  When this happened there was nothing to be done to recover the file from this type of "corruption".

    .

    As I said, a approximately couple of years ago, flash drives had massively longer lives, so to eliminate support calls, MS changed the default to edit the files directly on the USB. Users no longer had to "shutdown the hardware" to flush the cache to prevent file corruption. 

    There used to be a green icon in the task bar to "shut down hardware".  I haven't used a USB drive for a couple of years now so I don't know the exact current situation. 

    I still generally advise people to copy files from the USB to local HD BEFORE editing them. Then copy back to USB when done editing.

    This may (now) be "voodoo" advice.  You know, like chain letters: "forward a copy of this email/letter to 5/50/100 people or 'bad' things will happen to you" ...

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Stefan Blom 342.6K Reputation points MVP Volunteer Moderator
    2021-04-22T19:04:23+00:00

    I don't know if it has ever been officially acknowledged by Microsoft, but many experienced users have drawn the conclusion that the issue is caused by Word's temporary files, which are always created on the drive where you edit a document.

    Was this answer helpful?

    1 person found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  5. Anonymous
    2021-04-22T17:56:11+00:00

    Well as a start 

    Support for Office 2007 ended October 2017 and for 2010 Oct 2020, and at those times the backup install was removed from MS Site, and updates of any type ceased.

    Not all memory sticks are equal, some as cheap as chips

    Any doc on the stick depends on an external connection.

    Failing to properly connect or disconnect the stick can lead to corruption

    A stick is not designed to remain in place when you start or shutdown a PC

    The advice has always been to us a stick as a means of transferring data from one device to another, only

    Was this answer helpful?

    0 comments