SPSS Statistics

Hi there 

I hope someone can help. My daughter is using this program to collate data for her final dissertation. She has used it several times before and it has worked fine. However, when she tries to save the file she gets the attached error. I did find a "solution" on the IBM website. There is 55gb free space on the HD and we tried saving to a USB drive just in case but still the same. 

The solution mentions a difference in string variables and width of fields. As all of this seems to pre-populate when adding data fields at the start I can't see how she could have done this wrong.

Any suggestions appreciated. 

Hi @Richard Preston

Have you accounted for each of the causes listed in the error message?

• Disk is full:  55GB seems like a lot.  How big is the file supposed to be?  You might try reclaiming some disk  space for SPSS Statistics and for your OS by cleaning out the temp space.  Use the "Edit -> Options" menu and "File Locations" tab to check where SPSS Statistics is putting is temp files.  
• I/O error: Are you confident the drive where the file (or the temporary files) reside is intact?  Are you confident the target drive you are trying to save to is intact?
• The variable dictionary is invalid: Check the "Variable View" in the Data Editor.  Are all variables defined correctly?  No duplicate field names?  No overly long value labels (or specifically long value labels that are actually identical up until the last couple character... which may take the whole thing beyond the defined limit?)
• Task was interrupted:  Was the task interrupted?  Saving to a USB and the device was pulled out prematurely?  Something else?

Things to check.

• Don't exit the program.  Presumably since your Data Editor is still populated, your data is still 'live' in the Data Editor.
• Go ahead and click OK. 
  • If the Data Editor goes blank, then the file on disk is lost as well as the Data Editor reference to it.
  • If instead the Data Editor stays pen and looks to have the data, try using the "File -> Save As" menu to save to a completely different location. (different folder on your hard drive, different USB drive, etc.)
  • If you can't save to an entirely different device, I'd suspect corruption (or failure) on the system hard drive.
• Do you have "Autorecovery" enabled? It is enabled by default in Statistics 29.0.2.0.  The Welcome screen should give you a list of your most recent Restore Points.  If you get into a situation where you have to exit Statistics entirely, you might attempt to restore your data from one of those restore points.  Obviously, if it is the local hard drive going bad, then  it may be that the restore points will be bad too.