📎 AI Summary:
The thread discusses an issue where Notepad++ freezes when saving files to an external HDD, with the original poster experiencing this problem for the first time. The initial user asks how to exit the freeze without restarting and questions the cause, noting a similar past incident with MS Paint. In a late reply, another user advises creating a dump file via Task Manager to potentially recover unsaved data before forcefully closing Notepad++, explaining the process in detail and suggesting methods to retrieve lost text. Overall, the discussion centers on troubleshooting the freeze and recovering unsaved work, with practical technical guidance provided.
W

WinFreak

Member
Joined
Jan 26, 2018
Messages
31
Thread Author #1
Notepad++ froze for no reason when saving onto an external HDD.
This happened for the first time ever.

The file was not saved.
How do I get out of this infinite state without needing to restart Notepad++?
Why did this happen in first place?
The same happened more than a year earlier with MsPaint.
 

Solution
X
Don't taskkill Notepad++ first. Go to the task manager (open using ctrl+shift+esc) and create a dump file (.DMP) by right-clicking the process and clicking "create dump file". The dump file contains everything Notepad++ had opened in the computer memory (RAM). It will be placed in your temp directory. To open it, open Windows File Explorer and enter "%temp%" in the address bar, then sort by recently modified.

After the DMP file is created, it is safe to taskkill Notepad++.

The unsaved text will likely be somewhere in that file. That file could be several hundreds of megabytes in size, depending on how many tabs were opened in Notepad++.

You can search for known words using a byte editor (hex editor) like HxD and find your text. If...
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xio

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 28, 2022
Messages
25
#2
Don't taskkill Notepad++ first. Go to the task manager (open using ctrl+shift+esc) and create a dump file (.DMP) by right-clicking the process and clicking "create dump file". The dump file contains everything Notepad++ had opened in the computer memory (RAM). It will be placed in your temp directory. To open it, open Windows File Explorer and enter "%temp%" in the address bar, then sort by recently modified.

After the DMP file is created, it is safe to taskkill Notepad++.

The unsaved text will likely be somewhere in that file. That file could be several hundreds of megabytes in size, depending on how many tabs were opened in Notepad++.

You can search for known words using a byte editor (hex editor) like HxD and find your text. If the file is small, it might be even openable in Notepad++.

A similar guide for Firefox, but applies here too: How do I recover a form in Firefox *without* installing a plugin?
 

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