[amy]

I was just using microsoft word, manually typing and copying and pasting information into a label template. I save the file on my external harddrive, giving it a name. I continue to work, saving the changes every so often. A few minutes in, I press save and get the following error:

There is an unrecoverable disk error on file ~WRL3831.
The disk you're working on has a media problem that prevents Word from using it.
Try the following:
*Try formatting another disk.
*Save the document to another disk.

[evilfantasy]

See here: When you open a file, Word may fail with the following error message:

[amy]

Thanks for the link to the microsoft help page. Unfortunately, it applies to word 2000, and I'm using word 2002. It says to restore the network connection, but has it not been restored by turning it on?

I googled the error message, and someone who also had this said that they had to reformat their hard drive from FAT to FAT32. Is this something I should do? If so, will it cause any harm or delete any of the files on the hard drive?

Another forum says it could be a virus? I've scanned the external harddrive with Kapersky, SuperAntiSpyware and Malwarebytes, and all turned up nothing. Earlier last week however, there were viruses on the drive.

[evilfantasy]

Since this seems to be effecting multiple different aspects of the OS, Word, Email, External Drive etc. I've moved the last few posts into the Windows Operating Systems forum.Hopefully others will be able to give some advice. I'm sort of stumped right now.

[philthomas]

A few questions :

What is the current format of your external drive ? ... and how much free space is left on it ?

If you save your Word Files to your internal hard drive, do you get the same problem ?

Have you got an original Windows Installation Disk ?

[amy]

Thanks for your reply!

How do I know what format my external drive has now?

I do not appear to have get the same error using word, when the file is saved directly on my internal hard drive.

My computer is a Dell, and came installed with Windows - I do not seem to have any Windows installation CDs.

Thanks!

[philthomas]

Go to My Computer (Computer if Vista) right click the drive and select Properties ... this will tell you the File System.
Looking at your other posts, it may be that a critical file from either Word or Windows has become corrupted or deleted. Try uninstalling Word, rebooting and reinstalling .... and see if this helps.
If not, you are going to need a Windows disk to either scan for missing files or to carry out a Repair or a Re-Install.

You didn't answer how much free space is left on the External Drive .... is this nearly full by any chance ?

[amy]

There is 180GB of free space left on my external hard drive, and it is currently FAT32 format.

I will try uninstalling and reinstalling microsoft word to see if this helps. Thanks!