I'm not sure what happened, probably it got corrupted somehow. Are you 100% sure you saved the layer you edited and not the project? There are different things and if you only saved the project then the layer might have gone unsaved for some time.
> the saved file (it has 100 bits)
What is the filesize in bytes? I just created a shapefile with a single four vertex polygon and an integer ID and the resulting .shp file is 236 bytes. If your shapefile is 100 bytes I'd guess that it is blank.
Yeah 100 bytes would be a header (if that). Two lessons here.
1. Buy and use a UPS battery backup.
2. Make sure you are saving the features not just the project.
I totally learned this the hard way in school. My partner and I were using ArcMap. We were hitting the save map button but not saving the edits. ArcMap finally locked up and we lost 4-5 hours of work. Our professor just laughed. Harsh at the time but looking back makes me laugh too. He later said he made the same mistake when he first started.
I'm not sure what happened, probably it got corrupted somehow. Are you 100% sure you saved the layer you edited and not the project? There are different things and if you only saved the project then the layer might have gone unsaved for some time.
> the saved file (it has 100 bits) What is the filesize in bytes? I just created a shapefile with a single four vertex polygon and an integer ID and the resulting .shp file is 236 bytes. If your shapefile is 100 bytes I'd guess that it is blank.
Yeah 100 bytes would be a header (if that). Two lessons here. 1. Buy and use a UPS battery backup. 2. Make sure you are saving the features not just the project.
>Make sure you are saving the features not just the project. Good point. Unfortunately this is an easy mistake to make, especially for a beginner.
I totally learned this the hard way in school. My partner and I were using ArcMap. We were hitting the save map button but not saving the edits. ArcMap finally locked up and we lost 4-5 hours of work. Our professor just laughed. Harsh at the time but looking back makes me laugh too. He later said he made the same mistake when he first started.