Sending attachments in an email causing crashes!

macman

noelphobic wrote: »

I'm studying for a degree and send essays to myself in case my laptop crashes (and I know I should be using USB storage or similar.) Also I occasionally get sent documents to proof read and send them back in Word showing changes.

Indeed. USB hard drives start at around £40.
No back up then? Sooner or later your hard drive will fail (not crash) and you'll lose the lot. Not if, but when, so sort it today.

WTFH

...and a USB stick will cost you a fiver.

macman

But flash drives are not suitable for back up; too fragile, too likely to fail, too easy to lose. Only really suitable for data transfer
Better than nothing at all in the very short term though.

WTFH

Yes, I agree - they aren't ideal, but are better than nothing. I'd probably go with dropbox first of all, a flash drive as a cheap backup and then something more stable - perhaps a CD or DVD.
USB hard disks are great, until you end up like me with half a dozen of them lying round the place and you can't remember which one is which.


...but now I'm wondering aloud...
Could the problem of the mail crashing be related to the file having the same name as one already stored in it's system? Doubtful, I know, but if you are always attaching WTFH.docx to emails, has something somewhere (locally or on the server) cached the previous attachment and got a bit confuddled?

johnmc

It shouldn't (I do it quite a lot).

I would start by checking the file size and attachment limits for the ISP.

A "crash" could be a time out.

WTFH

John, you're right, it shouldn't, but based on the details we have so far, I'm throwing it in the ring as a possibility.

He hasn't told us the file size, just that they are small.

Of course, it's possible that he's reached a quota for the number of attachments, or that his mailbox is full - if he is just emailling himself and doesn't delete old inbox & sent items, then the mailbox will fill up quickly.

johnmc

WTFH wrote:

or that his mailbox is full

Kerching! I heard that one drop!

Of course; that would cause just such symptoms.

noelphobic

WTFH wrote: »

...and a USB stick will cost you a fiver.

I've got one somewhere.

noelphobic

WTFH wrote: »

John, you're right, it shouldn't, but based on the details we have so far, I'm throwing it in the ring as a possibility.

He hasn't told us the file size, just that they are small.

Of course, it's possible that he's reached a quota for the number of attachments, or that his mailbox is full - if he is just emailling himself and doesn't delete old inbox & sent items, then the mailbox will fill up quickly.

If my mailbox was full wouldn't that stop me receiving emails? I can send emails without attachments, although I don't send many emails.

johnmc

It's the total amount used.

I don't use GM so someone else will be along soon. Have a look at your settings and what emails you can delete.

For instance you only need the last version of a file (if you haven't copied it to your PC). Permanently delete others.

Can you download to your PC?