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Open Office 4.1.2 Files UNUSABLE on exFAT portable drives
Hi everyone
I am trying to resolve an issue regarding opening ODT & ODS files from an exFAT portable SSD drive via a PC running Windows 7 Pro (64bit). The problem is that trying to subsequently access the file causes the program to lock (freeze) at the initial opening screen (it doesn't actually get as far as opening the file) with the only way to recover being to pull the power from the PC and reboot.
After that the SSD then has to be checked and the corrupted file system repaired. Once done the file can be accessed if it's moved or copied to the local disk (NTFS formatted).
I have tested the above on two separate PC's running Windows 7 Pro 64bit with exactly the same results. Testing on 2 x Windows 10 PCs works fine i.e. you can access and open the files without issue.
At first I thought that it was every type of file but it looks like it's only Open Office files that are affected with all other types (PDF's, JPEGs, MS Word documents*, etc, etc.) opening as they should.
*Open Office files are able to be opened with MS Office without issue.
I found this out the hard way after buying a 500 gig Samsung SSD formatted by default with exFAT. To eliminate this drive I also carried out the same tests on a 64GB memory stick with exactly the same (bad) results.
At the moment the only way around this is to reformat the drives using NTFS but I've had issues with this type of format in the past with regards to file permissions plus the exFAT format can be used between PC and Mac.
Hopefully someone can throw some light on the issue as although I have the latest MS Office software (which isn't a problem) I still prefer OO.
Many thanks in advance.
PS I have also posted this issue on the Open Office forum but someone there recommended I also post it here as it also seems like a W7 issue.