"ERROR: Rename of temporary member for.......failed" error

[Paul_NYS]

Hi

I am getting the below error when I run a specific program. I did not get this in the past with it. I have run into this with other programs previously, but do not remember what I did to resolve it. I have seen other posts on this error and tried some of the recommendations: permission on directory, disk space, anti-virus running, but none resolved it.

Does anyone have any ideas outside of the above?

Paul

ERROR: Rename of temporary member for WORK.PREFREEFINAL.DATA failed.

File may be found in C:\Users\pdrezelo\AppData\Local\Temp\SEG5748\SAS Temporary Files\_TD5900_COHD_2UA107126J_\Prc2.

[Reeza]

Code?

[Paul_NYS]

Below is the block of code from the log that immediately precedes it. I am also attaching the entire program as a document.

Paul

MPRINT(PREFREE):  ** merge number pop with data file**;

MPRINT(PREFREE):  proc sort data=prefreeFinal;

MPRINT(PREFREE):  by County Year HearingNumber;

MPRINT(PREFREE):  run;

NOTE: There were 740880 observations read from the data set WORK.PREFREEFINAL.

NOTE: The data set WORK.PREFREEFINAL has 740880 observations and 9 variables.

ERROR: Rename of temporary member for WORK.PREFREEFINAL.DATA failed.

File may be found in C:\Users\pdrezelo\AppData\Local\Temp\SEG5748\SAS Temporary Files\_TD5900_COHD_2UA107126J_\Prc2.

NOTE: PROCEDURE SORT used (Total process time):

      real time          1.17 seconds

      cpu time            1.01 seconds

[Peter_C]

have you tried writing to a new dataset with the OUT=

?

[Paul_NYS]

Writing out to out= may have been it actually. I will try that Friday morning.

Paul

[Paul_NYS]

I tried adding 'out=' statements to all my proc sort steps and it did not work--same error. However, I do believe this has worked in another instance previously, so I don't understand why this is different. I have also tried some of the items mentioned in other posts: permission on directory, disk space, anti-virus running, but none resolved it.

If anyone has any further insights, let me know. Thanks.

Paul

[Reeza]

Does your out= dataset have a new/different name?

[Paul_NYS]

No, it has the same name. Ah--that would be the issue?

Paul

[Reeza · Accepted solution]

Yeah, can't replace it. I'm guessing that you're working with relatively big files and running out of something somewhere, RAM, Disk Space, Workspace or something. You may be able to figure it out by running with task manager up if you're on Windows.

[Paul_NYS]

They are the biggest files I run, but not obnoxiously large--I wouldn't think. Regardless, I will try Task Manager. The alternative is to run the macro in separate iterations for each loop. That is very tedious, but I don't get the error that way.

I would rather not go through the program and re-name every 'out=' statement with something different because the output files are obviously used in subsequent processing.

Thanks for the help!

Paul

[Patrick]

As I understand this a rename requires almost no resources so I don't believe that this issue is caused by any "running out of something".

Doing a bit of research all cases I found where caused by some 3rd party products/processes actually locking the temporary file at exactly the time when the rename should have happened.

I would probably first look into the setting of your virus scanner and eventually exclude some of the SAS file extensions:

SAS(R) 9.3 Companion for Windows

The extensions for the temporary files before a rename have a suffix of ".lck", eg. "mytable.sas7bdat.lck"

Not sure if Windows indexing services could also lock your table. Indexing your SAS Work area wouldn't make sense so make sure it's excluded from indexing.