Auto-Save bug when file/directory no longer exists

[Jay Cotton]

When emacs attempts to auto-save a file, if that file or it's directory
no longer exist (such as when a usb thumbdrive has been removed), an
error is briefly displayed in the minibuffer:

    Auto-saving <filename>: Opening output file: no such file or
directory, <path>/#<filename>#

The expected behavior is for this message to remain in the minibuffer.
The actual behavior is that the message disappears very quickly (often
before the user sees it), and is replaced by this message:

  Auto-saving...done

which falsely indicates that the file was successfully auto-save'd.

M-x version:
GNU Emacs 22.0.93.1 (i386-mingw-nt5.1.2600) of 2007-02-08 on
LENNART-69DE564

Thanks,
Jay Cotton