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DWG files disappearing

11 REPLIES 11
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Message 1 of 12
JenniferNolen4057
4132 Views, 11 Replies

DWG files disappearing

We are using C3D 2013 and have recently had 3 different episodes where a dwg file was open and being worked in, CAD shut down without warning and the drawing was lost. As in, it's gone. No longer on the network anywhere. These were 3 different drawings in different projects.The drawings were not new, they had been previously created and worked in by more than one user. Any ideas??? We were able to find a backup file and did not lose everything but still thinking there has to be something causing this. The machine is a Dell Precision T5600, 16 GB of RAM, only had it for a few months. Thank you for any suggestions!

 

-Jennifer

11 REPLIES 11
Message 2 of 12

Hi Jennifer-

 

I am sorry to hear you completely lost a few drawings after an upexpected shutdown of Civil 3D. Personally I have never seen a drawing completely disappear after it had previously been saved and worked on before, so I am not sure what could have caused this. Have you noticed this happening to any other file types?


Seth Hall
Product Owner
Model Builder
Message 3 of 12

If this is only happening on one computer. I would recommend a complete reinstall of Civil 3D. If it happens on more than one computer then it sound like a network problem that may only occur when Civil 3D unexpectedly closes.

 

You can use the MOVEBAK command to store the backup files in another network directory or locally on the computer that has the file open. Set AutoSave to create automatic backups. I also create a specific local folder as the automatic save location and deny the system the rights to erase files in that folder. That way even if the program thinks it closed correctly and tries to erase the autosave files. It can't.

 

If you already use AutoSave do you get an opportunity to recover the drawing when you open it again?

 

And. Of course. Save and Save often!

 

Allen Jessup



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 4 of 12

Thank you Seth for your reply. Unfortunately, the only program being run on this computer is Civil 3D so I can't say whether or not it would happen with any other file types. 

 

Thank you Allen also. We have done a complete reinstall recently. We actually had to wipe the machine and reinstall Windows 7 and start from scratch. It is just the one machine that it has occurred on. C3D is sluggish, gets a lot of "Not Responding" messages, doesn't seem like it's ever run the way it should. I have spent countless hours on the phone with Dell and even had them remote into the machine on more than one occassion and have gotten nowhere. Of course, they say the hardware is fine and it must be an AutoCAD problem, that seems to be everyones "go to" answer. 

As for the Autosave, we have it setup to do an Autosave every 10 minutes, stored locally on the machine in it's own folder. However, when we go to that folder, there are seldom any autosave drawings in it at all. It creates temp files out the wazoo and also leaves a lot of .dwl files which I haven't seen on the other computers. I feel like I exhausted all my resources on the hardware end so I thought I'd try looking for a solution through AutoCAD just to be sure I've done all I can do. 

 

Message 5 of 12


@JenniferNolen4057 wrote:

As for the Autosave, we have it setup to do an Autosave every 10 minutes, stored locally on the machine in it's own folder. However, when we go to that folder, there are seldom any autosave drawings in it at all. It creates temp files out the wazoo and also leaves a lot of .dwl files which I haven't seen on the other computers. I feel like I exhausted all my resources on the hardware end so I thought I'd try looking for a solution through AutoCAD just to be sure I've done all I can do. 

 


Not that It's an immediate help. But that tells me that Civil 3D "thinks" it's closing normally. See if your IT can restrict permissions on that folder. See if they can check out the network card, possibly replace it, on that computer. It still has the flavor of a network issue to me.
 

Is Civil 3D sluggish if you open a drawing locally or only on the network. That can narrow it down a bit. It it's still sluggish with a local drawing. I'd recommend doing another Clean Install following the linked procedures.  Tedious but it can help. Also, make sure you have the latest video drivers.

 

BTW Is the computer that you're losing drawings on the same as the ones that don't? Posting the specs might help.

 

Allen Jessup

 

 



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 6 of 12

Well, my first problem is, we don't HAVE an IT department or an IT guy, so I'm bumbling through it on my own. Which folder do I need to restrict permissions on, the Autosave folder?? But I agree, I think our network has some serious issues. (I know that Dell sent a guy out to look at our network and he said our network switches are consumer switches, not professional grade so we have to have 2 of them to have enough ports.) But our network cards are integrated into the motherboard.

The computers are all Dell Precision, the one we're having issues with is a T5600

 

  • Intel® Xeon® Processor E5-2620 (Six Core, 2.0GHz, 15M, 7.2 GT/s,Turbo)
  • 8GB2 DDR3 SDRAM at 1333MHz
  • 500GB, 7200 RPM 3.5" SATA 6Gb/s Hard Drive
  • 1.0GB NVIDIA® Quadro® 2000, Dual MON, 2 DP & 1 DVI

 

As for opening the drawings locally, we have tried but haven't really gotten any better results. But we have so much info that is pulled across the network that I wonder if copying to the machine really helps much? All of our templates, styles, linetypes, printers, everything is on the network. 

I have checked for video drivers before and we were all current but I'll check it again. Another issue I have with this machine is that it has restricted internet access which just seems to make everything more challenging to do.

Thank you again for your time!!

Message 7 of 12

Jennifer, in the location where the DWG files should be, are there any files with the extension .TMP? (You may have to enable viewing file extensions in Windows Explorer).

R.K. McSwain     | CADpanacea | on twitter
Message 8 of 12

Yes, there are a couple in one of the folders

Message 9 of 12


@JenniferNolen4057 wrote:

Yes, there are a couple in one of the folders


Those are (probably) .DWG files. 

If they are approximately the same file size as some of your drawings, change the file extension to .DWG and see if they open.

 

When AutoCAD saves a drawing, it writes the contents of the editor to a .TMP file first, then it deletes the .BAK, then it renames the .DWG to .BAK, then it renames the .TMP to .DWG. If there is a network glitch or some other O/S problem during part of this, then the .DWG can go missing and the .TMP is all you have left.

R.K. McSwain     | CADpanacea | on twitter
Message 10 of 12

This is the folder I have created and set for autosave:

 

123.PNG

 

This is how I have the permissions set:

 

1234.PNG

 

As far as the rest goes. It's difficult to diagnose these things from a distance. If it continues. You might want to consider brining in an IT specialist to diagnose the problem. I'd start with another install first though. Make sure you Anti-virus is totally deactivated before you install.

 

 Allen Jessup



Allen Jessup
Engineering Specialist / CAD Manager

Message 11 of 12

Great tip to check the .TMP files.  I took a look and found the .DWG file that had been deleted.  I also appreciate the pointers on what could be going wrong.  

Message 12 of 12
secadmin
in reply to: johnthoreson

I had a situation occur that may relate.

 

We had one drawing in a directory, when if saved would disappear.  Saving the file a second time brought it back.

Lots of TMP files were found in the directory... they all related to this DWG as it turns out.  Anyway, I deleted the BAK, and all works fine.  I failed to get the file permissions of the BAK beforehand, so I cannot attest to why it works, but it does work.   It sounds super simple, figuring out what resolves it took hours 😉

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