Hi,
I am using AutoCAD R14. My operating system is Windows XP professional. Recently, I inadvertently moved many of my AutoCAD files to the trash and then emptied the trash - so they are deleted. The problem is in trying to get them back, if I can. I am using a file recovery program called Recuva. I am using the free version. I was able to recover some of the files and although the Recuva program said their condition was "excellent," when I try to open them AutoCAD gives a message that says "File format is not valid" and then it opens with a blank page, without opening the file. Does anyone have any ideas on what I can do to recover these files (without sending the hard drive to a data recovery center which will charge me $500)?
Vincent
Recovery programs aside, try doing a search on your PC for all BAK files and SV$ files, and then sort by newest date downward. Then cross your fingers that you may be able to find the backups of the files you lost. Rename the extension of the newest one to DWG and try to open that. If it works, repeat for the rest of the files. Sure, you will have lost some data (it will likely not contain all of the last work you may have done), but it's better than starting from scratch. Good luck!
Hi Modman_4,
Thanks for your suggestion. However, I just did a search on all of C drive and found no AutoCAD files ending in BAK or SV$. Your suggestion was a reasonable one nonetheless. Thanks for the idea.
Vincent
Hi Patchy,
I think you misunderstood what I was saying. When I said I had inadvertently deleted "AutoCAD files" I meant drawings created with AutoCAD, not files which are part of the AutoCAD program. I have the AutoCAD cd and I could reinstall the program if I wanted to but that is not the problem.
Vincent
My very bad, when someone said Autocad files I think of Autcad operating files, if they said dwg or drawing files I would not be confused.
Any .plt plot files laying around for the drawings you deleted? Could convert them back to .dwg
Hi Patchy,
I am not familiar with .plt files. However, I just searched drive C and found none.
Unfortunately, my C drive is almost full and I did not take into account that (if my understanding is correct) when we use the computer, even if we do not save new files, the computer is often overwriting blank space (i.e., where my deleted files are) on the hard drive. I guess I should have stopped using the computer until I had recovered what files I could recover.
Recuva (a deleted file recovery program I mentioned earlier) does still see some of these files (it can see deleted files) but I have been reluctant to have that program recover them since in the previous instances when I did so the files were unreadable by AutoCAD even though the Recuva program said they were in excellent condition.
Thanks for your comments,
Vincent
If you plot directly to plotter, there would be no .plt
I'm out of ideas.
OP when you do a search of your PC, are you including hidden files and folders? As for the backup files I suggested, it would be highly unusualy for you to have absolutely none. Try going to Tools --> Options. That should bring up the Options DBox, and one of the tabs would be Files. Check to see where the file path for Automatic Saves is located (it is usually a Temp folder). Of course this assumes you have set up automatic saves...
Hi Modman_4:
Here is my very, very, very late reply to your comment which you left on Feb. 14, 2011. (I am wrapped up in a lawsuit and some very urgent matters came up and I just basically dropped everything - including my AutoCAD project - for some time to attend to that matter.)
Yes, when I did searches of my hard drive I am including hidden files.
I do have automatic saves setup (for every 15 minutes) but AutoCAD 14 does not have a "Tools --> Options" menu selection and I am not sure how to get to the Options Dialogue Box. However, I did go to Tools --> Preferences and a Preferences Dialogue Box opened. Under the Files tab there is a list of locations of various files but it does not seem to list where automatic saves places files. Anyway, I searched my whole hard drive without finding any .BAK or .SV$ files. (I had inadvertently deleted almost all my AutoCAD drawing files.)
However, I did eventually find some of my drawing files which I had backed up on a CD, fortunately, but they are not the latest versions of my drawings.
Thanks much for your comments.
Uraniumtiger
I have used one data recovery software. May be you can download it and have a try. It can do format recovery, unformat and recover deleted files emptied from Recycle Bin. However, if you have overwritten you data, it may not help you.