Do you use .bak files?

[Designer_1E]

I'm curious if people use .bak files on a regular basis?  I've never bothered keeping them, because I don't know when I would use them.  What is your office doing?

[ВeekeeCZ]

Maybe once or twice a month. Sometimes the backup file comes to be handy.

Do you know how to use it? 

[Designer_1E]

Yes, I know how to convert and open it. 

But what is the situation you use it in?

[tboehler]

We very rarely have to revert to a *.bak file.  But storage is cheap so we typically don't delete them.

At times we will get rid of very old *.bak files (larger files).

No formal procedure.  I'm curious to see if others have a plan for *.bak files.  Seems like ignoring them is one less thing to deal with except at archive time?  Or lack of storage space.

[pendean]

They are an insurance policy should anything happen to your DWG file: you never need them until you do.

What challenge are you trying to overcome exactly?

[ВeekeeCZ]

Let's say you have open like 10 files... two of them you want to save, all the rest not. And you're leaving home in a hurry. Accidents happen.

[TheCADnoob · Accepted solution]

We generically use them just as back up. They are a bit like fire alarms and seat belts... If things go well you never need them. 

Some other uses ive seen is a semi time stamp sort of thing. If the bak file is XXXX-R1.bak and the latest and greatest is XXXX-R2.dwg you can see about when the changes have been made by looking at the time stamp etc.. 

Also its an off the cuff indication that something might have changed in the file. If the bak files have been cleaned and the you open the folder and see a few back files you can check with the drafter to see what prompted the changes (if any).

Generally though they are just dead weight and get deleted once we are done. This is not to say they haven't been used to recover files. they serve that function well and allow for the user to "recover" files without having to get IT to pull a the actual backup of the server. But most recovery is needed due to user error (deleting things when they shouldn't have)

[RobDraw]

It doesn't happen very often but, when doing a save as, misclicks happen. The .bak file is free insurance and very easy to access.

[Designer_1E]

Yah... I could see that being useful.  I guess I'm just used to having a server back up, so the .baks seem redundant.  I'm more likely to loose to folder that both are sitting in than just one file.  Or save over a file accidentally.

[cadffm]

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@ВeekeeCZ  schrieb:

Let's say you have open like 10 files... two of them you want to save, all the rest not. And you're leaving home in a hurry. Accidents happen.

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Can not understand this. What is the missing part to the topic?

You saved 10 files and next day your can use 8 of the 10 *.bak?

@Designer_1E 

It is simple: Every time if you make a mistake after the last two saves (and closing the file),

or Acad had a problem and made a mistake.., you can use the *.bak to have the pre-last Version of the file.

Nothing more (and the function saved me a lot of time /Weeks/ in the last decades 😉 )

[ВeekeeCZ]

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@cadffm wrote:

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@ВeekeeCZ  schrieb:

Let's say you have open like 10 files... two of them you want to save, all the rest not. And you're leaving home in a hurry. Accidents happen.

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Can not understand this. What is the missing part to the topic?

You saved 10 files and next day your can use 8 of the 10 *.bak?

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🙂 No. Not on purpose. That was just an example of a situation when you're making 10 quick decisions in a roll which may lead to wrong one easily...

BTW That happened to me. I was using a mouse to click YES or NO to Save changes dialog. And since the dialog is changing its size depending on how long the file name is, it might happen that YES is suddenly on the same spot as was previous NO. So since that time I prefer to use keyboard Y and N keys for that.

[cadffm]

thanks for the explanation

[scot-65]

One use for a .bak file is converting down a client's
file that has been drawn with a release greater than
what we have.

For this conversion, use True View.
By default "Standard" creates a ZIP file which is undesirable here.
Other options are to overwrite or stuff into a sub-folder.
Select "Convert to #### (in-place)" and the original client file is
changed to a .BAK while the file I can open retains the file name.

From there, in the file manager, rename the converted file to include
a suffix "_R####" and rename the extension of the original client's
file from .BAK to .DWG.

???

[steven-g]

I actively use bak files as an archive of changes in a project. Rather than spending time keeping up with revision numbers, which is something we don't really need, I just drag the bak files into an archive folder, and accept the option to rename the file(s) because it already exists (so I have a whole range of bak files date stamped), so I can refer back by date if ever questions arise. That way I have a personal record of changes made over the life of a project without putting much effort in. Once a project is history then I delete the archive folder.

[GrantsPirate]

Just so you know there are others that don't save the .bak file.  I turned that off 20+ years ago and haven't missed it or ever wished I had it set to save a bak file.

[RobDraw]

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@GrantsPirate wrote:

Just so you know there are others that don't save the .bak file.  I turned that off 20+ years ago and haven't missed it or ever wished I had it set to save a bak file.

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There are also people who turn off autosave.

Some people just like working without a safety net.