URG help needed retriving phantom file. not even in back up temp folder,VANISHED

[Anonymous]

Okay I am really praying for a miracle.

Back in decemeber i finished off quite a lavish project. Proud as punch i saved it, as usual and carried on about my ways. Now tomorow I have to issue these plans to a client and the file is NO WHERE to be found.
I have traced the temp back up file not there.  However the file title is still on the AUTO CAD home button, but when you click on it it says...

'can not find the specified drawing file. Please verify that the file exists'.

I have gone to options, and tracked the autosavile file location. I have gone to that location and there is nothing there. I have done a system reset and still nothing. Help!! That file obtains almost 3 weeks of solid work and it literally appears to have just vanished.

Attached are screenshots of what i am finding. The file claims to be there (although no matter how many times i click on it comes up with that error).
When i search the temp folder there is nothing in there.... where on earth has it disapeared to? I need it soo bad!
Any help would be recieved with such gratitude.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> can not find the specified drawing file. Please

>> verify that the file exists

This message means that the file with that name does not exist in that folder.

You have moved it away or deleted it.

That this file-name is listed in your history list of opened files does not mean that the file exists, AutoCAD stores only links to files and do not verify if the link is valid or not.

You might have a chance to

• find a BAK file at this position, then you can rename the file to xxx.DWG
• find this DWG file anywhere else on your system in case you moved it (run search your disk and network)
• find this DWG file in your backups

Resetting AutoCAD or anything else does not make sense her, it's simply this dwg-file does not exist.

- alfred -

[Anonymous]

Thanks for that, unfortunatley. I can not find it as a .bak. However i did find the file, but it says that she shorcut has been altered THUS why its not working. Doing a file restore now on the whole pc... will this work?

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> Doing a file restore now on the whole pc... will this work?

A restore from a backup will only help if the file you are looking for is stored in that backup.

Also don't do a "restore whole pc" because you would lose all files you have updated in the meantime (since you created the backup you are now referring to). It should be possible within your backup software to find and restore specific files.

- alfred -

[Anonymous]

Okay so i have just done a file restore... this is what i have found (images attached). but when i click on it it says... please refer to second image. I cant stress the urgency in this. Please if in anyone can help.

[Alfred.NESWADBA]

Hi,

>> but when i click on it

The clicked file is not a DWG-file, it's a shortcut/link which means this is just a pointer to a DWG file on a different location. Right-click that file ==> properties ==> look to the second tab, this shows the folder where this file is expected to be. But it looks like that file does not exist any more.

- alfred -

[RobDraw]

Forget about, temp files, autosaves, baks, for now. Focus on the .dwg. Temp files and may not exist anymore, autosave files are long gone, and .bak files usually reside in the same folder location as the .dwg.

Using file explorer, verify that the original file location exists. If not, someone or something moved it, removed it, or renamed it. Do a search on the computer for the file name or containing folder name. If nothing is found, you might be out of luck.