Changing Temporary dwg file location?

[support]

Generic question for all versions of Civil 3D to gather the experience of other individuals.

Our reseller recommended to change the temp file locations in our profiles to assist with performance problems.  I have no issue with giving it a try, but I'm just trying to understand why this is the case as from an IT admin standpoint this makes no sense to me.  I don't see many resources that recommend this, , but no one really says why.  Others say using the default temp folder Windows sets is fine  We are not running roaming profiles and it is local to the PC.  They also have local admin access.

[wfberry]

I would think like you, it should not make any difference.  The reason I change mine is because it is so much easier to locate, (only down one level on my drive).

Bill

[support]

Thanks for the quick response Bill.

Hmmm...I guess a reason here may be that it makes it easier to delete all the temp civil files that accumulate.  Apparently a big temp folder makes civil slower but I don't know if there is truth to that either.  Curious to hear feedback on that, too, since it is related.

Cheers

[Jeff_M]

When the TEMP folder fills up, C3D is slower and is also more susceptible to crashes..at least that was true with older versions, I have not verified whether it is different in the newer versions since my C3D temp files get relocated. Also, with many people moving to SSD's, which until recently were not left with a lot of space after Windows and Programs are installed, it made sense to keep all the temp files stored off of the SSD.

[support]

Thanks Jeff.

Can you qualify what do you mean by temp folder "fills up"?  ie. run out of drive space or just gets a ton of files in it?  The former is definitely not a problem.

[cwr-pae]

Jeff means having a lot of files in the folder. I clear my temp folder daily with this batch file "rmdir %Temp% /s" from my desktop.

I also have a tool palette icon with the text command ^C^Cstart "command" rmdir %Temp% /s; to clear it from with in autocad (does required exiting the command window afterwards)

Both pause for a confirmation before deleting anything.

[Jeff_M · Accepted solution]

It just fills up with 1,000's of files. Some large, many quite small. It's the small ones that start with 3 letters and end with digits. There is (was?) a limit to how high the numbers would go, at which point C3D would prefer to crash than remove the unused files.

[support]

Thanks Jeff, you answered the WHY part of my question.  I'm going to share this info with our CAD manager.