Cadtales

Drawing Recovery

Program and system “crashes” are a fact of life, no matter how much you and I dread and fear them. And, in a normal world, we don’t even like to contemplate the aftermath and repercussions of the failure of a piece of equipment that has become, essentially, an extension of our nervous system. (If I asked you, “Do you backup regularly?” what would be your reply?) So, let’s explore utilities and procedures as a way to test a drawing and fix any errors, use AutoCAD’s Drawing Recovery Manager program and a work-around using simple AutoCAD commands.

Confidence Check
The current versions of AutoCAD do a fine job of protecting valuable drawing content during and following a crash. Your first line of defense is to test (and repair) all incoming drawings before distributing them for CAD operations. Using the File<Audit utility will check the integrity of the drawing database and “fix” any errors it detects. This is a good first-level confidence check but some files may still exhibit operational problems.

Automatic Backup Files
When a drawing is opened in AutoCAD, the program opens a new file under the same name and names the existing file “filename.BAK.” In the event of a problem with a file your best resource for recovery is to find the .BAK file, rename it “something.DWG” and see if AutoCAD can work with the file. The *.BAK files are usually created in the same directory as the original document.

AutoCAD also creates a second backup file. The parameters for this file are set in the Options<Open and Save dialog box, in the File Safety Precautions section. Check the Automatic save feature and set the time to the desired frequency. Check “Create backup copy with each save” and it will make a .BAK file as described above. Sample backups for Drawing1.dwg might look like “Drawing1_1_1_4480.SV$” and “Drawing1_1_1_4480.BAK.” See the Options<Files<Automatic Save File Location for the location of this file.

AutoCAD also makes and uses a lot of “temporary” files in the course of normal operation. See the Options<Files<Temporary Drawing File Location for the location of these files. Temporary files are no use to us mere mortals.

If a drawing will not even open in AutoCAD then your only resource is the Drawing Recovery utility in AutoCAD. Use the File>Drawing Recovery menu to start, locate the errant file in the Select File dialog box and click OK. The recovery program will do it’s best to recover all or part of the file and save it with the word “-recover” appended to the file name. If this works and you get most or all of your work back then count your lucky stars.

The most emotionally devastating condition, or course, is when your work of days and hours suddenly disappears from the screen, the “Fatal Error” message appears in its place and a tag line “AutoCAD cannot continue. Do you want AutoCAD to try and save you work in a separate file?” causes a sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach. Say “yes” to the “save” offer and fear not. If you have made the setting suggested above, Drawing Recovery Manager is here. Start AutoCAD again (you may chose to re-boot, especially with operating systems prior to NT and XP) and the Drawing Recovery Manager will open automatically and present you with a list of file(s) open when the crash occurred. Select one, or several, of the files and chose the one that best serves your purpose.

You can access the Drawing Recovery Manager palette anytime thru the File<Drawing Utilities menu.

A Simple Workaround
Problem files know no boundaries. I once had a file that would crash every time the XREF Bind command was used. Audit and Recover didn’t appear to help. With the file open I copied all the visible entities (lines, arcs & circles) to the clipboard (highlight and press CTL+C), opened a new file and pasted the contents. Use the 0,0 reference for the basepoint and destination in case you have to return to the original file for additional content. Since XREFs and items on layers that are off, frozen or locked will not be copied, it is a useful technique to recover, or simply “clean-up,” a drawing for your specific application. This quick and easy operation can dramatically reduce the size of a file as well.

We Want You To Succeed!
Do you see a benefit in applying this information to the management and control of costs, content and quality in your CAD operation? We can help. Contact your Hagerman sales representative for software upgrades, training and technical support.