Just what I always wanted...hundreds of empty folders!!

[gregcashen]

Why does Revit seem to create a backup folder in the project directory that has hundreds of folders with one file each in them? What are these and should I not be mass-deleting them like I do?

[Melarch]

Greg,

I just checked my install of 6.0 and could find the folder mania you are referring. Where speciifically are these folders collecting, the path under program files or All Users\Documents and Settings\Autodesk\Revit 6.0 or where?

[gregcashen]

It is not new to 6.0. It is happening with 5.1 projects. It creates a folder wherever the project file resides called backup or something and puts a bunch of hexadecimally named folders with one small file in each folder...I'll post a screen shot next time it happens I guess.

[eegbertson]

This is part of Revits backup system. Rather than just make a copy of the file you are working on it does some other clever things to minimize space, especially in a workset enviroment. The number of backups retained is controlled under options when you perform a Saveas or Save for the first time. The higher the number the more space you allocate.

Deleting these files will likely destroy any ability to restore previous versions using Revit. You may have tape backup or other means to fall back on.

Delete first, ask questions later? :shock: :)

[irwin]

Why does Revit seem to create a backup folder in the project directory that has hundreds of folders with one file each in them? What are these and should I not be mass-deleting them like I do?

These folders contain the information from which backup versions of the file can be reconstructed using the Workset Backups command.

Do NOT delete them!!!!

If you delete them and something happens to your main file you will lose everything.

Technical notes: When Revit saves a non-workset file, it makes a copy of the whole file as a backup. So, if the file is 10M then 5 backups will take 50M. When Revit saves a workset file, it makes a copy only of those workset that have changed, so 5 backups of a 10M file will take much less than 50M (exactly how much depends on which worksets have changed). It saves all versions of each workset in one folder for that workset. (If a workset changes 3 times among the 5 backups there'll be 3 files in that folder.) The folder names are cryptic because they need to remain the same when worksets are renamed. There are also other files in there that indicate to the software which workset backups need to be assembled to form a complete backup file.

[gregcashen]

Aha! I should not have deleted them! Doh!

Doesn't matter much in this case, as worksets have so far been only a trial thing for me. That would explain why I did not know what they were...anyway, I have restored them from my recycle bin back to their home so I can continue to try out worksets.

Thanks for all your help.

:D :D Greg

[Wes Macaulay]

Irwin, thanks for deciphering this aspect of file management in Revit. Lance Kirby explained it to me some time ago, but it's good for everyone to know what the folders are all about.

[DaveP]

I just came up with a fresh problem on this old question.

I have a big project (80Meg rvt file) that ended up with almost 3000 folders under the _backup.
Windows seems to have a problem managing folders with that many sub-folders. I went to delete the _backup folder with Windows Explorer & Windows told me it would take 98 minutes - TO DELETE! That quickly dropped to about 45, but as I type, it still has 9 minutes left.
It just seems to me that, if Windows is going to take that long just to delete that many folders, there must be SOME sort of impact on performance. Not to mention making my Windows Search basically useless (when it takes 10 minutes to Search through all those folders)

Is this a performance issue? Or do I have a Server problem? (Windows 2003 server)

[Wes Macaulay]

Hard to say. Each folder (in my understanding) is for one workset. So if you have 3000 folders, you have 3000 total worksets for views + modelled objects + project standards etc.

If you have a gazillion views in this file then you're probably fine. If not something may be up? Interesting discovery tho.

[Joef]

Just in case some of you non-worksetters were wondering what this all looks like when you open explorer, here is a screen shot of the backup folder of the small project I was working on. When I first saw this I was shocked to say the least. My inate tidying instincts (or not so inate if you ask my wife) prompted me to want to clean up this mess. I then thought that there must be a good reason for this and left it alone.

Joe

[sfaust]

this has been said before, but I would like to be able to specify a folder for all backups, workset or otherwise, to be placed into. That way it keeps the actual project folder clean and able to be organized however the user wants. Since it is a rare ocation that a backup file needs to be accessed, it should not be cluttering the project folder structure IMHO

[DaveP]

Here's one link I found when searching on "Windows thousands of folders"

http://windows.about.com/library/tips/bltip343.htm
Sounds a little dangerous, but it does come from a reputable site.

Windows 2000/NT Tip of the Dayhttp://images.about.com/all/bullets/dot_clea.gifTip #343: Disable Last Folder Access Time
On NTFS volumes, whenever a directory is accesses, the file system keeps track of the last access date/time. Although it's a small overhead, it can make a difference when accessing a large number of directories (for example, using the dir /s command on a volume with thousands of directories). To prevent this timestamping on NTFS volumes, make add the following to the Registry:


Hive: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE
Key: System\CurrentControlSet\Control\FileSystem
Name: NtfsDisableLastAccessUpdate
Data Type: REG_DWORD
Value: 1 A value of 1 disables the access time stamping, a value of 0 enables it. Remember to use caution and frequent backups when editing the Registry.

[Gadget Man]

Hmmm.. All that discussion makes me wonder... :|

During a REVIT presentation/information seminar (at which I actually was converted and convinced to switch to REVIT from ACAD), one of the huge advantages of Revit they stressed over and over again, was its fantastic and oh-so advanced house keeping and much smaller file sizes. What I see here is not exactly much of an achievement... 80Mb files? Thousands of back-up files? Just wandering...

Jerry :roll:

[k.armstrong]

Dave P - yes i have implemented that registry tweak and it does make a difference. But thats just on my machine so proceed with caution and as it says BACKUP the registry before touching it.
I also did a similar thing on our linux server and experienced a massive performance gain. we had really sluggish performance in windows explorer when exploring the shared drives that reside in the linux box - 1 little setting and whizzo - you don't see any difference between local drives and shared

Ken

[DaveP]

Hmmm.. All that discussion makes me wonder... :|

What I see here is not exactly much of an achievement... 80Mb files? Thousands of back-up files? Just wandering...

Jerry :roll:
It may seem like 80Meg is a big file, but compare that to adding up ALL of your DWGs. I'll bet you're talking several 100 Meg. The project I was referring to is a Hospital/MOB - 2 floors, about 140,000 square feet. The 80Meg file contains the entire CD set with 120 Architectural sheets. This ain't a house plan that's 80 Meg.

If I remember correctly from AU, I think the Freedom tower is up to about 100Meg (5 linked projects combined)

[Wes Macaulay]

Hmmm.. All that discussion makes me wonder... :|

During a REVIT presentation/information seminar (at which I actually was converted and convinced to switch to REVIT from ACAD), one of the huge advantages of Revit they stressed over and over again, was its fantastic and oh-so advanced house keeping and much smaller file sizes. What I see here is not exactly much of an achievement... 80Mb files? Thousands of back-up files? Just wandering...

Jerry :roll:It's an efficiency thing. Revit's 80Mb as noted probably is less than the sum of all drawings and schedules.

The myriad folders is about the backup strategy: it's basically an incremental backup. In the old days you would get Central File.002, Central File.003 etc. when you saved to central... this system is more efficient, and normally you don't need to know about those folders. They're just there if you need to go back in time at some point.