Using flash drives

[jaberwok]

Recent experience tells me "do not work directly on files stored on a flash/thumb/USB drive".
Stuff gets lost so copy them to your HD first then copy them back again.

[.chad]

ouch! flash drives are great for installing things like firefox though :)

[Buffeldrek]

normally those flash drives have a pretty good reputation on that matter - and in a couple of years our harddrives will be replaced by those things.

[rclayton]

I have not had any problems working directly on a flash drive. In fact I find it to be very fast with respect to file access. The only caution I have is, make sure that you use the icon in the task bar to "Remove Hardware safely" before pulling the flash drive. This will commit any file writes to the drive before pulling it, failure to do so can result in the dreaded "Windows Delayed Write Failure" error which will cause data loss...

[robert.1.hall72202]

I have not had any problems working directly on a flash drive. In fact I find it to be very fast with respect to file access. The only caution I have is, make sure that you use the icon in the task bar to "Remove Hardware safely" before pulling the flash drive. This will commit any file writes to the drive before pulling it, failure to do so can result in the dreaded "Windows Delayed Write Failure" error which will cause data loss...


I agree completely. Do not pull the drive from the port without hitting the remove icon.
I have seen some of my files get corrupted.

With thumb drives, are the following items still hazardous:
Sunight, hot/cold environments, magnets, etc.

Do we still have to treat them like floppies?

[Opie]

I have not had any problems working directly on a flash drive. In fact I find it to be very fast with respect to file access. The only caution I have is, make sure that you use the icon in the task bar to "Remove Hardware safely" before pulling the flash drive. This will commit any file writes to the drive before pulling it, failure to do so can result in the dreaded "Windows Delayed Write Failure" error which will cause data loss...
Removing the flash drive while still active can also damage the flash drive leaving it useless.

[jaberwok]

I ALWAYS use "remove safely...." but still have experienced problems lately.

[Wanderer]

I ALWAYS use "remove safely...." but still have experienced problems lately.I used to have some problems with my flash drive sometimes, but, only on my Windows 2000 (sp2) laptop, no problems with the XPpro desktop or Win98 laptop.

[cgkoretoff]

The students here at the college I teach at use them all the time without problems. I agree with other posts to "safely remove hardware". I learned that with my first flash drive.

Being sort of a "techie", one of my drives is in my watch. Only 512mb, but still a hit with my students.

I found that the drives are more durable than old style floppies. I have sent one of mine through the washer and dryer. I do not recommend this treatment, but am glad to say it still works.

We are using ACAD 06 on XP Pro, Ser. Pk. 2

[Avatart]

Being sort of a "techie", one of my drives is in my watch. Only 512mb, but still a hit with my students.
I have 1Gb on my phone, that can really freak people out when you tell them you are accessing AutoCad drawings on your mobile!

[arshiel88]

If its USB 1.0 I recommend working on HD than USB drive especially on files more than 5MB. But for USB 2.0 on a USB 2.0 port, I think its faster than my hard drive. But if you have USB 2.0 drive on a USB 1.0 port, its useless.
I have this stupid 512 USB flash drive with a 'well known brand on it', its very cheap compared to others (that makes it suspicious), It works fine on small files but on files larger than 50MB, the time I copied it, its there but after I removed safely, Its missing.

Its nice to work on USB flash drive, its very much handy. Just beware of immitations and dont trust so much...you'll never know when these things broke up. For safety of files, HD is still the safest and most reliable, In fact I think its air tight and maybe thats why its called a HARD drive.

[sun.dance]

I don't work on DWG files on my USB. But I do use it to store my BAK files. I have a 2GB USB which I bought at the beginning of May. The reason I bought it is that I wanted to recover a drawing (on Monday) and when I talked to the Admin I was told they would try on Wednesday (turned out it didn't require recovery but it did scare me). After that little episode I decided to set up my Autocad using the Movebak command to save by BAK files to E:New Record (E: being my USB). At the end of the day I rename it to the date i.e. Sept-29-006 and create another New Record. This has proven very useful and has allowed me to be able to go back to recover files or info I want to pull from a file (it doesn't happen often). If you are working on a drawing which will require major modifications and you want to save a copy (Could we go back o the original drawing, please?) just Save to create an up to date BAK file then rename it to DWG and continue working. It alllows you to 'freeze' a copy in case you need to go back for any reason.
Something to stir in your coffee.

[Opie]

I don't work on DWG files on my USB. But I do use it to store my BAK files. I have a 2GB USB which I bought at the beginning of May. The reason I bought it is that I wanted to recover a drawing (on Monday) and when I talked to the Admin I was told they would try on Wednesday (turned out it didn't require recovery but it did scare me). After that little episode I decided to set up my Autocad using the Movebak command to save by BAK files to E:New Record (E: being my USB). At the end of the day I rename it to the date i.e. Sept-29-006 and create another New Record. This has proven very useful and has allowed me to be able to go back to recover files or info I want to pull from a file (it doesn't happen often). If you are working on a drawing which will require major modifications and you want to save a copy (Could we go back o the original drawing, please?) just Save to create an up to date BAK file then rename it to DWG and continue working. It alllows you to 'freeze' a copy in case you need to go back for any reason.
Something to stir in your coffee.
Hi sun.dance, (sorry, I don't know your real name)

Have you seen this AutoLISP routine? It makes a copy of the last version of the current drawing and renames extension of the copy.

[sun.dance]

Thanks very much for the info. I should edit my profile to use my own name. My name is Don. I have run off a copy of the lisp routine and will 'check it out'.

[sun.dance]

The Lisp routine mentioned above works very well. It creates a copy of the DWG in the same directory with a ".R0" extension. I have modified it slightly to produce a ".SR0" extension. It will increment each time its used so you can have an R0, R1,R2,,,etc. and much like a BAK file all you need to do is rename the extension to DWG (if you do this in the directory of origin you will need rename it slightly so as not to overwrite the original DWG file). Other than that its slick.