recovory problem

[rstiles]

so a client has lost a file. he had 3 drawings open and he saved the drawing that was active got up and walked away. never shut down the computer and when he came in this morning the computer was off. so when he booted up the recovery manager had versions of the file that was active but not of the xrefs he had open. i had him navigate to his auto save file and nothing. his autosave setting was set to 10 mins. he said that he was working on all 3 drawings he had open for over 2hrs.

is there any other places autocad would have auto saved it? and sugestions of what could have happened?

[BrenBren]

so a client has lost a file. he had 3 drawings open and he saved the drawing that was active got up and walked away. never shut down the computer and when he came in this morning the computer was off. so when he booted up the recovery manager had versions of the file that was active but not of the xrefs he had open. i had him navigate to his auto save file and nothing. his autosave setting was set to 10 mins. he said that he was working on all 3 drawings he had open for over 2hrs.

is there any other places autocad would have auto saved it? and sugestions of what could have happened?

AutoCAD files are only saved if a crash occurs. If the computer was off, it's possible someone shut it down. It's possible that AutoCAD doesn't view a shut down as a crash.

[rstiles]

that makes sense.

but why would it not save an automatic save copy in the temp folder every 10 mins?

[Opie]

Autosave only executes if the drawing has changed since the last save or autosave. If no changes were made then no autosave.

[dzatto]

that makes sense.

but why would it not save an automatic save copy in the temp folder every 10 mins?
I think the autosave clock is only running when CAD is active. If it's just sitting there dormant, it's not running, therefore it's not saving. That's what I remember hearing, anyway.

On another note, maybe he learned his lesson to not leave his machine running all night, and on top of that, leaving CAD open without saving all his files before he goes home. Seriously, who does that?!

[dgorsman]

I think the autosave clock is only running when CAD is active. If it's just sitting there dormant, it's not running, therefore it's not saving. That's what I remember hearing, anyway.

On another note, maybe he learned his lesson to not leave his machine running all night, and on top of that, leaving CAD open without saving all his files before he goes home. Seriously, who does that?!

Indeed. Users doing that pose a number of problems for both myself as a CAD Admin and other users. The drawings are locked open, and thus cannot be worked on by others. With the program still running, any shared licenses are not returned. With some programs the license is returned, but cannot pull a new one until the program is closed. If the user has password-protected their screen saver, then there is little to do but to shut down the computer.

[dzatto]

Indeed. Users doing that pose a number of problems for both myself as a CAD Admin and other users. The drawings are locked open, and thus cannot be worked on by others. With the program still running, any shared licenses are not returned. With some programs the license is returned, but cannot pull a new one until the program is closed. If the user has password-protected their screen saver, then there is little to do but to shut down the computer.
I didn't even think about it locking the drawings or using up a license. I'm thinking you need to send a company wide memo..........If you leave CAD open at night, don't bother showing up in the morning!

[robert.1.hall72202]

I didn't even think about it locking the drawings or using up a license. I'm thinking you need to send a company wide memo..........If you leave CAD open at night, don't bother showing up in the morning!

The main issue with leaving drawing files open overnight is that a tape backup system
does not grab files that are open. It could be days before IT is able to create a backup if a file is in use for a week.

I am guilty as charged, however, I do run my own backup to a local drive.

[irneb]

The autosave does 2 things you (the user) don't expect:

It only "counts" the time while AutoCAD's active. So going to your Outlook and "quickly" typing an email - for 30min won't tell AutoCAD to save.
The AutoSave only happens during a command from the user. Even if AC is active but the user doesn't do anything for the specified 10min - the AutoSave will only happen when he / she issues a command. So if a crash happens before he / she had finished drinking their coffee (or whatever) - nothing would have been saved.For these reasons, I NEVER rely on AutoSave. Rather just press the Ctrl+S every time you've done a few commands. And whenever you leave the PC just do a SAVEALL (if you've got the Express Tools installed) - this however don't work so well if you've got DWG's open in read-only mode, or if you've got RefEdit open.

[robert.1.hall72202]

AutoCAD files are only saved if a crash occurs. If the computer was off, it's possible someone shut it down. It's possible that AutoCAD doesn't view a shut down as a crash.

I have seen an autoupdate utility automatically force a restart.
I have the autoupdate features turned off for most of my programs.

[irneb]

I have seen an autoupdate utility automatically force a restart.
I have the autoupdate features turned off for most of my programs.
Oh yes! I've had that happen as well: Open a DWG do a few things ... and you get a phone call from a idiot contractor. So you spend a few hours explaining to the bloke which drawing number / revision he should have been looking at ... and lo an behold ... windows decided to restart your PC without saving any AutoCAD files. Usually the Recovery Manager picks this up - but you can't always rely on that "last resort".