Topic: change location where .bak files save?

[Robb]

Can you change the location to where the backup (.bak) files are saved? Currently if working off the file server, the .bak files are saved in the same directory as the .dwg file. Before I believe it would save in the temp directory of under the windows user profile.

Also, would like to change the save location of the .ac$, .sv$ files also.

I tried changing the path in config but no luck... they still show up in the same directoy as the dwg file.

[Bryco]

Cad help;

The backup file is located in the same folder as the drawing file.

You control where the temp files go with Options->Files-> Automatic save location.

[sinc]

Can you change the location to where the backup (.bak) files are saved? Currently if working off the file server, the .bak files are saved in the same directory as the .dwg file. Before I believe it would save in the temp directory of under the windows user profile.

No, .bak files are always in the same directory.  Technically, they aren't really "saved".  The .bak file is the previous version of the .dwg file renamed.  The safest way for a program to save a file does not involve overwriting the file on disc.  That can result in a corrupted file if something bad - such as a power failure or Autocad crash - should happen during the save.  Instead, the safer method involves writing the file in memory to a temporary file on disc.  Once the .tmp file has been succesfully created, the .bak file is deleted, the .dwg file is renamed as .bak, and the .tmp file is renamed as the .dwg file.  This all happens invisibly behind the scenes in a normal save.

Also, would like to change the save location of the .ac$, .sv$ files also.

You should be able to change those in Options->Files.  The .sv$ files should go to the "Automatic Save File Location" and the .ac$ files to the "Temporary Drawing File Location", both of which are pointed to the user's Local Settings\Temp directory by default.

[hudster]

express tools command, movebak

[sinc]

express tools command, movebak

I'm still surprised by some of the commands hidden in Express Tools.  There's yet another hidden command-line only command.  The only way to find that one is to do a comprehensive read of the Express Tools help file.  I mean, really - a "Draw" command?  That's where MOVEBAK is hidden in the help - in the Express Tools "Draw" commands.  That's a pretty poor place to hide it.  I'm not interested in having .BAK files go anywhere else - I think the same directory as the .DWG file is the best and most-convenient place for them - but that command is practically impossible to find unless you already know it's there.

Makes me wonder how many other potentially-useful commands are hidden in there.  Why don't the Express Tools show up in the overall help, anyway?  Autodesk created a mechanism for adding more commands to the Help.  I've written some custom help files, and linked them in to the rest of the documentation so they show up in generic Help searches.  Why doesn't Autodesk do the same thing with the Express Tools?  Why does the Express Tools Help have to be searched separately?

OK, there's my "Autodesk is frustrating" rant for the day...   

[Robb]

express tools command, movebak

wow, didnt even realize that!

QUESTION_1: What value do you enter? a new path?
QUESTION_2: Is this for ALL backups or just the .bak for individual files?

thanks so much!

EDIT: looks like this setting works for all drawings. Thanks again!

[Kerry]

1. Enter a Folder name.
2. Only the .BAK files.

It's been there since R14.

[Bryco]

Does anyone turn off bak files and have no problems with just the autosaves?

[kentium3k]

Does anyone turn off bak files and have no problems with just the autosaves?

I haven't used bak files for 10 years and have yet to regret it.  I rarely end up relying on autosaves as the program almost always closes down normally.

[Bryco]

kentium do you set your incremental save to zero?

[ronjonp]

This is what I used for backups:

http://www.theswamp.org/index.php?topic=7146.msg88012#msg88012

[kentium3k]

kentium do you set your incremental save to zero?

Yes I have it set to zero, no real reason to do otherwise given the power of todays computers.  I keep crc full time validation on as well.

[Bryco]

I saved a blank dwg, drew a couple of rectangles, then waited for the autosave. Yanked the plug on the cpu. The autosave saved fine (It's not in the default folder) so although that's not conclusive proof, I'm starting to see your point kentium. What is the point of a .bak?

[sinc]

What is the point of a .bak?

Personally, I don't trust the Autosaves.  I've had too many times when I've gone to get the Autosave, only to find it's been deleted already.

And then there are those "little crashes", where Autocad gives you a chance to create a "recover" file before it shuts down.  I don't think you get an Autosave file when that happens.  Or if it gets created, I've accidentally lost it by opening Autocad and attempting to do the "Recover" before renaming the Autosave file.  Then when the "Recover" fails, I try to find the Autosave, only to discover that it's gone.

All in all, I really hate the way Autocad deals with Autosaves.  I've often wondered why it doesn't behave more like MS Word.  It's somewhat better now that they've added the "Drawing Recovery Manager" (that regularly pops open even when it isn't supposed to), but it doesn't work as seemlessly as the same feature in Word.  And it doesn't work right in Land Desktop 2007 - it leaves the "Drawing1.dwg" open and opens your LDD drawing in "LDD disabled" mode, which is particularly worthless...

[sinc]

What is the point of a .bak?

Personally, I don't trust the Autosaves.  I've had too many times when I've gone to get the Autosave, only to find it's been deleted already.

It occurred to me that this doesn't answer the question.  If the Autosave gets lost, then there is usually still the .DWG file, which is newer than the .BAK file.  So, even if the Autosave file gets lost, the .BAK still usually isn't useful (unless the .DWG got corrupted somehow).

So, I started trying to remember why I've used .BAK files in the past.  It seems it's always because of one of two reasons:

• The .DWG file got corrupted somehow, but the .BAK file is still good.
• I edit a file and want to discard the changes, but accidentally answer "Yes" to the "Overwrite file?" prompt.

Of these two, the first happens very rarely.  The second happens occasionally.  They both happen often enough that I wouldn't want to disable the .BAK file generation, but they both happen rarely enough that the .BAK file location is not very important.  Plus, since we've opened a satellite office, we've regularly been transfering projects between offices.  Transfering BAK files slows down the process, and manually deleting BAK files all the time is annoying.  So, I'm thinking we'll start putting BAK files somewhere else.

I tried out the MOVEBAK routine, and it works as advertised, but I get weird error messages on every save.  Well, error messages might not be right - it's more like random text.  In other words, I run the QSAVE command, and the save happens, but then some apparently-random text is printed to the command window.  At first, the text was "Unable to transmit selected drawing file.", which made me think it was a valid error message.  But then the text changed to "Midpoint" for some unknown reason, and now I get "Midpoint" echoed to the command window after every save.  It doesn't seem to affect anything, and everything works OK.  It's just strange...

(I just killed and restarted Autocad, and now it's back to echoing "Unable to transmit selected drawing file" after every save.)